CICERO – An already historic season for the Baldwinsville boys track and field team had a chance to finish with major honors next weekend at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
It is here, at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, that the Bees’ Owen Weaver will enter the five-event pentathlon as the top-ranked athlete in the field.
This was based on what Weaver did Thursday in the Section III state qualifying meet at C-NS, where his all-around skills led to a stunning performance.
Weaver cleared 6 feet in the high jump, had a long jump of 20 feet 1 inch, threw the shot put 35’2, had the quickest time of 15.95 seconds in the 110 hurdles and, in the closing 1,500-meter run, tore to a fast time of 4:26.81.
It added up to 3,321 points, not only winning and breaking a school record, but also posting the best totals in the state and the nation in that event leading up to the state meet.
Of course, B’ville had many other top performers at the qualifier, including Solomon Holden-Betts, starting in the 4×800 where he paired with Jeff Ragonese, Logan Hayes and Jack McAllister to win that race in 8:00.13 to Fayetteville-Manlius’ second-place 8:03.25.
Individually, no one caught Holden-Betts in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where his time of 9:56.85 beat the field by more than 17 seconds as Keagan Hayes was fourth in Division I in 10:43.97.
In the 1,600, Holden-Betts posted 4:27.04, second overall to Beaver River’s Colin Kempney (4:14.28) but fastest in Division I to advance to the state meet in that race, too.
Sam Mellinger swept to victories in the Division I (large school ) 100 and 200-meter sprints.
In the 100, Mellinger went 10.75 seconds to reach the finals, where he won in 10.72 as Brandon Levin was fifth in 11.22. Mellinger then got the victory in the 200 in 22.54, Levin moving to third place in 23.04 and Robert Thompson getting fifth place in 23.72.
Mellinger, Kaleb Paul, Malik Davis and Brandon Levin went 43.15 seconds in the 4×100 relay, beaten by East Syracuse Minoa’s winning 42.96.
The Bees were sixth in the 4×400 relay in 3:43.77 as McAllister took third in the Division I 800-meter run in 2:00.22, edging Ragonese (2:00.61).
Hayes took fifth in the 400-meter dash in a clocking of 52.63, with Logan Zapf sixth in the 110 hurdles in 16.76. Dan Ewald had a fifth-place shot put toss of 41’8 3/4” and Grayson Brady cleared 10 feet in the pole vault to tie for seventh.
On the girls side for B’ville, the 4×400 team of Avamarie Davis, Clare Horan, Brianna Grosso and Madison Kennedy nearly won the 4×400, its time of 4:16.99 edged by West Genesee’s 4:16.83.
Kennedy got third in the 400 sprint in 1:01.68, edging Kamryn Barton (1:01.69) in fourth place, while Sydney McKenney was third in the 400 hurdles in 1:09.62 and got third in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet, with Anika Selover fourth in the 200 in 28.17.
Lauren Letourneau cleared 5’1” in the high jump to finish third. Nela Loftin had a fourth-place triple jump of 32’9”. Natalie Bartkowiak, Aaniya Johnson, Madayia Simmons and KayLynn Pine were fifth in the 4×100 in 53.34 seconds as Adrianna Orlando, Sophia Cavalieri, Margaret Solomon and Mary Sabatino were sixth in the 4×800 in 10:32.76.
