Having waited until close to the middle of October to compete, the Liverpool cross country teams didn’t want to waste any of those opportunities.
It all started for the Warriors last Monday at Long Branch Park, where it hosted West Genesee and pulled off a comfortable sweep of the Wildcats.
All eyes in the girls race were to see who would take the leadership mantle Jenna Schulz had for so long before heading to North Carolina State.
Emphatically, Sydney Carlson took it, speeding to first place in 19 minutes, 26, nearly a minute and a half ahead of the 20:53 from second-place Gabby McCarthy as Liverpool won 21-40.
Eva Woodworth, finishing fifth in 21:57, led a Warrriors pack that included Kara Nash (22:05) and Meghan Moyer (22:13), who edged Lauren Purvis (22:14) for seventh place. Addison Ziegler (22:41) and Taylor Page (23:01) followed.
The Liverpool boys won by a similar 22-39 margin, with Carter Rodriguez at the forefront as he required a time of 16:57 to fend off the 17:11 from WG’s Peter McMahon. Ryan Cartwright was third in 17:19.
Gavin Kenna led the next Warriors wave, finishing fifth in 18:40. Charlie Praschunus was sixth in 18:49 as Jack Sherlock (19:00), Aiden Meyer (19:18) and Jacob Makhlouf (19:23) finished in the top 10.
Traveling Wednesday to East Syracuse Minoa for a three-team meet that also involved Oswego, the girls Warriors earned a sweep over the Buccaneers and Spartans.
Liverpool’s girls beat Oswego 17-41 and ESM 24-33. Kaleigh Buck finished in 21:51, quickest among the Warriors and two seconds ahead of Moyer’s 21:53. Ziegler and Page both finished in 22:21, ahead of Kaitlyn Fico (24:49) and Courtney McCabe (26:19).
With its top runner resting, the Liverpool boys lost 27-29 to Oswego, who was led by Jason Purtell’s time of 18:14, but handled ESM 21-37 thanks to a swift 16:43 from Ryan Hagan.
Mike Purvis, finishing in 19:44, was three minutes behind Hagan as J.T. Goss (20:34) was just in front of Andrew Corrigan (20:37). Jeff Sydney finished in 20:42 ahead of Austin Ziegler (21:16) and Jon Howland (22:05).
Running again on Saturday in a mini-meet with Tully and Skaneateles, Liverpool’s girls had Carlson post 20:40 ahead of McCarthy (20:41) and Woodworth (20:49) as the Black Knights’ four-time state champion, Brooke Rauber, won in 17:32.
Over in the boys race, Jake McGowan ran to 16:34, trailing Skaneateles’ 2019 state Class C champion, Caleb Bender, who posted 16:14.
Still, the Warriors won the four-way meet with 27 points to the Lakers’ 42 as Hagan, in 16:47, was just ahead of Cartwright’s 16:57 and Rodriguez’s 17:10 in the top six.
Earlier that same day, Cicero-North Syracuse hosted Baldwinsville at Oneida Shores, with the Northstars sweeping the Bees 15-50 on the girls side and 20-39 on the boys side.
A top-eight girls run included Kate Putman going 18:16.9, more than a minute ahead of Marissa Navarra’s 19:37.1. Gabby Putman was third in 19:50.1, with Allison Newton fourth in 20:44.1 as Kate Capone (21:19.1), Cameron Sisk (21:34.1), Morgan Kingdeski (21:39.5) and Katy Harbold (21:54.3).
For the boys Northstars, Matt LeClair was victorious in 16:40.4 to the 16:52.8 from B’ville’s Colin Delaney. R.J. Davis was third in 16:55.3 and Evan Romano fourth in 17:14.6 as Zach Bergman went 17:49 flat to finish seventh, ahead of Edwin Hirsh (18:21.9) and Ashton Murdock (18:25.7).
