Mainly due to a sweep of the sprints by Anna Schug, Kiana Ferguson and company, the Christian Brothers Academy girls track and field team recorded a fourth-place finish in Thursday’s Section III Class B-1 championships at Westhill High School.
The Brothers finished with 93 points, not far behind Westhill-Bishop Ludden (99 points) and Cazenovia (103.5 points), though Skaneateles pulled away with 149.5 points for the top spot.
Schug and Ferguson had a particular task in fending off a full army of Skaneateles sprinters who, in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes, combined to earn 56 points.
Yet it was Schug winning twice, starting in the 400-meter dash, where her time of 57.43 seconds was the only one under a minute. Kate LaCasse was seventh in 1:03.09. In the 200, Schug edged the Lakers’ Maddie Peterson at the line, 26.42 seconds to Peterson’s 26.48.
Ferguson’s first victory came in the 100, where in 12.86 seconds she held off Skaneateles’ Amanda Wetmore (12.95 seconds) and her teammates. Then, in the long jump, CBA went 1-2 as Ferguson won with a leap of 16 feet 8 ¼ inches and Elissa Kempisty, jumping 16 feet, finished second.
In the 4×100 relay, Ferguson joined Schug, LaCasse and Ryleigh Peterson to post 50.25 seconds to the Lakers’ 50.65 seconds and again finish in front.
One more victory for CBA would come in the triple jump, thanks to Kempisty, who went 34’1” as Cazenovia’s Ashley Kent (33’3 ¼”) was second.
Skylar Decker contended in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing second in 16.90 seconds behind South Jefferson’s Skylar Pastor, who won here in 16.39 seconds and also had claimed the high jump and 800-meter run by meet’s end. Decker finished fifth in the triple jump (31’1 ¾”) behind Kempisty.
Julie McInvale threw the discus 82 feet 9 inches and was second to Skaneateles’ Katherine Carlile (83’10”). McInvale also helped Bridget Fallon, Grace O’Connor and Lucy Person finish fifth in the 4×800 relay in 11:04.12. Person was fourth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:15.87 as Kat Fletcher took sixth in the 800-meter run in 2:32.81.
When the boys sectional Class B-1 meet took place at Canastota High School 24 hours later, CBA had fewer points (81), but was third behind Westhill-Ludden (118 points) and Solvay (92 points).
Tom SanGiocomo again excelled at sprints, taking the 100 in 11.31 seconds over Phoenix’s Tim Gandino (11.53 seconds) and the field before going to the 200 and, in 22.97 seconds, beating Holland Patent’s Mason Herkel (23.27 seconds) to the line.
In between those events, in the 4×100 relay, SanGiacomo, Brett VanPatten, Jake VanPatten and Jaden Mitchell won in 45.70 seconds, beating runner-up Skaneateles (46.20 seconds) by half a second.
Dominic Morganti joined in by going to the 3,200-meter run and prevailing in 10:03.59, more than half a minute clear of the field. Morganti also was fifth in the mile in 4:40.38, just behind teammate Lou Moran (4:39.09) in fourth place.
John Frasier, competing in the shot put, threw it 123’2”, beating everyone except South Jefferson’s Alex Fee, who won with 136’11” as Steve Predmore (113’7”) took fifth place and Dan Damico was eighth (38’6 ¼”) in the shot put.
Shawn Moreth rose to third place in the pentathlon, picking up 1,968 points. Duncan Brickner, Nikhil Reddy, Brendan Keeney and Malachi Emmanuel were fourth (9:01.26) in the 4×800. Pat Carey cleared 5’4” in the high jump to finish fifth.
Jack Carey was fourth in the triple jump, going 38’2 ¼” as Danny O’Connor (37’11 ¾”) was seventh, while Carey took sixth in the 400 sprint in 54.04 seconds. Keeney fifth (2:07.03) and Reddy sixth (2:07.90) in the 800 before pairing with Jack Carey and Pat Carey to get fourth place in the 4×400 relay in 3:46.42. Tom Culeton was sixth (12:04.78) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
