Breaking It All Down - Full Manhattan Invitational Recap

Recap: It wasn't supposed to be close. But the allure of an Eastern States Title can make anything happen.  Claremont were the heavy favorites heading into the day, projected to put six girls ahead of Liverpool's fourth.  But the aptly named Warriors of Liverpool, were ready for a breakthrough.

Claremont delivered on their billing as one of the top teams in the country.  Their projected Speed Ratings nearly matched what their final outcomes would be.  It would earn them the coveted Eastern States Team Title, the first team from CA to do so since Mt. Carmel in 1990.  They are also the first team not from the East Coast to win the title since 1998.  They came, they saw, they conquered, and now they head back to California as one of the CIF Favorites.

For Liverpool, as was McQuaid, its a day of mixed emotions. It's the second major invite they've taken home the silver, but each time they saw marked improvements. Here, their 4th and 5th runners tightened the team's compression significantly, one of the bigger issues from their last outing. That alone put a scare into Claremont, and dropped the point differential to just 13 points. They've also clearly separated themselves from the rest of NY State in Easterns, 100 points over the next Class A team.  They do so as well in the merge, distancing themselves from Fayetteville-Manlius by a large margin.  However, in a straight dual meet, FM comes out ahead, 27-28, showing that the future Sectional matchup could be very close. As it had been in 2015, and 2016 with the boys, the New York State Title could be decided in Section 3 for the girls.

The big surprise of the day would be Champlain Valley, which may have had the best showing from a team of that area of the country since Manchester won Easterns in 1992.  Their depth through seven runners allowed displacement that other teams couldn't keep up with.  Saugus of CA takes fourth just behind, putting two CA teams in the Top 5.

Tracking Shot

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