Local track and field fans will have lots to cheer for when the top athletes gather Friday and Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium for the state championship meet.
In last Saturday’s Section III state qualifier, also at CNS, stars like Alex Hatz (Fayetteville-Manlius) and David Salbert (Jamesville-DeWitt) both earned victories.
Hatz could not quite match the 4:08.18 mile he posted during the Section III Class AA meet on May 27, but he still won in 4:10.75, nearly 20 seconds ahead of Fulton’s Noah Carroll, his nearest Division I (large school) foe.
Salbert would record the best Section III triple jump of the season. He soared 45 feet 8 1/2 inches, beating Corcoran’s Cordell Grant by 3 1/2 inches.
Bumkuth Jiak ran his way into contention for the 800-meter run, battling Liverpool’s Colin Savage to the wire. Jiak finished in 1:56.82, just behind Savage, who won in 1:55.71, as Max Smith (2:03.66) finished eighth.
F-M saw Karl Thomson finish fourth in the discus (132 feet 5 inches) and also get fourth in the shot put with a toss of 47 feet 5 1/2 inches.
Elsewhere for J-D, Curtis Walker was sixth in the long jump, going 18 feet 8 1/2 inches, as Ira Griffin took seventh in the 200-meter dash in 24.80 seconds. Ben Kier was eighth (10:40.48) in the 3,200-meter run.
