Both of Baldwinsville’s track and field teams would make full efforts during Thursday’s Section III state qualifier at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, hoping to return to that same venue this weekend for the state championship meet.
That included senior Jack Martin, who emerged as the Division I (large school) champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In a time of nine minutes, 56.21 seconds, Martin held off Central Square’s A.J. Beers (9:59.21) and finished third overall, while Josh Perez got sixth place in 10:31.41.
B’ville also won the girls 4×400 relay to qualify for the state meet, beating Fayetteville-Manlius. Cierra Allen, Marissa Lathrop, Katie Wicks and Rachael Miller would dip under the four-minute mark and, in 3:58.37, hold off F-M (3:59.31) by less than a second to advance.
In a tense girls 4×100 relay, Allen, Randi Bort, Rebecca Lawrence and Brittany LaRock hit the finish line in 50.27 seconds, topping everyone except Rome Free Academy, who made it to first place in 50.04 seconds. Lawrence finished fourth in the 100-meter dash in 13 seconds flat.
As if her relay contributions weren’t enough, Allen went to the 400-meter dash and got to second place in a clocking of 1:00.75, with Corcoran’s Patrice Williams prevailing in 57.85 seconds. Miller took fourth place in the 800-meter run in 2:23.48, with Lathrop (2:25.89) in sixth place.
B’ville’s boys team contended in the 4×400 relay, too. Jeff Mahar, Brian Mahar, Dan Walker and Brennan LaQue finished in a time of 3:28.30, getting third place, just inches behind New Hartford (3:28.20) for the runner-up spot, as Fayetteville-Manlius won in 3:26.19. Jeff Mahar went on to gain fourth place in the 400-meter dash in 51.51 seconds.
Dante Giannino, with a long jump of 20 feet 7 inches, finished second behind Liverpool’s Mark Vanmarter, who went 22’10 ½” in this event and also won the triple jump (43’11 ¾”). Emily Soeder, favored in the girls high jump, only managed to clear 5 feet, settling for fifth place as C-NS’s Nicole Herringshaw won with 5’2”.
