Warriors Second to Powerful F-M in Rochester

Boys Seeded Varsity AAA (large schools) race at McQuaid Invite
(c) 2014 Danielle Kennedy 

By Danielle Kennedy

Rochester, N.Y – At Genesee Valley Park, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd of hundreds of screaming fans.  But if you’re looking for the Liverpool Cross Country team, it’s not hard to spot the bright orange t-shirts with the words “if not us, WHO?  If not now, WHEN?” stamped on the back.

“There’s a few different meanings for it.” junior Ben Petrella said. ‘If not us,’ as in… Liverpool, then who’s going to be the one to do big things in New York State besides F-M or Saratoga?  Who’s going to be the one to change what [you] thought of Section 3?”

Saturday at the 50th McQuaid Invitational Liverpool did big things but not enough to take down rival Fayetteville-Manlius in the Boys Seeded Varsity AAA (large schools) race.  Even though the Warriors managed to finish three runners in the top ten, they still came in second to the Hornets, 50-72.  Led by Senior Bryce Millar, who finished in second place overall in a time of 14:35, the Hornets also had three finishers in the top ten.

The overall individual winner of the race was Senior Andrew Marston of Conestoga, who crossed the line in a time of 14:32.  His time for the 3.0 mile course was just seven seconds short of the course record which was set by Mickey Burke of Rush-Henrietta last year.  The race also ended Millar’s streak this season of breaking the course record for every course he’s raced on.

Teamwork

Petrella was the first finisher for Liverpool, crossing the line in a time of 14:42 as the third overall finisher in the field of 125 runners.  The only runner from Liverpool to ever break 14:50 at Genesee Valley Park was Dan McKenna in 2002.  Seniors Connor Buck (14:52) and Dan Muldoon (15:02) were the next two scorers for Liverpool, finishing the race in sixth and tenth place, respectively.

When the team’s fourth runner, Dylan McCarthy, dropped out in the middle of the race, sophomore Ty Brownlow stepped up to finish in a time of 15:38 for a 24th overall finish. Not only was this Brownlow’s first time racing in a varsity race for Liverpool, but his finishing time was nearly a minute and a half faster than his time at McQuaid last year.

“I trained really hard this summer,” Brownlow said.  “I just wanted it really bad.”

“Ty is honestly one of the hardest workers on this team,” senior captain Nick LeClair said.  “Every workout you can hear him breathing really heavy because he’s working hard and that showed yesterday when he was our fourth runner. He definitely deserves it.”

(c) 2014 Danielle Kennedy

LeClair also had a big race Saturday, finishing 30th overall as the team’s fifth scorer.  Although his time of 15:47 was six seconds slower than it was last year, this was LeClair’s first completed race this season after he was stuck cross-training to recover from some minor pain in his shin.

“It felt good having most of the team back and healthy,” Connor Buck said.  “Every week we’ve had something come up when everyone is injured or someone is sick but just to have our top guys get back into the swing of things together, and just until we all get it together, we’re going to do big things. It’s a matter of time.”

The Takeaway

Even though all of the pieces are not in place just yet, head coach Tracey Vannatta said this race was yet another step for Liverpool in preparing for the bigger and better races later on in the season.

“We came here to win and have great performances because it’s [McQuaid] and a fast course and a big race,”Vannatta said. “We need to have big race experience and learn to run well in big races.”

When McCarthy is added back into the equation, the Warriors hope they can put everything together in time for Sectionals and the NYSPHAA State Meet.  Now that LeClair is healthy again, Petrella said it’s nice to have confidence that the younger runners on the team can step up.

“It motivated me a lot to see that,” Petrella said.  “It’s a glimmer of what we’re going to see later on in the season, 

What’s Next

Liverpool will face off against Cicero-North Syracuse on Wednesday, October 1.  The Warriors will race against F-M again in two weeks at the Manhattan College HS XCInvitational.

Full meet results courtesy of mcquaidinvitational.com