For all of the build-up and all that was at stake, the Section III Class A girls cross country championship race, essentially a showdown between the two top teams in the state, somehow exceeded what everyone expected.
Liverpool, the state no. 1-ranked challengers, and Fayetteville-Manlius, the no. 2-ranked reigning dynasty, went to the wire last Saturday at Chittenango High School, knowing that only one of them would go as a unit to this weekend’s state championships.
And it came down to a single point.
By that tiny margin, F-M held on to the crown, 43 points to Liverpool’s 44, and a year’s worth of work by the Warriors to, at long last, catch the Hornets fell just short.
That it was so close shocked no one. F-M had won their first encounter in late September at Long Branch Park, a three-way event withWest Genesee. Amid a larger field, Liverpool won the Salt City Athletic Conference meet at Baldwinsville in mid-October.
Now all the Class A teams from the various leagues were together, which was guaranteed to scramble the point totals. Add to it lots of rain, wind and cold temperatures, and any outcome seemed possible.
Liverpool did what it needed to do at the front, Jenna Schulz finishing second in 19 minutes, 27.7 seconds and Madison Neuner getting third place in 19:57.4 as the favorite, F-M’s Claire Walters, won in 18:40.6.
Since the Hornets’ Phoebe White finished fourth, they were tied in points early, but with Sydney Carlson taking eighth place in 20:26.9, the Warriors moved in front by three points since F-M’s third runner, Hannah Kaercher, could only place 11th.
Hannah Kaercher and Grace Kaercher (12th) were followed by Windsor Ardner, whose 13th-place time of 21:19.6 kept Liverpool in the lead. Now the fifth runners would decide matters.
Gabby McCarthy was the Warriors’ fifth finisher, taking 18th place in 21:47.3, but two F-M runners, Emily Cook (15th) and Chloe Bullough (17th), got to the line ahead of McCarthy, and by a few seconds, F-M had claimed it before Isabella Brancato (22:01.9) and Eva Woodworth (22:14.3) finished, with Emily Neuner posting 22:29.5 and Claudia Brown finishing in 23:19 flat.
Amid all this, Cicero-North Syracuse finished fourth, inches behind Baldwinsville in third place, with Katie Putman taking ninth place in 20:28.5, two spots out of advancing to the state meet as an eighth-grader.
Allison Newton finished 14th in 21:27.3 as no other Northstars runner would crack the top 25. Maria Marullo was 26th in the team race (28th overall) in 22:39.2, with Riley Barrett 28th among team runners in 22:49.9 as Hannah Reichard (23:26.8), Morgan Kingdeski (23:27.7) and Morgan Steckler (23:57.8) were in front of Sarah Davis (24:05.6).
As it finished second to F-M in the boys sectional Class A race, Liverpool still had three of its runners join Schulz and Madison Neuner in advancing to the state meet this Saturday at Long Island’s Sunken Meadow State Park.
Jake McGowan, in a time of 18:12.4, was the beat individual outside the Hornets’ top-five sweep, with Nathan Reeves seventh in 18:14.9 and Nick Brancato ninth in 18:19.6. They are joined on the sectional All-Stars by Rome Free Academy’s Nate Sletten and West Genesee’s Matt Bartolotta.
Elsewhere for the Warriors, Spencer Ruediger got a 19th-place finish in 18:55 flat as Carter Rodriguez gained 23rd place in 19:05.2. Ryan Cartwright finished 26th in 19:11 flat.
C-NS had to settle for fifth place behind B’ville (third) and Central Square (fourth) as R.J. Davis, in a clocking of 18:50.3, paced the Northstars by finishing 17th.
Nathan Poirier was 21st in 18:57.3, with Matt LeClair gaining 28th place in the team standings (29th overall) in 19:20.8. Josh Koeppe, in 19:24.4, was two spots ahead of Lucas Sharron (19:27.4) in 34th place.
