Proving to be quite tough in a pressure setting, the Canastota boys indoor track and field team earned fourth place during last Tuesday night’s Section III Class B championship meet at Manley Field House.
After a season full of MVITA meets, the Raiders went west and found success, earning 65 points by the time it was done at Manley. Marcellus won with 80 points as Solvay and Clinton (71 points each) tied for second place.
Jeff Willis would star in the pole vault, as he cleared 13 feet, beating everyone in the sectional field, regardless of class. Adam Tyson (Jamesville-DeWitt) came the closest to Willis, clearing 12 feet 6 inches.
Aaron Walker stood up well in distance races, finishing second in both the mile (4:36.55) and 1,000-meter run (2:43.68), not far from the winning times posted by Marcellus cross country state champion Chris Stogsdill.
Just the same, in the 4×800 relay, Walker, Robbie Argentine, Zack Szkolnick and Jason Rice combined to finish second in 8:52.05 as Marcellus won in 8:44.69.
Argentine would win in the high jump, though, as he cleared 5 feet 8 inches with fewer misses than Jordan-Elbridge’s John Flynn. He also finished fifth (10:08.73) in the 3,200-meter run.
Sanford worked his way to third place in the 300-meter dash in 39.07 seconds. Ray Smith (7.13 seconds) and Willis (7.19 seconds) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 55-meter dash. Smith also teamed with Rice, Dan Sandford and Derek Arner for third place in the 4×400 relay in 3:44.84.
