Competing in some of the best conditions possible — sun, comfortable temperatures, low humidity — the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse-Minoa track and field teams engaged in a close duel last Wednesday afternoon.
Each side would leave the event with a victory. J-D’s boys toppled the Spartans 73-68, while the ESM girls held off the Red Rams 75-66.
To get the boys victory, J-D had to win two of the three relays. Chris Zaferes, Vinnie Graham, Alfredo Justiz and Mark Smith got together to win the 4×100 (46.6 seconds), while Jon Boll and Bryan Daley joined Zaferes and Graham to give the Rams the 4×400 victory in 3:51.8.
Individually, Adam Tyson and Mychal Weekes stood out for the Rams. Tyson ran the 110-meter high hurdles in 17.2 seconds, and cleared 11 feet 6 inches to continue his domination of the pole vault.
Weekes, meanwhile, cleared 5 feet 10 inches in the high jump, this following a victory in the discus where he threw it 113 feet 5 inches.
Graham needed 56.9 seconds to prevail at 400 meters, while Justiz took first place in the long jump, going 18 feet 8 1/2 inches to do so.
ESM had its share of stars, too, including Arnes Hadzic, who backed up his 100-meter victory (11.2 seconds) by going 38 feet 2 inches in the triple jump.
Zach Johnson won the 400-meter hurdles (1:06.3), and ESM swept the distance races as Jeff Sweeney (mile, 4:56.7), Craig Andrianos (800 meters, 2:12.8) and Nick Sadlocha (3,200 meters, 10:44.1) all prevailed. Sweeney, Andrianos, Sadlocha and Johnson teamed to take the 4×800 relay in 9:04.6.
Meanwhile, in the girls meet between ESM and J-D, the Spartans’ top distance runner, Leah Andrianos, got her team moving with wins in the 3,000-meter run (11:06.0) and 1,500-meter run, where she recorded a time of 5:26.5. Andrianos also won the 200-meter dash in 28.1 seconds.
Jade Germany took two events, the high jump (4 feet 10 inches) and pole vault (6 feet 6 inches), while Jillian Mitchell was first in the triple jump (30 feet 2 inches) and ran the 100 in 13.6 seconds.
On the oval, ESM got wins from Rachel Bennett (100-meter high hurdles), Faith Groesbeck (400 hurdles), Cara Andrianos (400 hurdles) and Emily Stewart (800 meters). Mitchell, Germany, Bennett and Assissa Abebola got together to win the 4×100 relay in 54.6 seconds.
J-D had Danielle Weekes win the shot put, tossing it 32 feet 1/2 inch, and prevail in the discus with a throw of 85 feet 6 inches. Her teammate, Natalie Mannion, won the long jump by going 14 feet 4 1/2 inches.
The Rams did win two of the three relays, though. Mannion, Kathryn Blackley, Gabi Barry and Grace Bradshaw teamed up in the 4×400 (4:38.2), while Rita Boettger and Eileen Cody joined Bradshaw and Barry as the 4×800 team won in 10:44.1, beating ESM by less than a second.
