Cross country superpowers from Fayetteville-Manlius and Liverpool met on Wednesday at Long Branch Park for the first act of a multi-part saga that will play itself out over the next two months, if not longer.
And in the featured girls race, the Hornets, in the rare position of looking up the state Class A rankings from the no. 3 position, took down the state no. 1-ranked Warriors 26-29, spearheaded by a record-setting run by Claire Walters.
This followed the F-M boys team’s 20-35 win over Liverpool, where the top-ranked Hornets, even short-handed, swept the top four spots from the no. 3-ranked Warriors.
Rain on Tuesday and Wednesday created plenty of mud on the Long Branch course, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm about this race, especially with the suspense over which ambitious girls team held the upper hand at this point in the season.
Individually, the girls race was over early as Walters delivered a towering effort. with a time of 17 minutes, 41.4 seconds, Walters shattered, by nearly half a minute, the course record of 18:08 Liverpool’s Jenna Schulz established a week earlier in a race against Baldwinsville.
The suspense started after Schulz navigated her way to second place in 18:22.8, and it was the Hornets’ second and third runners that ultimately made the difference.
Grace Kaercher grabbed third place in 18:40.7, more than seven seconds ahead of the Warriors’ Madison Neuner (18:48.3) in fourth place, while Phoebe White, still making her way back from injury, finished fifth in 18:57.3.
That proved too much for Liverpool to overcome, even though Sydney Carlson finished sixth (19:10.1), with Windsor Ardner eighth (19:51.4) and Emily Neuner ninth (19:58.5).
The Hornets had Hannah Kaercher gain seventh place in 19:22.7 and Lejla Borcilo got 10th place in 20:12.1 as Emily Cook was 11th in 20.23.1, with Chloe Bullough 13th (20:39.0) and Izzy Crovella 14th (20:46.3).
It was more decisive in the boys race, for even though F-M did not have Garrett Brennan in the lineup, his teammates more than made up for that absence against a strong, deep Liverpool lineup.
Geoff Howles led that Hornets pack, breaking the 16-minute mark as he won in a clocking of 15:58.4. Sam Otis made his way to second place in 16:09.5, with Peyton Geehrer getting third place in 16:11.4 and Matt Tripp gaining fourth place in 16:12.8.
Nathan Reeves had Liverpool’s best effort, a fifth-place time of 16:29.6, and it did have four other runners – Carter Rodriguez (16:36.0), Jake McGowan (16:39.0), Spencer Ruediger (16:54.2) and Nick Brancato (16:54.6), get top-10 finishes.
Elsewhere for the Hornets, freshman Yakob Kelley got a time of 16:58 flat for 11th place overall as Jack Altimonda finished 13th in 17:25.6, with John Meskos 15th in 17:29.9.
West Genesee also ran in this race, with F-M and Liverpool defeating each them, the girls Hornets winning 15-50 and the boys defeating the Wildcats 16-47.
