Liverpool cross country continues

Neil Kerr / The Syracuse Post-Standard, October 08, 2009 8:17 a.m. Baldwinsville and Liverpool cross country runners are in a tight pack during a race between the two teams Wednesday. - (Jim Commentucci / The Post-Standard)

Led to the finish line by Colin Savage (15:34.52) and Alex Wilke (15:37.30), unbeaten Liverpool outkicked defending CNYCL National Division champ Baldwinsville 23-33 on Wednesday in a first-place showdown of state-ranked cross country teams in Baldwinsville.

Liverpool took the 1-2-5-6-9 positions to outrun the host Bees, with Nick Hull, Anthony Brais and Chris Clemons finishing off the scoring for coach Tracy Vannatta's Warriors (4-0).

"Liverpool's top two kids ran really well," disappointed B'ville coach Jason Glashauser said. "We tried to set a fast early pace to take the kick out of those Liverpool kids, but they're running really well right now. Liverpool has made significant improvement over the team I saw last year."

For the Bees, Nate McCabe and Shaun Thompson finished 3-4 in the race, but Liverpool had too much depth to overcome.

More boys cross country F-M 15, Auburn 50; F-M 15, Central Square 44; Central Square 21, Auburn 37: For unbeaten, No. 1 state-ranked F-M (5-0), pacesetters Brendan Farrell and Paul Merriman both finished in 16:56, leading a pack of five Hornets across the finish line within a two-second span.

Tully 19, LaFayette 40: Led to the finish by sophomore Alex Mirra, who was timed in 17:49, unbeaten Tully (4-0) stretched its OHSL Patriot Division winning streak to 93 meets since a 1996 loss. Tully took five of the first six places en route to victory.

Jamesville-DeWitt 15, Cortland 50: Paced again by the 1-2 tandem of Bumkoth Jiak (18:22) and Dan Frank (18:24), unbeaten J-D (5-0) cruised to the OHSL Freedom victory.

J-E 20, Skaneateles 41; Skan. 15, Phoenix 50; J-D 15, Phoenix 50: The Eagles stayed unbeaten (6-0) in the OHSL Liberty Division, even though J-E senior pacesetter Cody Stanton was ill and didn't compete.

Girls cross country Liverpool 16, Baldwinsville 39: With Lesley Anne Bowers finishing 77 seconds ahead of the closest pursuer in 18:39.34, visiting Liverpool (4-0) stayed unbeaten atop the CNYCL National Division.

F-M 15, Auburn 50; F-M 19, Central Square 44; Central Square 15, Auburn 49: Tireless Mackenzie Carter took race honors in 19:42, leading the No. 1 state and nationally ranked Hornets (5-0) to the CNYCL American Division win.

West Genesee 17, Oswego 46; Oswego 20, Nottingham 41: Flying freshman Laura Leff (15:01) won the race by 43 seconds, leading the unbeaten Wildcats (5-0) to the CNYCL American Division victory. Westhill 26, Cazenovia 33; Westhill 15, Solvay 50; Cazenovia 15, Solvay 50:Race runne-rup Katie Powers led the way as Westhill (5-1) handed Cazenovia (5-1) its first OHSL Liberty Division loss of the season.

J-D 15, Cortland 50: Hannah Redmond's individual win (26:03) led the defending OHSL Freedom Division champions (5-0) to an easy victory.