As part of a league and Section III Class B-2 championship side, Cazenovia boys indoor track and field junior Slater DeLeon was already having a special season.
But DeLeon made it even better when he twice won small-school titles in Tuesday night’s Section III state qualifying meet at SRC Arena, earning berths in this Saturday’s state championships on Long Island.
Competing in the 300-meter dash, DeLeon went 36.98 seconds, well clear of Canastota’s Tudor Orza (38.23) in the small-school portion and runner-up overall to Utica Proctor’s Azzan Johnson, who won in 36.55 seconds.
In the long jump, DeLeon unleashed a top attempt of 21 feet ½ inch, just ahead of South Jefferson’s Spencer Zeltmann (20’8 1/2”) among the small-school entrants and second overall to the 22’2” from Corcoran’s Ken’Quil Robinson-Langford.
Joining DeLeon in making it to the state meet is Joe Spires, in the 55-meter dash. His qualifying time of 6.70 seconds was enough as, in the final, he repeated that effort to take fourth place overall, Proctor’s Damien Allen winning the race in 6.48 seconds.
Andrew Kent earned fourth place in the 600-meter run in 1:27.38 as CBA’s Joel Gaffney prevailed in 1:25.03. Spires took eighth place in the 300 in 38.87 seconds behind DeLeon.
Dalton Sevier rose to fourth place in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, though it was Pulaski’s Xavier Babcock winning with 6’6” as Sevier cleared 11 feet to tie for seventh in the pole vault Connor Wilson was 15th in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.60 seconds.
Chittenango had its boys 4×400 relay team of Kenny Mathews, Tristam LaFountaine, Warren Tedford and Parker Tedford earn third place in 3:41.83, best among small schools and third overall.
