For the first time all season, the Cicero-North Syracuse indoor track and field team was able to snag both ends of a large meet.
In this case, the meet was last Wednesday night’s John Arcaro Memorial Invitational, where the girls Northstars rose up to join its male counterparts at the top of the standings once a full slate of competition was done.
CNS would accumulate 74 points on the team side, its versatility overcoming the fact that Fayetteville-Manlius, in second place (62 points), totally dominated the distance races.
Of that total, 24 of those points came from field events. Jasmine Thompson and McKaye Neumeister went 1-2 in the triple jump, as Thompson won with a leap of 34 feet 6 1/2 inches and her teammate, Neumeister, got second (33 feet 4 inches) over Chittenango’s Marshay Zamlowski by half an inch.
Roberts resumed her domination of the high jump, clearing 5 feet 6 inches to beat Faith Heritage’s Alexis Thayer by half a foot. She also would win the 55-meter hurdles, finishing in 9.17 seconds as Gina Campagna got second place in 9.50 seconds.
Taylor Wendler and Nicole Campagna earned 10 points between them in the 3,000-meter run, as Wendler took third place (10:49.62) and Campagna got fourth place (11:28.79) behind F-M stars Courtney Chapman (10:27.91) and Kathryn Fanning (10:34.45).
Also, in the 4×800 relay, Wendler, Neumeister, Lauren Spink and Nicole Campagna earned second place in a clocking of 9:49.62 behind F-M, who prevailed in 9:41.57.
CNS was much more dominant in the boys Arcaro meet, piling up 78 points to finish well clear of runner-up Liverpool (46 points) as Baldwinsville (29 points) won the fight for third place.
Andy Kahl, just a week removed from setting the Section III record (6 feet 10 inches) in the high jump, settled for 6 feet this time, but still prevailed with Devin Mertens (5 feet 8 inches) in fourth place. Kahl also finished second in the triple jump, going 42 feet 8 1/2 inches.
Ty Howington ran to victory in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.21 seconds as Keenan Williams got fourth place, in 8.64 seconds. Craig Barber won the pole vault by clearing 12 feet 6 inches, the only athlete to do so.
The other crown came in the 4×800 relay, a great battle where Nathan MacNabb, Jake Writenhour, Kevin Cusworth and Jeff Azzotto posted a time of 8:19.39 that was just enough to hold off Liverpool (8:20.65) for the title.
Azzoto also had a third-place time of 1:07.44 in the 500-meer dash behind Greg Manning (Solvay) setting a new Section III mark in 1:06.61, as Vince St. James was fifth in the 55-meter dash (6.79 seconds).
Over in distance running, MacNabb ran to third place in the 1,500-meter run, in 4:14.02, as Kevin Cusworth got sixth place (9:32.03) in the 3,000. Richie Lickfield (48 feet 1/2 inch) and Dan Minahan (45 feet 4 3/4 inches) were third and sixth, respectively, in the shot put.
