So often through the decades in Central New York, whenever anything happened in high school sports, Jack Morse was there to chronicle it, on television and radio.
Morse passed away last month at age 84, but years earlier Section III indoor track and field offered its own tribute by inaugurating the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet, which continues to serve as the season opener.
So it was again this week at SRC Arena, where Cicero-North Syracuse swept the Wednesday portion of the Morse meets, earning 95 points on the boys side and 94 points on the girls side to pull away as Jamesville-DeWitt was second in both events.
Isaiah Wright, in 8.10 seconds, led a top-three sweep with Carlton Garnes (8.47) and Keenan Cannon (8.64) in the 55-meter hurdles. Then Garnes and Josh Adams, in 14.05 seconds, edged J-D (14.09) to win the 55-meter dash.
Cannon beat everyone in the triple jump with a best attempt of 39 feet 5 inches, and got the team title with Garnes as they combined for 76’11 1/4”. Cannon and Jack Tschopp topped 11’8” between them to win the high jump.
Wright, Adams, Colin Hopkins and Sam Nessel took the 4×200 relay in 1:39.27, and then Wright had a long jump of 20’3”, pairing with Brandon Ladd to win that event as they went 37’10 ½’ together.
Another top-three sweep came in the 1,600-meter run as Matt LeClair, in 4:46.16, held off R.J. Davis (4:48.09) and Evan Romano (4:50.66), the trio joining Josh Koeppe to win the team event in 19:19.55.
C-NS also was second in the sprint medley relay in 4:07.96 and fourth in the 4×800 relay in 9:21.05. Matt Wentling-Raymie and Kyle Toms were second in the weight throw with combined tosses of 70’11” as they also were fifth in the shot put.
Moving to the girls side, Brooke Blaisdell won the 55 hurdles in 8.97 seconds as she and Lexi Gaetz took team honors in 18.37 seconds. Blaisdell then had a triple jump of 34’10 1/2” to go 1-2 with Sierra Davis, who went 34’4 1/2”.
McKenna Johnston, Shannon Brown, Ivy Dong and Hannah Boyle were victorious in the 4×400 in 4:25.78. Allison Newton beat the field in the 1,500-meter run in 5:08.73, pairing with Marissa Doty, Hannah Reichard and Morgan Kingdeski to go 20:58.26 for the team title.
Newton went on to help Brown, Savannah Kuhr and Leabella McCarthy win the sprint medley in 4:39.86, edging South Jefferson (4:40.37) for the top spot.
Gaetz, paired with Lilly Capria, won the high jump, the pair clearing 9’8” together. Stephanie Webb and Faith Keville were third in the shot put with throws of 55’1 1/2”, also getting third in the weight throw with 49’10”.
Julianna Hutt and Sierra Davis got to third place in the 55 sprint in 15.87 seconds. The Northstars were third in the 4×200 in 1:55.39 and seventh in the 4×800.
A day later, Liverpool’s indoor track teams opened their season at the Mohawk Valley Team Relays at Utica College, finishing a close second (57 points) to Clinton (58.33) on the girls side and third in the boys event with 49 points.
Imahni Sincilar swept the girls individual throwing events for the Warriors, heaving the shot put 38’4 1/2″ as she and Kourtney Toxey were third on team side, then recording a top weight throw of 42’3 1/4″, on the way to second place with Toxey in the team portion.
Amina Sinclair got her own title in the high jump, the lone athlete in the field to clear 5 feet. Combined with Alexa Ostrander topping 4’10”, the Warriors’ 9’10” was a full foot ahead of the field.
Elsewhere, Kali Hayes won the 55 hurdles in 9.23 seconds, while Riley Norris and Sophia Jarosz paired up to win the team 55 sprint in 16.06 seconds, just ahead of Canastota’s 16.10. Liverpool was third in the 4×200 in 2:01.55. Rebecca Davie and Amelia Loop were fourth in the pole vault, clearing 13’6″ between them.
Liverpool’s lone boys victory came in the high jump, where Bennett Robb cleared 6 feet to take individual honors and Owen Jarosz topped 5’2″, their 11’2″ two inches ahead of runner-up Clinton.
Amaru Lewis and Dominic Scro were third in the boys 55 sprint in 14.06 seconds, that pair helping Ryan Dewan and Solomon Livingston-Frank get second in the 4×200 in 1:41.61.
Dewan and Michael Nigro got second place in the long jump with total leaps of 36’10 1/2″. Jamie Vong and Austin Huntress-Kennedy were third in the shot put with total throws of 76’9″ as Vong also cleared 11 feet in the pole vault.
