A new year means, once again, the start of full-fledged high school indoor track and field at Manley Field House, and Cicero-North Syracuse was ready.
The boys Northstars would finish on top in Monday night’s season-opening Jack Morse Relays, earning 52 points to stick out from a crowd of opponents, as 24 different teams earned points during the night. Corcoran (23 points) edged out Baldwinsville (21 points) for the runner-up spot.
More than half those points came from field events. In the pole vault, Eric Sykora won among individuals, clearing 11 feet 6 inches, and Dillon McKee (10 feet 6 inches) took second place, for a combined 22 feet.
Another victory came in the high jump, where CNS had the lone teammates to make clearances. Kevin McCarthy (fourth) and Zach Brown (tied for seventh) cleared a combined height of 11 feet 2 inches. In addition, Jordan Thompson and Jared Thomson took second in the shot put, with combined throws of 80 feet 1 1/2 inches.
Meanwhile, on the oval, Alex Neumeister, Jake Whritenour, Shaun Hyde and Mike Fiume combined to win the 4×400 relay in 3:37.94, nearly two full seconds ahead of runner-up Skaneateles (3:39.92).
In the 1,600 sprint medley, Vincent St. James, Brandon Marlow, Ben Brown and Chris Buchanan took third place in 3:54.10. Jeff Quick, Alex Bottorff, Wes Kufel and Taylor Michael were fourth in the 4×800 in 8:53.87.
Keenan Williams and Paul Hazard got fifth in the 55-meter hurdles (17.94 seconds) as Buchanan, Whritenour, Nick Dunbar and Jared Walther managed fifth in the distance medley relay in 11:11.08.
In the girls edition of the Morse Relays, CNS tied Jamesville-DeWitt for second place, each earning 38 points as Liverpool (61 points) finished in front.
Jasmine Thompson teamed with Alana Hotchkiss, Jamie Ryan and Jessica Wheeler to win a thrilling 4×200 relay, Thompson rallying to edge Skaneateles at the wire, 1:54.84 to 1:54.85, the difference being one-hundredth of a second.
It wasn’t as close in the 55-meter hurdles, where Thompson (9.06 seconds) finished an inch behind Phoenix’s Ashley Palmer (9.05 seconds) among individuals, but had help from Gina Campagna (fourth, 9.58 seconds) to win in 18.64 seconds. Meanwhile, Campagna won the individual high jump, clearing 5 feet 2 inches.
Hotchkiss and Stacie DeCarr (29 feet 10 1/4 inches) finished second to Fayetteville-Manlius (29 feet 11 1/2 inches) in a close long jump. Katie Laris, Sarah Lounsbury, Chelsea Davidson and Shannon Bausinger were fourth in the 4×800 relay (10:51.34). Valerie Langevin and Heather Huff were fifth in the shot put.
