Just like many times before, a strong cross country team was sidelined during the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
Liverpool’s girls were once ranked as high as no. 2 in the state in Class A and were still no. 3 following its runner-up finish in the Section III meet Nov. 5 at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Yet instead of the whole Warriors side going to Wayne High School, it was just a trio – Jenna Schulz, Madison Neuner and Natalie Kurz, part of the sectional All-Star side with West Genesee’s Carly Benson and Baldiwnsville’s Justus Holden-Betts.
Together, this quintet did plenty to help Section III crush all of the other participating sections in that portion of the state meet, earning 127 points to pull away from Section II (271 points) and the other sections.
Schulz and Neuner both finished in the individual top 10, with Schulz enduring the snow, cold temperatures and deep mud to finish in 19 minutes, 33.8 seconds for ninth place, just ahead of Neuner, who posted 19:45.1.
Not far behind them, Kurz completed her state race in a time of 20:40.6 and got 27th place. In between them, Holden-Betts finished 15th in 20:10.7 and Benson was 37th in 21:04.7.
It helped, of course, to have Fayetteville-Manlius on hand as the Hornets won its 12th consecutive state Class A team title with four runners (Claire Walters, Rebecca Walters, Sophie Ryan and Phoebe White) in the top six behind North Rockland sophomore sensation Katelyn Tuohy, who won in a course-record 17:51.4.
Another Liverpool runner,took part in the boys Class A state race as Nathan Reeves beat most of the field of 108, making his way to 48th place in a clocking of 17:27.2.
Section III finished fifth overall as F-M (40 points) was second in the team event, two points behind Corning (38 points).
Reeves did best among the sectional All-Stars. Baldwinsville’s Joe Licameli was 55th in 17:58.8, just ahead of Bees teammates Garrett Vannatta (17:58.8) and Connor McManus (18:03.5) as West Genesee’s Matt Bartolotta finished in 18:08.6.
