CENTRAL NEW YORK – It has proven a joyous time for the Cicero-North Syracuse girls cross country team well beyond its accomplishments that include beating mighty Fayetteville-Manlius in the Sept. 24 Baldwinsville Invitational.
A few days after that win, Hannah Boyle, who returned to cross country this fall and is a state champion in both indoor and outdoor track, announced that she would attend Penn State University next fall.
This came just after Boyle’s teammate, Kate Putman, announced that she was going to North Carolina State next fall, joining the defending NCAA cross country champions.
C-NS would compete in another big meet last Saturday when it went to Rochester for the McQuaid Invitational, where Putman claimed the individual title in the Bob Bradley Premier Race, setting a course record with a time of 16 minutes, 46.2 seconds.
The Northstars finished second in the team event 66 points to the 48 from Section II’s Bethlehem as Gabby Putman finished fifth among team runners in 17:50.3 and Boyle was seventh in 18:03.1. Marissa Navarra gained 17th place in 18:43.4 as Katy Harbold was 44th.
At that same meet, Liverpool was victorious in the girls AAA division, led by Meghan Moyer, who was seventh (19:23.1), and Taylor Page, who was eighth (19:26.1). Addison Ziegler was 18th in 20:01.2 as Kaitlin Hotaling (20:31.6) and Addyson Graham (20:50.0) also finished in the top 30.
All this followed a regular-season encounter with West Genesee and Henninger last Wednesday afternoon in Camillus, where, again, the C-NS girls were victorious.
The Northstars beat the Wildcats 21-35 led by Putman, who won in 19 minutes, 14.1 seconds as part of a top-four C-NS sweep.
Boyle edged Gabby Putman for second place, both finishing in 20:19.4, as Navarra was fourth in 20:19.6. WG claimed the next six spots before Elizabeth Smith earned 11th place for the Northstars in 22:16.7.
C-NS’s boys caught West Genesee just as the Wildcats’ top runner, Peter McMahon, returned to the lineup, and the Northstars lost 16-47 as McMahon took individual honors in 17:51.4.
Five of the top six finishers were Wildcats, the lone exception Tyler Graham, who gave C-NS a fifth-place time of 19:05.4. Justin Asch was ninth in 20:12.7, with Evan Champ 10th in 20:39.7 ahead of Jordan Hnatiw (21:08.9) and Joe Massett (21:21.3) in the scoring spots.
Meanwhile, Liverpool had its annual head-to-head meet with Baldwinsville, who is hosting C-NS and F-M next week, at Long Branch Park.
The boys race was quite close, but the Warriors lost, 27-29, to the Bees, who swapped finishing spots but gained the all-important victory when Solomon Holden-Betts won in a time of 16:50.1, well clear of the 17:29 flat from Austin Ziegler.
Michael Purvis was fourth in 17:55.9 as Jacob Makhlouf took sixth place in 18:18.5. Brady Ruediger landed in eighth place in 18:24.1 as Josh Vang (18:24.6) and J.T. Goss (18:39.8) got the ninth and 10th spots.
B’ville, however, claimed the third, fifth and seventh spots to stay in front, and clinched it when Ryan Wilson made his way to 11th place in 18:48.3.
Liverpool also saw the girls race go in the Bees’ favor by a 25-30 margin because it had four of the top six finishers, led by Kamryn Barton, who won in 20:44.5.
Moyer took second place for the Warriors in 21:11.3 and Ziegler (21:48.3) was third, but B’ville had the next three runners cross the line in front of Hotaling (23:02.3) in seventh place.
Page Baker (eighth, 23:05.3) and Kailyn Barth (23:28.4) also cracked the top 10 before Margaret Solomon (23:37.4) clinched the Bees’ win by taking 11th place.
Liverpool’s boys team also went to the McQuaid meet, where in the AAA division Ziegler took eighth place in 16:17.6, with Makhlouf 14th in 16:36.3. Purvis (16:50.1), Andrew Corrigan (16:55.4) finished ahead of C-NS’s top runner, Asch, who was 27th in 16:58.3.
