ONONDAGA COUNTY – Up against league competition, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool girls cross country teams each proved successful in Wednesday’s wet conditions before they would go head-to-head next week at Long Branch Park.
In the Warriors’ case, it involved going back to Baldwinsville four days removed from competing at that team’s annual invitational meet and prevailing over the Bees.
Though it was a close race at Durgee Junior High School, Liverpool’s girls defeated the Bees 26-33, aided by its strength at the top and its depth from the fourth runners onward.
Taylor Page easily took the individual race, her 19:28.2 nearly half a minute ahead of B’ville’s Kamryn Barton (19:55.7), while the Bees took two of the next three spots in between Kaitlyn Hotaling’s fourth-place 20:23.1.
The getaway began with Rose Piorkowski finishing sixth in 21:54.1. Then Katie Martin got seventh (21:54.2) and Addison Ziegler eighth (21:54.2) to round out the scoring column in front of Paige Baker’s ninth-place 21:54.7, with Maggie Sherlock 10th in 21:55.2 and Kailyn Barth 11th in 21:58.7.
Liverpool’s boys, meanwhile, lost 19-44 to B’ville, who earned eight of the top nine individual spots as its depth proved too much for the Warriors.
Still, Joshua Vang nearly won the individual race, his 17:45.8 second only to the 17:40.1 by the Bees’ Jacob Guelli. Jackson Allen, in 19:16.6, edged out Mason Dineen (19:16.8) for a top-10 finish as Brian Juston posted 19:26.5. Cooper Kohanski and Owen Bresett both finished in 19:36 flat.
C-NS swept all parts of its three-team meet against West Genesee and Henninger at Camillus Middle School, with the girls having the closest call but still edging the Wildcats 26-29.
In a time of 20:20 flat, Sophia Graham was second to the 20:14.5 from WG’s Rebecca Dickey, but Katy Harbold was third in 20:39.5 and Mya Patti fourth in 20:51.5, though it required Grace Scoville getting eighth place (22:46.9) and Allison Moran taking ninth place (22:53.4) to help the Northstars hang on.
Meanwhile, the C-NS boys beat WG 19-36 and Henninger 17-44, claiming four of the top five individual spots led by Rhett Andrews, who crossed the finish line first in 17:39.1.
Nolan Zinsmeyer got second place in 17:41.7, with Tyler Graham going 17:45.8 for third place. Jack Putman finished fifth in 18:12.3, with Dominic Petrera (18:55.8) also in the top 10.
During Saturday’s McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, on the boys side Liverpool ran in the Class AAA division for large schools and finished fourth, trailing only Churchville-Chili, Lakewood (Ohio) and Clarence.
Vang led the way on the 3.0-mile McQuaid course, tearing to a fifth-place time of 16:02.2 not far from the winning 15:38.7 from Lancaster’s Carson Zuba as Dineen (16:58.0) edged Juston (16:59.2) for 25th place.
Liverpool’s girls got a fifth-place finish from Page in the Bob Bailey Memorial division, recording a time of 17:31.9. Out of 17 teams, thegirls Warriors finished fifth, helped by Page and Hotaling (18:29.1) both getting top-25 individual finishes.
