BALDWINSVILLE – Three different times, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls cross country team has raced against Fayetteville-Manlius on the Durgee Junior High School course at Baldwinsville.
And on each of the two occasions where most of its top runners were present, the Northstars have prevailed, including Wednesday’s Salt City Athletic Conference championships, where it was the Putman sisters leading the way.
Kate Putman, the senior bound for North Carolina State, left the field behind, her time of 17 minutes, 30.3 seconds more than 10 seconds faster than the time she recorded in late September at the Baldwinsville Invitational.
And it was Gabby Putman finishing second, the sophomore going 17:51.9 to finish well clear of Auburn freshman Kyleen Brady (18:27.5) in third.
F-M did not have Izzie Sullivan in the lineup and Hannah Kaercher finished fourth in 18:42 flat, but C-NS senior Marissa Navarra trailed Kaercher and, in 18:54.6, made her way to fifth place, further strengthening the Northstars’ lead.
Though the Hornets had three other runners in the top 15, eighth-grader Sophia Graham got there, too, her 15th-place clocking of 19:56.2 helping C-NS to clinch the meet along with sophomore Katy Harbold finishing 24th in 20:34.1.
Allison Moran finished 31st in 20:58 flat, three spots ahead of Elizabeth Smith’s 21:20.1.
Overall, the Northstars had 46 points to F-M’s 59, but when only the SCAC Metro teams were counted, C-NS, with 39 points, were nine points ahead of the Hornets’ 48.
Liverpool took fourth place with sophomore Taylor Page earning seventh place in 19:06.9 and senior Meghan Moyer was right behind, finishing eighth in 19:14.4.
Addison Ziegler made her way to 18th place in 20:18 flat, with Kaitlin Hotaling, in 20:50.3, edging teammate Page Baker (20:53.8) for 29th place. Addyson Graham was 33rd in 21:16.3 and Kailyn Barth (21:24.1) was 35th.
In the boys edition of the SCAC meet, Liverpool was third in the Metro division behind Baldwinsville and F-M, and fourth overall as Auburn had the best team score of 60 points to B’ville’s 68.
Senior Michael Purvis led the Warriors, getting a ninth-place finish in 16:47.3 as B’ville’s Solomon Holden-Betts won in 15:27.4.
Austin Ziegler got 18th place in 17:15.3, with Brady Ruediger 20th in 17:19.8 and Josh Vang (17:22.5) just behind in 21st place. Jacob Mahklouf, 25th in 17:34.2, rounded out Liverpool’s scoring column as J.T. Goss (17:49.7) edged Andrew Corrigan (17:50.7) for 31st place.
Then there was C-NS, who finished fifth among SCAC Metro teams (seventh overall) paced by the duo of sophomore Justin Asch and freshman Tyler Graham.
In a time of 18:06.1, Graham held off Asch (18:07.6) for 37th place. Dom Petrera was 61st in 18:32.2, ahead of Liam Adams (18:43.2) and Jordan Hnatiw (18:46.5) as Evan Champ finished in 19:00.6.
Now the Liverpool and C-NS sides would get more than two weeks to prepare for the Nov. 5 Section III championships at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, the same venue where the New York State Public High School Athletic Association meet takes place a week later.
