Thirty-eight girls cross country teams lined up for the Small School division race in the 63rd annual Baldwinsville Invitational last Saturday as two former state championship runners-up and an eighth-grade upstart from Cazenovia stole the show.

The trio went stride for stride until Skaneateles runner, Kaitlyn Neal, pulled away decisively. In the process, she hit a gear that no one had ever seen.

That eighth-grader, Cazenovia’s Clara Rowles, fearlessly stepped-up to run with 2012 state runner-up Abby Gugel, from Jordan-Elbridge and 2013 runner-up Neal.Rowles hung tough to finish in second in 18:07.3 while Gugel, fighting through another injury, took third in 18:21.9.

But Neal broke the 17-minute barrier with her winning time of 17:52.3 on the 2.95 mile course (the fastest of either division, Large or Small Schools), and she also would propel Skaneateles to the team title, too, on a sun-filled Saturday morning in B’ville.

The Lakers tallied 96 points to edge league rivals Cazenovia (113 points) and a young Hannibal squad (130 points). Neal and her teammates will need all hands on deck this Wednesday when they travel to Hannibal for their annual dual.

And this year it could be a toss-up, according to the coaches.

“We looked to be in command today,” said Jack Reed. “But things could be very different once we get into a dual with those two teams. We’ll have to be on our game to beat Cazenovia and Hannibal to win the division this year.

Helping Neal and the Lakers at B’ville, Julia Willcox took ninth place in 19:52.6. “She’s really beginning to figure out how to succeed in this sport,” said Reed of his promising sophomore.

Right behind was Liz Dwyer in 20:02.8, as the veteran senior finished in the 12thspot.

“Liz is key to our success and we need her to be up front in every race like she was today,” said Reed. “If she has a fault, it’s that she probably runs too fast too early in the race. Once we get that controlled, she’ll be more effective. We like gamers and L.D. has the competitor’s attitude.”

Finan Malcolm was the vital link between the front group of Neal, Willcox and Dwyer, and the closers, freshman Zoe Osborne and juniors Jillian Van Leer and Makena Gorman.

Fighting fatigue and holding her game together, Malcolm placed 28th in 21:062 to set the table for one of the final three girls to close out the victory.

Osborne ran to the front of that chasing pack to take 61st place in 22:00.9. Following Osborne was Van Leer, who took 63rd in 22:05.6, while Gorman took 76th in 22:31.7 as she fights a nasty head cold.

For the first 2.5 miles, the threesome was running faster than in any previous race, and it showed the coaches that the training was beginning to make an impact.

“This past week, we’ve run and raced much better,” said Reed. “And that means we’re moving in the right direction.”