In between regular-season competition and the post-season, each of the Liverpool cross country teams would go up against high-profile competition.
The Warriors did so in Sunday’s Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, where the girls Warriors would compete in the featured Eastern States Championship for the top teams in the field.
Out of 14 sides, Liverpool took fifth with 140 points, not far from the third-place 125 posted by Auburn.
Again the Warriors were led by senior Taylor Page, who covered the 2.5-mile Van Cortlandt Park course in 15 minutes 5.4 seconds, placing her 12th among a field of 109 and eighth among team runners.
Kaitlyn Hotaling was just behind Page, making her way to 10th among team runners and 14th overall in 15:15.9. Katie Martin finished 27th among team runners in 16:17.4, with Rose Piorkowski (16:51.1) just ahead of Paige Baker (17:04.1) as Maggie Sherlock posted 17:10.6 and Addison Ziegler finished in 17:14.6.
Liverpool’s boys team was in the Varsity ‘C’ race at Manhattan and, with 147 points, beat everyone in the 22-team field except Section II’s Bethlehem, who won with 101 points.
Josh Vang had a top-10 individual finish, getting to eighth in 13:48.5, with Brian Juston earning 22nd place in 14:28.6, one spot ahead of Mason Dineen (14:31.9) in 23rd place.
Cooper Kohanski made his way to 41st place in 14:52.3, with Owen Bresett posting 15:04.4 half a second ahead of Jackson Allen’s 15:04.9 as Michael Hoey finished in 15:12 flat.
As a follow-up to this Liverpool swept a meet last Wednesday against Fulton and Henninger, a pair of 15-50 decisions against the Black Knights as the boys won 17-46 and the girls 16-47 over the Red Devils.
Vang’s 17:27.3 led the boys Warriors, with Juston and Dineen both posting 18:03.9. Also running together, Allen and Brady Petrella each finished in 18:21.7.
Hotaling charged to a 19:15.4 to dominate the girls race, nearly a minute clear of the 20:02.1 from Martin. Piorkowski posted 20:25.9 to finish third for her side as Sherlock got a time of 20:54.2 and Kailyn Barth went 21:45.1.
With a Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division title secure the Cicero-North Syracuse boys cross country team added another honor with a victory at last Friday’s Chittenango Bears Twilight Invitational.’
Depth made the difference for the Northstars, whose total of 49 points beat out the 75 from runner-up Fayetteville-Manlius despite the Hornets having the top two individuals head-to-head.
Rhett Andrews, who finished fifth in 17:40.7, closely trailed the 17:34.6 of the Hornets’ Kevin Heller, though both were behind the winning 16:47.6 from F-M’s Will Ditre.
Four other C-NS runners, though, beat the next-best Hornets time, starting with Nolan Zinsmeyer going 17:45.6 for sixth place and continuing with Tyler Graham getting ninth place in 18:24.6.
Dominic Petrera, in 18:31.5, was just outside the top 10, while Joe Massett’s 18th-place time of 18:59.3 clinched the team title just ahead of Jack Putman’s 19:01.3.
C-NS’s girls got a second-place finish behind F-M, 33 points to the Hornets’ 24, with Katy Harbold getting to fourth place in 20:19 flat and Kennedy Jones getting to fifth place in 20:25.9.
Mya Patti made her way to eighth place in 21:07.1, with Cameron Sisk 10th in 21:12.7. Sophia Graham made her way to 14th place in 21:38.7.
