In an exciting duel, the Canastota boys track and field team held off Oneida and took top honors on its home venue during last Friday’s Ryan Wells Memorial Madison County Championships.
Overall, the Raiders had 201 points, while the Indians finished second with 185 points. Morrisville-Eaton, with 95 points, lagged far behind in third place.
Robbie Argentine had a part in three different Canastota wins. He ran together with Aaron Walker in the mile for a 1-2 finish as Argentine (4:46.1) won by inches, then took the 3,200-meter run in 10:24.1, more than five seconds clear of the field.
Also, Argentine finished second in the high jump (5 feet 8 inches) and helped the Raiders’ 4×800 relay team prevail in 9:01.7, augmenting wins in the 4×400 (3:42.8) and 4×1,600 (24:04.3). Walker claimed his own victory in the 800-meter run with a clocking of 2:04.1.
Alex Lang earned 34 individual points all by himself. He took charge in the 400-meter hurdles, prevailing in 1:00.4, and moved on to win the long jump with a top leap of 18 feet 8 inches. He also got second in the triple jump (40 feet 6 3/4 inches) after a third-place showing in the 110-meter high hurdles (16.8 seconds).
Jeff Willis conitnued his season-long domination in the pole vault, as he cleared 13 feet, two and a half feet better than Oneida’s Rick Rossi.
Dan Sandford, who was part of the winning 4×400 side, claimed his own title in the 200-meter dash in 24.3 seconds, just ahead of teammate Ray Smith (24.5 seconds). Smith got to third in the 100-meter dash (12.1 seconds).
In other distance events, Zack Szkholnick was second (12:04.4) and Jason Rice (12:08) third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Alex Spara landed in third in the 3,200 (11:15.3) behind Argentine. Derek Arner needed 1,937 points to finish second in the pentathlon.
As this was going on, Canastota’s girls team could only manage a second-place finish at the Madison County Meet, earning 138 points. Cazenovia won with 221 points.
Still, Allison Lasnicki dominated the distance running events, setting a new meet record in the 3,000-meter run with her time of 10:39.3 and covering 1,500 meters in 5:04 flat.
Lasnicki helped Canastota’s 4×800 relay team prevail in 11:00.5 and also take the 4×1,600 relay (22:54.9), too, as Ashley Delaney (8:47.5) and Brittney Goodwin (9:38.7) took second and third, respectively, in the 2,000-meter steeplechase.
Sarah Foran worked her way to a victory in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:10.4 and added a second in the pole vault, clearing 7 feet.
Denae Rinaldo stood out in throwing events, as she tossed the shot put 29 feet 3 3/4 inches and won there, adding a second in the discus with a throw of 78 feet 3 inches. Delaney was second in the long jump (14 feet 3 inches
