In many ways, the pinnacle for the Liverpool girls cross country team was just making it all the way to Portland, Oregon, to race in last Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals.
But after taking 13th place against the best programs in the United States, and doing so with just one senior in its group of seven runners, has to make the Warriors confident that it could get to such heights again.
A second-place finish to Fayetteville-Manlius at the New York Regional Championships Nov. 25 at Bowdoin Park got Liverpool its berth in the Nike Nationals, but it didn’t want to stop there.
After days of practice at the Glendoveer Golf Course and a tour of Nike’s world headquarters, Liverpool raced on Saturday and were led by sophomore Jenna Schulz, who beat most of the 198-runner field as she finished 19th overall in 18 minutes, 8.7 seconds.
Junior Madison Neuner finished 42nd among team runners, and 82nd overall, in 19:11.6, while freshman Sydney Carlson made her way to the finish line in 19:34.1.
The lone senior on the team, Natalie Kurz, completed her race in 19:38.8 as sophomore Rosie Petrella finished in 20:03.8, just ahead of junior Windsor Ardner (20:06.4) as Isabella Brancato finished in 21:36.4.
It proved quite a day for Section III runners overall. F-M’s girls won the Nike Nationals for the 11th time in 12 years, as two of its runners (Claire Walters and Phoebe White) finished in the top 15 and two others (Sophia Ryan and Becca Walters) overcame illnesses during the week to finish in the top 50 and help the Hornets edge North Naperville (Illinois) for that top spot.
Not only that, but F-M’s boys team finished second in its portion of the Nike Nationals, with Tully’s Brooke Rauber getting fifth place in the girls individual race, all of them trailing North Rockland sophomore sensation Katelyn Tuohy, who broke the course record with a time of 16:44.7 that beat the field by more than 40 seconds.
