From relays to sprints to field events, indoor track and field teams from Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse found plenty to be happy about during Wednesday night’s Section III state qualifier at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
Spots in this Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Cornell University were at stake, and the Warriors immediately earned one in the girls 4×400 relay.
In that race, Liverpool’s quartet of Ore Akinpelu, Morgan Chewning-Kulick, Yasmeen Griffin and Danelle Sims finished in four minutes, 3.61 seconds, getting away from Baldwinsville (4:06.41) for that top spot.
Later in the meet, Akinpelu was fourth (42.07 seconds) and Sims sixth (43.31 seconds) in the 300-meter dash, with that pair joining Grififn and Hejal Patel to take sixth (1:53.34) in the 4×200 relay.
Javielle Fanizzi had three strong efforts to lead C-NS. Fanizzi qualified for the state meet by finishing second in the long jump with a top leap of 17 feet 9 ¼ inches, trailing only Auburn’s Shahnika Williams, who won with 18’1”.
Fanizzi also was second in the triple jump, going 36’4 ½”, just behind Fayetteville-Manlius’ Christabel Ezidegwu (36’8 ½”) for that top spot, and was third in the 55-meter dash in 7.57 seconds behind Williams (7.48 seconds) and Westhill-Bishop Ludden’s Tatiana Monds (7.43 seconds).
Liverpool’s boys went 1-2 in the mile, where Dylan McCarthy roared to victory in 4:26.18, beating out Ben Petrella, who was second in 4:29.45 as C-NS’s Andrew Bearkland was fourth in 4:33.93 and the Warriors’ Connor Buck (4:36.37) was fifth.
Petrella also earned a state meet spot in the 3,200-meter run by finishing second in 9:16.22, right behind Fayetteville-Manlius star Bryce Millar (9:15.56), while Connor Buck was third in 9:25.44.
Nick LeClair was second in the 1,000-meter run in 2:37.29 behind F-M’s Kyle Barber (2:30.62), and in the 600-meter run Dan Muldoon, in 1:23.67, took the runner-up spot as Auburn’s Leon Atkins prevailed in 1:22.45.
In the boys pole vault, the Warriors’ David Lewis earned a trip to the state meet when he cleared 12 feet 6 inches, the same height as Clinton’s Liam Pierce, while C-NS saw Mark Hentges clear 12 feet for third place and Mitchell Brown top 11’6” for fifth place.
In the boys 4×400 relay, Collin Gwilt, Peter Gonzalez, Donald Frost and Jamie Gadaleta finished fifth in 3:41.41. Gonzalez got to fourth place in the 300-meter dash in 36.42 seconds, while Brandon Mayfield went 6.92 seconds in the 55-meter dash, taking fifth place before he, along with Gonzalez, Frost and Gadaleta, took fifth (1:36.97) in the 4×200 relay.
With a throw of 45’3 ½” in the shot put, C-NS’s Tyler Mosher finished second, behind Rome Free Academy’s Alex Cianfrano (46’3 ¼”), and advanced to the state meet as Ross Mathewson (43’4”) finished sixth. Liverpool’s JeNiece Gallishaw was fifth (31’4”) in the girls shot put.
Meanwhile, in the boys high jump, the Northstars’ George Reader topped 5’10”, and got to third place, with Cassie Baldwin and Nicole Herringhsaw fifth and sixth, respectively, in the girls high jump. Reader also took fourth in the triple jump with a top effort of 41’1 ¾”.
C-NS’s Jilliann Norris nearly won the girls 600, but in 1:41.48 she settled for third place behind B’ville teammates Katie Wicks (1:41.26) and Marissa Lathrop (1:41.42), while Brittany House was third in the girls 55-meter hurdles in 9.26 seconds.
Ed Mahana was fourth in the boys 55 hurdles (8.26 seconds) as Mia Pestle added a sixth in the 1,500-meter run, and C-NS did beat out Liverpool for third place in the girls 4×800 as Norris, Madison Gross, Megan Trubia and Annia Marullo posted 10:34.60 to the Warriors’ 10:42.89.
Kelley Townley was fourth for Liverpool in the girls pole vault, topping 9 feet as C-NS’s Whitney Hotchkiss was eighth (8 feet), while Alexis Bittel had a sixth-place triple jump of 33’2 ¾”.
Juliana Basla, in a time of 3:03.66, made her way to third place in the girls 1,000, just missing a state qualifying meet bid. Jillian Stagnitta was eighth in the 3,000-meter run in 11:29.35.
