Strong in many different areas, the Canastota boys track and field team beat everyone but the hosts at last Friday’s large Oneida Invitational.
In a field of 22 teams, the Raiders, with 59 points, finished second, just ahead of Holland Patent (56.5 points) for that runner-up spot as the host Oneida Indians prevailed with 92 points.
Jeff Willis gave Canastota fans a thrill as he won the pole vault, clearing 13 feet 6 inches, tying Adirondack’s Andre Adkins for the best Section III attempt of the season.
Aaron Walker and Robbie Argentine both ran well in the mile, gaining 14 combined points as Walker finished second in 4:37.71 and Argentine took third in 4:40.11. Alex Hatz (Fayetteville-Manlius) won in 4:15.40.
Argentine moved up to second in the 3,200-meter run in 9:48.40, with Hatz again on top in 9:09.10, and Argentine was fourth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 8 inches. Walker was third in the 800-meter run (2:00.53), with Nick Darcangelo seventh.
Alex Lang made his way to third place in the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.51 seconds, and matched that third-place effort in the 400 hurdles in 59.43 seconds as he got fifth in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump.
Canastota’s girls team had 15 points, most of them from Allison Lasnicki, who was second in the 3,000-meter run (10:30.12) behind F-M’s Courtney Chapman (9:48.84) and third in the 1,500-meter run in 5:02.83. Denae Rinaldo was sixth in the shot put.
