ONONDAGA COUNTY – At the tail end of its busiest stretch of the season, the Cicero-North Syracuse cross country teams merely had to face the area’s reigning dynasty.
Fayetteville-Manlius arrived at Oneida Shores on Tuesday sporting the no. 2 state Class A rankings on both the girls and boys sides, and earned sweeps of the three-team meet that also involved West Genesee.
C-NS’s girls were no. 5 in the state Class A rankings but were competing for the third time in seven days, counting its head-to-head battle with Liverpool on Sept. 22 and the subsequent Baldiwnsville Invitational that it won.
Kate Putman would challenge F-M’s stars and finish in 18 minutes, 12.6 seconds, but that would trail the blazing 17:36 flat put up by Hornets freshman Izzie Sullivan and was just behind Hannah Kaercher’s 18:07.8.
Gabby Putman finished fourth in 18:55.3, but F-M swept the next four spots on the way to defeating the Northstars 21-39, though C-NS did beat West Genesee 17-41.
Behind the Putman sisters, Marissa Navarra finished ninth overall in 20:03.6, with Cameron Sisk 11th in 20:37.3 as Kate Capone posted 21:02.6 ahead of Ava Fisher (21:45.1) and Allison Moran (22:13.3).
Over in the boys three-team race, C-NS lost 15-49 to F-M and 19-37 to state Class A no. 19-ranked West Genesee, who had junior Peter McMahon dominate the individual race, his time of 16:04.4 nearly a full minute ahead of the field.
Ashton Murdock had the Northstars’ best showing, taking 10th overall in 17:57.4. Nathan Connors was 13th in 18:09.1 and Gavin McAllister 14th in 18:22.5 as James McConnell (18:35.2), Evan Nobles (19:04.7) and Justin Asch (19:10.6) all had top-20 finishes.
Then, a day later, it was Liverpool against Baldwinsville at Long Branch Park, with each of the Warriors’ sides defending their respective state Class A no. 15 rankings with wins over the Bees – one close, one not as close.
It was the Liverpool boys edging state no. 16-ranked B’ville 27-30, led by senior Ryan Hagan, who pulled away to a top time of 16:36.9, well clear of the 17:19.2 from the Bees’ Solomon Holden-Betts.
Gavin Kenna was third in 17:34.7, and then the Warriors saw Jack Sherlock take fifth place in 17:58.7 and Jacob Makhlouf get sixth place in 18:02.2 before Austin Ziegler, in 18:44.1, clinched the victory ahead of J.T. Goss (18:50.2).
Far easier was the Liverpool girls’ 15-50 win where it swept the top seven positions, with Kaleigh Buck leading the way as she ran to first place in 20:40.2.
Eva Woodworth, in 20:57.5, beat out Addyson Graham (21:01.9) for the runner-up spot, while Meghan Moyer was fourth in 21:05.6. Taylor Page got fifth place in 21:31.3 as Addison Ziegler was sixth in 21:35.4 and Kara Nash, in 21:58.1, claimed seventh place.
From here, Liverpool went to Saturday’s McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, where the girls Warriors finished fifth out of 13 teams in the featured Bob Bradley Premier race.
Woodworth, finishing 22nd in 19:27.2, led a consistent Liverpool side as Grahaam was 30th in 19:56.3. Buck (20:12.1) beat out Moyer (20:16.1) for 37th place as Page, in 20:36 flat, also cracked the top 20.
Liverpool’s boys had Hagan at the forefront in the Bradley Premier race, claiming 21st place in 15:57.8. Of the rest of the Warriors, only Kenna, who was 52nd in 16:32.9, got close to Hagan’s total.
C-NS’s boys won at the Tully Invitational with 53 points to edge the host Black Knights (57). Murdock took fifth place in 18:00.2, with Connors ninth in 18:17.5 and McAllister 12th in 18:38.2. McConnell (19:21.4) and Asch (19:32.0) also earned top-20 finishes.
