On Thursday night at SRC Arena, the Baldwinsville indoor track and field teams will line up against all of its rivals at once for the first time this winter for the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division championships.
Prior to that, though, the Bees would have a busy weekend, starting last Friday by going to Utica College and meeting up with opponents from across Upstate New York in the third annual Utica Challenge.
And B’ville did a sensational job, earning 50 points to finish fifth out of 32 teams in the girls division and 48 points to move up to fourth place in the boys standings. Of Section III teams, only Liverpool did better on both sides.
As part of a girls-boys sweep of the 600-meter run for the Bees, Justus Holden-Betts won that race in one minute, 40.75 seconds, just ahead of Holy Names’ Isabel Vogel (1:41.11) for that top spot.
Moving over to the weight throw, Danielle Marsell beat a large field, her top throw of 43 feet 3 ½ inches just ahead of Rome Free Academy star Sarah Crocket’s 42’2 ½”. Marsell also finished sixth in the shot put with 31’1” as Crockett won there.
Lauren Addario claimed yet another victory for the girls Bees when, in the triple jump, she soared 37’6’ to beat out the 37’1” from Guilderland’s Isabella Bruno.
In the 55-meter dash, Addario got to third place in 7.52 seconds, with Karen Ekure seventh in 7.66 seconds. In the 4×200 relay, Addario, Ekure, Allyson Surowick and Courtney Bostic finished fourth in 1:51.85.
Holden-Betts, Anna Conklin, Kathryn Nice and Olivia Creelman made it to fifth place in the 4×800 relay in 10:22.46. Maya Hewitt was 11th in the pole vault, clearing 8 feet.
The lone victory for the boys Bees came in the 600, Michael Lawrence needing one minute, 26.69 seconds to hold off Central Square’s Gabe Chisari (1:27.07) for the top spot, while Sam Kellner managed fifth place in 1:28.89.
B’ville got 14 more points from the 1,000-meter run, where Jon Formoza, in 2:43.01, was runner-up to Schalmont’s Antonio Beltran (2:41.07) and Connor McManus was third in 2:43.36. In the 4×800, McManus, Lawrence, Kellner and Formoza gained third place in 8:30.09.
In the 300-meter dash, Garrett Selover rose to third place in 36.34 seconds, just ahead of Connor Waldron (37.97) in seventh place. Selover, Waldron, Garrett Petrelli, Nick Kruger and Garrett Selover took fifth place in the 4×400 relay in 3:40.30.
Jack Michaels was seventh in the 3,200-meter run in 10:02.29, with Colin Delaney (10:18.91) 10th. Malik Davis, Sam Mellinger, Robert Mahar and Robert Thompson were 10th in the 4×200 in 1:39.25.
In the 500-meter run, Owen Weaver finished 11th in 1:16.65. Michaels took 14th place in the mile in 4:44.13, with John Arvantides (4:51.18) in 18th place. Ryan Micho cleared 5’4” in the high jump for 12th place.
Just two days later, B’ville joined seven other teams at SRC Arena to make up the snowed-out Jan. 19 afternoon session of the Bob Grieve Memorial Invitational, winning on the boys side with 203 points and, on the girls side, finishing second with 156 points, three behind Jamesville-DeWitt.
Selover, in 6.85 seconds, edged Mellinger (6.88) to win the 55 sprint, while Waldron won the 300 in 38.13 seconds. Selover, Mellinger, Davis and Mahar paired to win the 4×200 in 1:36.39.
Delaney won the mile in 4:44.74, with McManus (4:49.47) second. Michaels needed 1:31.58 to prevail in the 600. Arvantides, in 10:34.70, beat Joe Licameli (11:01.10) in the 3,200, with Kellner taking the 1,000 in 2:43.48.
Thompson had a winning long jump of 19’2 ¾”, with Kruger going 39’11 ¼” to claim the triple jump to go with a second-place high jump of 5’6”.. Steven Miller (38’7”) beat out Adam Graham (38’5 ½”) for second place in the shot put, and Miller was second in the weight throw with 42’6 ½”.
The Bees also won the 4×400 as Weaver, Garrett Petrelli, Nate Hludzenski and Aden Kostolecki posted 3:55.25, with B’ville taking third in the 4×800. Aaron Sprague and Matt Komuda were second and third, respectively, in the pole vault.
On the girls side, Addario won the 55 sprint in 7.50 seconds, with Ekure third before she won the 300 in 44.56 seconds. Addario also prevailed in the triple jump, going 37’8 ¼”, with Ekure fourth in the high jump.
Marsell beat the field in the shot put, tossing it 29’8”, and then had a winning weight throw of 40’2” as Hewitt cleared 8’6” to win the pole vault. Kathryn Mitts was third and Lauren Shaler took fourth place.
Nice prevailed in the 600 in 1:49.29 to Creelman’s 1:49.47, Anna Conklin was third in the 1,000 in 3:22.48, with Bailey Nicholson fourth. Surowick finished third in the 55 hurdles. B’ville was third in the 4×800 and 4×200 relays.
