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| Start of the Boys Varsity & JV Race at Long Branch Park (c) Danielle Kennedy |
Two hours after the race ended, Rick Streeter rolled up cables, disassembled the giant black clock at the finish line and loaded them into his baby blue van with the Leone Timing logo stamped on the side. The results had been posted and most of the runners had already left Long Branch Park, but those who were left cleaned up in shock, wondering if the reason for such fast, recording breaking times was because the fleshly groomed cross country course was measured a bit too short.
"No," replied Tracey Vannatta, head coach of the Liverpool Men's Cross Country Team. "There are just some really fast guys."
On an overcast and breezy Wednesday afternoon, three runners from Section 3 kicked off their 2014 Cross Country Season by shattering the 5k (3.1 mile) course record at Long Branch, which was set back in 2002 by Dominic Luka of Tully High School with a time of 15:37. Senior Bryce Millar (F-M) was the winner of the meet among Baldwinsville, Liverpool, and Fayetteville-Manlius, crossing the line with a time of 15:12.1. His teammate, Peter Ryan (Jr.) finished right behind him in a time of 15:14.3. Next was Ben Petrella, a Junior from Liverpool, who managed to clinch third place with a time of 15:32.4. Petrella's best-finishing time also earned him a school record for the Long Branch course, knocking Dan McKenna's time of 15:43 (also set back in 2002) to the number two spot on the school's Top 25 list.
But with training just into getting into full-swing, Petrella said the outcomes of races this early in the season have little value, yet the experience they provide will make a big impact come championship season.
"I told myself from the start that I was going to go out hard and hold on as long as I could, just to train [myself] because later on in the season, that's what we have to do," Petrella said. "If you want to finish with the big dogs then you have to start with the big dogs. My whole running career, I've always started out slow and tried to catch up and this year I want to change up my strategy."
For Bryce Millar (F-M), racing alongside second-place finisher Pete Ryan is what helped him maintain confidence when things got tough.
"I felt pretty controlled throughout the whole thing, especially with my teammate Pete Ryan right with me so it was like we were back at practice...It's really nice 'cause since you're just so used to running with him and you almost kind of forget about the pain you're feeling when you're running and you just know you can 'go' and stay right there where he is and everything will be fine."
F-M put six of its runners in the top-ten Wednesday, including Adam Hunt (Sr.) in fourth place, Kyle Barber (Sr.) in fifth, Riley Hughes (Sr.) in seventh. As for Liverpool, Connor Buck (Sr.) finished sixth, Dan Muldoon (Sr.) eighth, and Dylan McCarthy (Sr.) ninth. Baldwinsville's first runner, senior Arden Kellner, finished thirteenth.
Fayetteville-Manlius is currently ranked the No. 1 team in New York State and No. 2 in the country. Liverpool is not far behind, ranked as the No. 2 team in the State and the No. 8 in the country, according to tullyrunners.com. Last year, both teams competed at Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland, Oregon, with F-M finishing in fourth place and Liverpool in twentieth.
Although F-M Coach Bill Aris said he is satisfied with a season-opening 19-37 win over Liverpool and 15-50 win over Baldwinsville, he says there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
"You can't take a September 10th dual meet all too seriously other than going out and giving it our best effort,"Aris said. "Ideally, you want to win, but the priorities are on the rest of the season."
Liverpool's Coach Vannatta also noted that it's never fun to lose, but said the progress the team has made in just one year keeps the future of its season looking bright.
"If we can run as well as we ran today, now, any other year we've never been near where we ran today," she said.
Full Meet Results, courtesy of Leone Timing
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