Rarely does the high school cross country season in Central New York get underway before Labor Day – but it did in 2016. And Cicero-North Syracuse did not mind one bit, going north to Adams and emerging with a sweep of both teams titles during last Saturday’s South Jefferson Invitational.
The girls race went first, and with 38 points, the Northstars held off Beaver River (52 points) for that top spot as Saranac, with 66 points, finished third.
On an individual basis, C-NS had nine of the top 23 finishers, with Annina Marullo setting her team’s pace as she got third place in 21 minutes, 4.4 seconds. Saranac’s Rachel Woodruff won in 20:18.8.
The Northstars’ Sarah Davis was fifth in 21.33.9, with Mia Pestle (22:23.9) and Hailee Kolakowski (22:34.1) eighth and ninth, respectively. Megan Trubia, who was 13th in 23:03.7, led a pack that included Gigi Pascarella (23:07.7), Haedan Wilson (23:26.6) and Maria Marullo (23:29.0). Leah Bisgrove finished in 24:07.7.
In the boys race that followed, C-NS earned 30 points and prevailed with, again, Beaver River taking second place, this time by earning 65 points. The Northstars also swept the top five spots in the JV race.
Nate Poirier, in a time of 17 minutes, 27.3 seconds, trailed only Rome Free Academy’s Davone Hernandez, who got the individual victory in 17:13.7, but including Poirier, C-NS runners occupied nine of the top 20 finishing spots.
Brandon Martin made it to fourth place in 17:39.4, while David Ware was sixth in 18:06 flat. Allen Garnes needed exactly18:12 to finish eighth as John Perperian was 10th in 18:14.5. Sam Barber got 14th place in 18:43 flat, ahead of Eric Bowen (16th, 18:53.6), Jason Hughes (18th, 18:58.7) and Lucas Sharron (19th, 18:59.2).
