Now the Liverpool boys cross country team is making cross-country plane trips in early December an annual occasion.
For the third year in a row, the Warriors are venturing to Portland, Oregon to take part in the Nike Cross Nationals, this following a second-place finish in last Saturday’s New York/Northeast Regional Championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.
And Liverpool goes there with the reigning regional individual champion in senior Ty Brownlow, who beat out teammate Stevie Schulz and a strong group of challengers in a field consisting of more than 210 runners from across the region.
Less than eight seconds separated the top five finishers, and Brownlow, in 15 minutes, 42.2 seconds, did enough to hold off Pittsford Mendon’s Nathan Lawler (15;44.4) by 2.2 seconds, while Schulz, in his own strong effort, made it to third place in 15:46.9.
Between the performances of Brownlow, Schulz and senior Josh Hickmott, who finished ninth in 16:14.7 (eighth among team runners), Liverpool built up a big early lead, but was overtaken by Fayetteville-Manlius, who claimed the regional title with 114 points to the Warriors’ 145.
F-M placed each of its five best runners (Patrick Perry, Joe Walters, Ben Otis, Jack Boltman and Matt Tripp) within the top 50 of the team standings, while Liverpool had just four in that group, the top senior trio followed by Emil Videman, who was 35th in the team standing (53rd overall) in 17:04.7.
Otherwise, Liverpool saw Dawson Newbern finish 99th in the team race in 17:58 flat, with Nathan Reeves 12 spots behind as he posted 18:07 and Cullen McLaughlin further back with a time of 18:24.1.
Liverpool’s girls cross country team was at Bowdoin Park for the second time in as many weeks, taking part in the New York/Northeast Regionals following a sixth-place finish in the state Federation championships on this same course Nov. 19.
Here, though, the Warriors placed 10th out of 16 teams with 249 points, well off the winning pace of 40 points set by Fayetteville-Manlius, who joined Shenendehowa (110 points) in advancing to the Nike Nationals.
Again, Jenna Schulz put on a terrific individual effort to lead Liverpool, making her way to ninth place in 18 minutes, 33.2 seconds. Shoreham-Wading River’s Katherine Lee pulled away from the field to win in a clocking of 17:44.8, less than a minute ahead of Schulz.
Elsewhere, Liverpool had Madison Neuner finish 32nd in the team standings (43rd overall) in 19:56.6, while Windsor Ardner claimed 59th in the team race in 20:40.6. Rosie Petrella finished in 20:53.5 ahead of Natalie Kurz, who posted 21:23 flat, and Mallory Woytowicz, who finished in 21:47.4.
Overall, Section III runners claimed seven of the top 15 positions, with Schulz joined by five F-M runners (Claire Walters third, Phoebe White sixth, Palmer Madsen seventh, Rebecca Walters 13th and Sophie Ryan 15th) and Tully eighth-grader Brooke Rauber, who finished 11th.
