Even if it’s early in the season, and even if it does not last, the Liverpool girls cross country team had to take a moment or two last week to savor a special accomplishment.
The Warriors, aided by its overall victory in the Sept. 8 Chittenango Invitational, were atop the state Class A rankings, a spot held for so long by Fayetteville-Manlius.
Having celebrated this accomplishment, Liverpool began its Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division schedule Wednesday with a 15-50 romp over Syracuse East.
Jenna Schulz won the race in 19 minutes, 10 seconds, with Sydney Carlson third in 19:34. Windsor Ardner got third place in 19:43, edging out Emily Neuner (19:46) for that spot as Madison Neuner was fifth in 19:58.
Leading the next pack of Warriors, Gabriella McCarthy finished sixth in 20:53. Bella Brancato, in 21:11, held off Sarah Sedlock (21:16) for seventh place as Kaleigh Buck (22:35) beat out Claudia Brown (22:36) for ninth place.
The boys race was much the same as Liverpool, who sits at no. 3 behind F-M and Corning in its state rankings, handled Syracuse East 15-50 as Ryan Cartwright matched Nathan Reeves’ top time of 16:55.
Spencer Ruediger, in 17:08, edged Jake McGowan (17:10) for third place, with Nick Brancato fifth in 17:17. T.J. Praschunus (17:33) led a group that includes Ethan Glashauser (18:12), Kyle Potrzeba (18:13), Dawson Newbern (18:26) and Ryan Hagan (18:30).
That same day, Cicero-North Syracuse pulled off a sweep of its league matches as the state no. 12-ranked girls Northstars prevailed 23-32 over state no. 14-ranked West Genesee, while also handling host Syracuse East 15-50.
The key for the Northstars was a sweep of the top three spots, led by eighth-grader Kate Putman, whose time of 20:32 flat just beat out Allison Newton (20:33.7) for the top spot as Maria Marullo was third in 20:58.2.
WG, led by Faith Knox in fourth place (21:23.7), claimed the next four spots, but the Northstars held on to its lead thanks to Abbee Norris taking eighth place in 22:01.7 and Marissa Navarra getting ninth place in 22:14 flat.
It was more lopsided in the boys meet as C-NS beat West Genesee 21-40 while also getting a 15-50 win over Syracuse East, easily overcoming the fact that the Wildcats’ Matt Bartolotta won the individual race in 17:42 flat.
R.J. Davis, who finished second in 18:20.4, led a pack of Northstars that included Lucas Sharron (18:29.1) and Matt LeClair (18:29.8), with Nathan Poirier getting fifth place in 18:30.3. Josh Koeppe was seventh in 18:38.9 as Brad Laquidari (18:46.6) and Evan Breitbeck (18:51.0) also cracked the top 10.
Staying busy, each of the C-NS teams would go to Saturday’s East Syracuse Minoa Invitational, where Putman earned her first mass-race victory at the varsity level, winning the girls event with a time of 19:32.7, well clear of Oswego’s Molly Fitzgibbons (19:46.3) in second place.
Overall, the C-NS girls had 76 points to finish second behind Brighton’s 55 points, despite Putman’s win, Newton finishing fifth in 20:32.6 and Marullo getting sixth place in 20:38.8.
Brighton pulled it out by having all of its top five runners finish ahead of the Northstars’ fourth and fifth finishers, though Navarra was 27th in 22:12.4 and Norris (23:09.2) was 37th, ahead of Kate Capone (23:12.1) and Hannah Reichard (23:53.5).
The boys race at ESM also had C-NS second to Brighton, with 104 points to the Barons’ 79, and also had three top-10 finishes for the Northstars as Poirier was fourth in 17:20.6, with Davis fifth in 17:27.8 and LeClair 10th in 17:39 flat.
Six Brighton runners would finish ahead of the Northstars’ Christian Carlin, who still got 39th place in the team standings in 18:46.2, while Koeppe was 46th (18:58.2), two spots ahead of Breitbeck (19:03.6).
