All that separated the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse track and field teams following two intense head-to-head meets last Wednesday afternoon was a mere three points.
In fact, it was so close in the girls meet at Bragman Stadium that the Warriors and Northstars finished in a 70-70 deadlock, and it was just as tight on the boys side, only here Liverpool came out on top by a slim 72-69 margin.
To pull it out in the boys meet, Liverpool had to sweep the distance races and relays. Ben Petrella claimed the 800-meter run in two minutes, 3.4 seconds and also won the 3,200-meter run in 10:01.05 as Ty Brownlow claimed the mile in 4:39.33.
Brownlow, Petrella, Collin Gwilt and Nick Davis opened by taking the 4×800 relay in 8:50.21. The Warriors also swept to first place in the 4×100 in 44.96 seconds as Gwilt, Brownlow, Davis and Terrell Coleman got through the 4×400 in 3:35.63.
Coleman, on his own, rolled to a victory in the 400-meter dash in 52.94 seconds. Liverpool also gained a pair of wins in field events as Andrew Stonebarger threw the discus 113 feet 9 inches and James Gaffney cleared 9’6” in the pole vault.
C-NS saw Joe Williams tear through the 100-meter dash in 11.14 seconds before claiming the 200-meter dash in 23.17 seconds. Also winning twice, Ed Mahana went 15.54 seconds in the 110 high hurdles and claimed the 400 hurdles in 58.91 seconds.
Williams added a third title in the long jump with a top leap of 20’1”. Tyler Mosher threw the shot put 45’8” to win there as Grant Brennan went 39’4” in the triple jump and also prevailed in the high jump, clearing 5’6”.
During the girls meet, the six field events were split, each side winning three times. For C-NS, that meant Destiny Monica throwing the shot put 33 feet 7 inches, Shayla Webb unleashing a top long jump of 16’ ¾” and Cassie Baldwin clearing 5’2” in the high jump.
Liverpool countered with Sarah LaValley taking first place in the discus, earning a top throw of 89’7”, while Alexis Bittel was impressive in the triple jump, going 33’2”, and Kelly Townley cleared 8’6” in the pole vault.
Back on the oval, it was just as equal. Baldwin went 17.27 seconds to win the 100-meter high hurdles, with Sasha Pulaski going 27.09 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Sarah Davis ran the 800 in 2:33.27 and Jilliann Norris went 1:10.21 to win the 400 hurdles.
The Warriors, for its part, gained a sprint victory when Tymiah Harper ran the 100-meter dash in 12.93 seconds and Morgan Chewning-Kulick claimed the 400-meter dash in 1:04.61. In longer events, Juliana Basla cruised to first place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:09.60 and Jillian Stagnitta took the 3,000-meter run in 11:15.54.
C-NS got a win in the 4×400 relay when Norris and Davis helped the Northstars post 4:21.14, but in the longer 4×800 it was Liverpool’s turn thanks to Basla, Chewning-Kulick, Kristina Moore and Windsor Ardner, who prevailed in 10:21.18.