Some indoor track and field teams take their time to ease into the season, making sure the peak doesn’t arrive until the latter part of the winter.
But Cicero-North Syracuse did not wait. Instead, it went to the Jack Morse Holiday Relays at Manley Field House and won both the boys and girls events.
On the boys end, the Northstars wiped out the field, piling up 81 points. The next-closest finisher, Baldwinsville, had just 30 points, with Fayetteville-Manlius (29 points) settling for third place.
Seven different times, CNS won events. It all began with the distance medley relay, where Nathan MacNabb, Ben Ludovici, Brandon Marlow and Jake Whritenour teamed up for a time of 10:58.04 that beat B’ville by more than five seconds.
Whritenour would join Ty Howington, Zach Marchese and James Thurn for another CNS win, in the 4×400 relay, where CNS prevailed in 3:41.79.
Ludovici wasn’t done, either, helping Devon Young, Mike Fischer and Jeff Azzoto as the Northstars took the 1,600 sprint medley in 3:46.88, another romp over the field.
In the longest race of all, the 4×1,600 relay, MacNabb, Kevin Cusworth, Chris Taddeo and Nick Dunbar had a time of 19:17.94 that topped B’ville by nearly 10 full seconds.
Each of CNS’s other three titles required two-man efforts. Andy Kahl, a gold medalist at the Empire State Games last summer, teamed with Devin Mertens to win the high jump (11 feet 6 inches). Kahl cleared 6 feet 6 inches at the Morse meet.
Twice, Andy Neumeister was involved. He teamed with Kahl to take the triple jump, as they combined for 80 feet 6 3/4 inches, and Neumeister teamed with Thurn in the 55-meter hurdles as they won with 16.79 seconds. CNS also tied for second in the pole vault as Craig Barber and Mike Fischer combined to clear 20 feet.
Following all this, the CNS girls stepped into the Morse spotlight on Thursday night. Here, it was a lot closer, but the Northstars, with 69 points, held off Liverpool (58 points) and grabbed the title.
Consistency marked this victory, as CNS earned points in most events. It won the 4×400 relay as Gabby Catania, Lauren Spink, Janise Harper and Alana Hotchkiss combined for a time of 4:19.11 that beat Liverpool (4:20.85) by 1.74 seconds.
Sommer Cloinger had a shot put toss of 40 feet 1 1/4 inches, well clear of the field, as she and Anne Marie Vito won the shot put with a combined total of 70 feet 7 1/2 inches.
Monique Roberts had the same kind of great effort in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 5 inches, nearly half a foot better than the field. Roberts and Gina Campagna (4 feet 10 inches) won this event.
Roberts, Harper, Lauren Spink and McKaye Neumeister teamed up as CNS took third place in the 4×200 relay in 1:54.09. Neumeister was second among individuals in the triple jump, going 32 feet 5 3/4 inches.
CNS also had a second in the distance medley relay (13:11.54) with Katie Duerr, Alicia Finger, Taylor Wendleer and Leigha DeStefano taking part.
Keriann Borke had a part in a couple of events, combining with Heather Brown for a second (20.38 seconds) in the 55-meter hurdles and having the second-best long jump of 16 feet 2 1/2 inches as she and Hotchkiss earned third place.
Lindsay Raulli, Lauren Slocum, Alicia Greco and Schuyler Cary helped CNS grab second place in the 4×1,600 relay (23:37.84).