Nick Cometti and Brian McCleod would set the pace for the Solvay boys indoor track and field team in Thursday night’s Section III Class B championship meet at SRC Arena, and the rest of the Bearcats would gladly follow.
As a result, the Bearcats are sectional champions, earning 84 points to fend off Clinton (73 points) at the top of a 12-team field. Jordan-Elbridge, with 32 points, edged out Marcellus (29 points) for seventh place.
Cometti first prevailed in the 55-meter dash, topping Onondaga’s Keanan Glod, 6.69 seconds to 6.84. Then, in the 300-meter dash, the Solvay junior got away from J-E’s Dylan Whittico and won in 37.37 seconds as Whittico (38.58 seconds) took second place.
As for McLeod, he earned 28 points in field events. First, he cleared 6 feet in the high jump, two inches better than Hannibal’s Jordan Skipworth, and moved to the triple jump, where with 41’3 ¾” he held off Skipworth by just half an inch as teammate Isaiah Lee (39’5 ¼”) was fifth.
As if that wasn’t enough, McLeod nearly got a win in the long jump, too, but had to settle for second place with exactly 20 feet as Phoenix’s Zach Manzer (20’7”) went to the top.
Josh Marotti had a fine showing, too, getting second place (11’6”) in the pole vault to Carson Schwab (Skaneateles), who won with 12’6”, with Marotti also getting third place in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.85 seconds. Frank Pucello got sixth in the shot put, heaving it 41’5 ½”.
Eric Goodrich, Matt Battaglia, Mike Nicolini and Owen Ryan gave Solvay a fourth-place time of 3:49.32 in the 4×400 relay, where J-E, featuring Whittico, Austin Milton, Bill DiRenzo and Jacob Patterson, were fifth in 3:55.44. The Bearcats also were sixth in the 4×200 as Battaglia, Nicolini, Tony Matsyuk and Colton Francemone were fourth in the 4×800 in 9:09.49, again with J-E in fifth.
DiRenzo, on his own, gave J-E its lone victory in the 600-meter run, earning a time of 1:27.50 to leave Marcellus senior Justin Garn (1:29.57) in second place, while Battaglia gave the Bearcats a third-place clocking of 1:29.97.
As for Marcellus senior Ryan Manahan, he completely dominated the 1,000-meter run, roaring to a time of 2:30.61, more than 17 seconds clear of Hannibal’s Eric Febus (2:48.19) in the second spot.
Whittico was not the Eagles’ only runner-up. Jack Gugel took second place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:20.91 behind CBA’s David Carey (10:13.86). The Eagles’ Nathan Hollis was fifth (2:56.96) in the 1,000.
Meanwhile, in the Class B girls sectional meet, Marcellus had the best showing on the local sides, taking sixth place with 27 points. J-E had 21 points, but both trailed Cazenovia, who won its third straight sectional title with 132 points.
For the Mustangs, junior Rachel Garn roared to first place in the 1,000 in 3:06.57, with teammate Molly McGuane (3:20.70) sliding into sixth place. Then, in the 600, Garn won again, getting away in the homestretch from J-E’s Brianna Byrnes to prevail in 1:42.27 to Byrnes’ 1:43.91.
J-E contended in the 4×200, where Byrnes, Julie Hines, Bethanie Emerick and Alexis Malvaso were second in 1:57.19 as Cazenovia (1:50.48) prevailed. Hines (7.92 seconds) was sixth behind the Mustangs’ Abby Fallon (7.84 seconds), who took fourth in the 55 sprint, this before Hines made it to fourth place (43.13 seconds) in the 300.
Six of Solvay’s eight points came from Hailey Holcomb taking third place (9.88 seconds) in the 55 hurdles, and Samantha Waters earned the other two with her fifth-place shot put toss of 25’5 ¾”. Marcellus also was fifth (4:52.38) in the 4×400 as Karen Cramer, Dominique Weeks, Shannon Twombly and Emily Townsend took part.
Top performers are back at SRC Arena next Wednesday, going through the Section III state qualifier that determines who gets to advance to the March 2 state championship meet at Cornell University.
