In a short amount of time, both of the cross country teams at Cicero-North Syracuse had just about caught up to its rivals from Liverpool.
How close they actually were would get discovered last Saturday when they squared off twice in the Section III Class A championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, where they expected to duel for runner-up team honors behind the dominant sides of Fayetteville-Manlius.
In the girls race, the anticipation was about whether C-NS, no. 3 in the latest state Class A rankings, could overtake no. 6-ranked Liverpool.
That did not happen. Led by Jenna Schulz and Sydney Carlson, the Warriors, with 55 points, topped the Northstars’ third-place score of 75 points as F-M won with 21 points, placing five of the top eight runners.
Schulz, as she has done so many times, would, with her time of 18 minutes, 21.3 seconds, beat everyone in the Class A field except future North Carolina State teammate (and F-M star) Claire Walters, who won in 17:29.6.
Since the top five finishers outside of F-M would advance to this Saturday’s state championships at SUNY-Plattsburgh, plenty of runners stepped up, none more than Carlson, who was seventh overall in 19:48.3.
Freshman Kate Putman, leading C-NS, got to ninth place in 19:53.5, and by doing so grabbed the fourth bid on the Section III All-Star squad for the state meet, joining Schulz, Carlson, Rome Free Academy’s Emily Toth-Ratazzi and Oswego’s Miranda Gilbert.
Liverpool’s runner-up team finish sprung from a trio of top-20 finishes behind Schulz and Carlson.
Gabby McCarthy finished 14th in 20:24.9, with Eva Woodworth getting 15th place in 20:37 flat and ninth-grader Kara Nash 17th in 20:46.9. Eighth-grader Charlotte Warner was 24th in 21:16.5.
C-NS had freshman Marissa Navarra make her way to 13th place in 20:19.4, while eighth-grader Marissa Doty needed 20:40 flat to finish 16th. Allison Newton, in 20:49.2, beat out Hannah Reichard (20:54.8) for 18th place as Morgan Kingdeski (21:45.2) and seventh-grader Gabby Putman (22:02.4) trailed them.
Earlier, the boys Class A race was the first on the card, and in the cold morning air Liverpool’s Carter Rodriguez cemented his own spot in the state meet and, with Jake McGowan and Ryan Cartwright, led the Warriors to a second-place finish behind F-M.
In a time of 16 minutes, 37.2 seconds, Rodriguez finished fifth overall, and second outside of the winning F-M squad. He joins RFA teammates Nick Ferretti and Nate Sletten, along with Matt Bartolotta (West Genesee) and Jack Michaels (Baldwinsville), on the sectional All-Star team for the state meet.
McGowan just missed out on that trip, but still finished ninth in 16:53 flat, while Cartwright got 10th place in 17:05.4. Ryan Hagan was close behind, getting 12th place in 17:11.8, with Charlie Praschunus (17:56.9) and Ethan Glashauser (17:58.2) also in the top 25.
C-NS, who finished fifth in the team standings, was led by Matt LeClair, who ran to 18th place in 17:41.7. Close behind him, R.J. Davis got 20th place in 17:53.4 as Josh Koeppe was 28th in 18:04.3, with Zach Bergman (18:08.5), Evan Breitbeck (18:13.9), Evan Romano (18:18.9) and Edwin Hirsh (18:30.8) close behind.
