It turned into a glorious seven-day stretch for both of the Liverpool indoor track and field teams.
Six days after the boys Warriors prevailed in the Bob Grieve Invitational at SRC Arena, the girls Warriors pulled off an even bigger win in the massive Utica Challenge Invitational at Utica College’s Hutton Dome.
Earning 88.5 points, Liverpool pulled away from runner-up Niskayuna (72 points) in a field of more than 30 teams that also included Cicero-North Syracuse, who with 49 points had to settle for sixth place.
To get the Liverpool girls off to a memorable start, Jenna Schulz won the first race, the 3,000-meter run, and set a notable school record in the process.
Schultz’s time of nine minutes, 47.59 seconds broke a mark of 9:56 held by Jen Rhimes, who went on to compete three times for the United States in the Summer Olympics.
And Schulz wasn’t done, either moving to the 800-meter run and winning that event in 2:18.64, more than six seconds ahead of the field as the Northstars’ Allison Newton was fifth in 2:33 flat.
Sydney Carlson, in the 1,000-meter run, prevailed in 3:02.33 over Camden’s Elizabeth Lucason (3:02.43. Carlson, Sarah Sedlock, Emily Neuner and Kaleigh Buck were third in the 4×800 relay in 10:14.19.
Kali Hayes, in the 55-meter hurdles, was second (8.94 seconds) to Amsterdam’s Gabby Stanavich (8.60), with Lauren Fradette sixth in 9.47 seconds.
Imahni Sinclair threw the shot put 35 feet 1 ¾ inches to finish third, adding a fifth in the weight throw with 36’3 ¾”. Amina Sinclair, clearing 5 feet, was third in the high jump, with Alexia Ostrander fifth by topping 4’10”. C-NS’s Lilly Capria was eighth with 4’8”.
Anne Gullo got fourth place in the 300-meter dash in 43.16 seconds, with Tahje McDonald eighth (44.48) as Gullo also took fifth place in the 55-meter dash in 7.55 seconds.
The C-NS girls had Kate Putman prevail in the 500-meter run, going 1:20.90 to prevent Schulz from a third victory in this meet as Schulz made her way to second place in 1:22.35 and Sarah Davis was seventh (1:25.25) for the Northstars.
. This followed a 1,500-meter run where Putman, in 4:48.27, was second, though well back of the blistering 4:34.02 from Tully superstar Brooke Rauber as Neuner (5:02.32) was seventh.
Davis finished third in the 600-meter run in 1:42.20 as Baldwinsville’s Justus Holden-Betts won in 1:40.75. Savannah Kuhr got fifth place in the 55 hurdles in 9.33 seconds.
Brooke Blaisdell went 17’2 ½” in the long jump for fourth place, with Siera Davis fifth in the triple jump by going 35’1”. C-NS was sixth in the 4×200 relay in 1:51.88, two spots ahead of Liverpool’s 1:52.53, with the Northstars seventh in the 4×400 relay in 4:25.73.
Meanwhile, in the boys Utica Challenge, Liverpool did best among Section III teams, earning 74 points, second overall to Saratoga Springs (77 points), while C-NS was fifth with 43 points.
Nick Brancato gave the Warriors a win in the 3,200-meter run, his time of nine minutes, 41.34 seconds more than 11 seconds ahead of New Hartford’s Josh Farmer (9:52.79) as Jake McGowan was third in 9:55.22.
Nathan Reeves roared to a victory in the mile in 4:21.13, a new meet record as Carter Rodriguez was sixth in 4:36.11 and C-NS’s Nathan Poirier got fourth place in 4:30.92.
Antwan Kelley dominated the weight throw, his toss of 54’11” more than five feet ahead of any other competitor. Reeves, in 1:10.98, beat out Spencer Ruediger (1:11.87) for third place in the 500, while Ruediger got third place in the 800 in 2:02.70, with Nick Brancato ninth.
Reeves, Rodriguez, T.J. Praschunas and Cameron O’Connell were second in the 4×800 in 8:28.14, well back of Saratoga’s 8:03.36. Praschunas also was eighth in the 1,000 in 2:44.85. Jacob Barnes threw the shot put 44’9 ½” to finish fourth.
Focusing on the sprints at this meet, C-NS senior Jeremiah Willis won the 55 in 6.61 seconds over Schenectady’s Trebor Davis (6.63), while Liverpool’s Talmari Turner was fifth in 6.85 seconds.
Moving to the 300, Willis won again, going 35.75 seconds to hold off Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Cory Couture (35.77) as both set meet records here, too.
Also for the Northstars, Christian Carlin was fourth in the 600 in 1:27.92, with C-NS sixth in the 4×200 in 1:37.99 as Aidan Dietz took sixth place in the 500 in 1:13.03. Ryan Dupra cleared 5’8” for fifth place in the high jump.
