Even with all the glory the Liverpool boys cross country team attained in 2015 with a Section III and state Class A championship, the sequel in 2016 has proven quite successful, too.
Entering last Saturday’s sectional Class A meet at Chittenango HIgh School, the Warriors were determined to keep Fayetteville-Manlius from taking back the top spot, and knew that it would need more from its supporting cast to do so.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Liverpool’s senior trio of Stevie Schulz, Ty Brownlow and Josh Hickmott swept the top spots, and the rest of the Warriors put up season-best efforts so that, with 35 points, it again topped F-M, who was second with 46 points.
Schulz needed 15 minutes, 49.7 seconds to post the day’s fastest time, comfortably ahead of Brownlow, who gained second place in 15:57.9 as Hickmott roared to third place in 15:58.4, just ahead of Rome Free Academy’s Davone Hernandez (16:01.6) at the line.
With F-M’s Patrick Perry (fifth, 16:20.2), Ben Otis (seventh, 16:37.3) and Joe Walters (eighth, 16:40.9) all finishing strong, that left it up to the junior duo of Emil Videman and Cullen McLaughlin to deliver a championship.
In a clocking of 16:57.8, Videman beat out F-M’s Jack Boltman (17:07.3) for 10th place, and though the Hornets’ Max Perry finished 15th and Matt Tripp 17th, McLaughlin sealed a sectional title when he crossed the finish line in 19th place in a time of 17:25.8.
Sophomore Nathan Reeves made his way to 33rd place in 18:04 flat, with junior Ben Zinger getting to 36th place in 18:10 flat, six seconds behind Reeves, and T.J. Praschnus going 18:16.1 to gain 39th place.
So the Warriors will go to Chenango Valley State Park for this Saturday’s state meet, with the full boys team on hand along with two runners from the Liverpool girls team – freshman Jenna Schulz and sophomore Madison Neuner.
In the girls sectional Class A meet, Schulz finished in 18 minutes, 53.3 seconds, which put her sixth overall, but tops among runners outside the F-M squad that swept the top five and had its four best runners break the Chittenango course record, led by another ninth-grader,Claire Walters, who won in 17:59 flat.
Meanwhile, Neuner’s season-long improvement continued as she finished eighth in 19:26.3, earning a spot on the sectional All-Star team alongside Schulz, Baldwinsville’s Justus Holden-Betts and West Genesee teammates Mia Mitchell and Emily Young.
Team-wise, Liverpool was third in Class A with 73 points, just behind West Genesee’s total of 67 points because the Wildcats placed all five of its best runners in the top 20, something the Warriors couldn’t quite match.
Still, Vanessa Eberhard made her way to 15th place in 20:18.6, with Natalie Kurz taking 21st place in 21:50.6, two spots ahead of Windsor Ardner (20:54.4) in 23rd place. Isabella Brancato was 24th in 20:57.3 and Mallory Woytowicz was 31st in 21:45.2.
Cicero-North Syracuse saw its girls team finish fifth in Class A with 145 points, led by junior Annina Marullo, who got to 20th place in a clocking of 20:45.2.
Emily Dembowski made her way to 25th place in 21:08.2, while Mia Pestle finished 29th in 21:36.7. Sarah Davis got 33rd place in 21:48.3 as Leah Bisgrove was 38th in 22:10.3, ahead of Headan Wilson (22:36.5) in 43rd place and Maria Marullo (23:17.8) taking 49th place.
In the boys sectional Class A race, the Northstars made its way to fourth place with 131 points, with all of its runners close to each other in the standings as junior Sam Barber led the way, finishing 22nd in a time of 17:35.4.
Nathan Poirier gained 25th place in 17:40.3, with Eric Bowen (17:52.4) beating out Brandon Martin (17:55.2) for 27th place and David Ware right behind them in 29th place in 18:03.7. Jason Hughes was 31st in 18:06.4, and Lucas Sharron was 32nd in 18:08.2.
