A week earlier, the Liverpool boys indoor track and field team had watched Cicero-North Syracuse sweep both ends of the Jack Morse Relays, the first-ever high school sports event at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
But when the same two sides returned Wednesday night for the John Arcaro Memorial Invitational, it was the Warriors’ turn to take the top spot on the boys side, edging the Northstars 53 points to 47, while the CNS girls were second to Jamesville-DeWitt and Liverpool got third place.
Unlike the opener, individual events featured points gained from solo efforts, with two relays. Liverpool’s boys found success on both fronts, starting with Zavon Watkins, who edged Baldwinsville’s Alec Peinkofer, 2:35.64 to 2:35.98, in the 1,000-meter run.
The Warriors also prevailed in the 4×200 relay, where Ryan Ronk, Steve Fiorello, Brandon Horton and Ryheim Lawes finished in 1:37.68, leaving the CNS quartet of Jalen Jenkins, Keenan Miller, Frank Volino and Nathan Hilt second in 1:40.50.
Fiorello didn’t stop there, working his way to second place in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 1 inch. Watkins joined Keewan Rondinello, Alex Christenson and Landon Veney for a third-place finish in the 4×400 relay in 3:40.43 as Avery Yarn, Shawn Webb, Shayne Mitchell and Nick Mezatesta pushed the Northstars to second in 3:37.03.
Also for the Warriors, Anthony Miller had a fourth-place shot put throw of 39 feet 9 1/4 inches. Lawes was fourth in the 200-meter dash in 24.25 seconds, an event won by Yarn in 23.80 seconds. Rondinello was fifth (1:10.21) in the 500-meter run, while Zach Harris tied CNS’s Mike Hyde for fifth in the high jump.
The Northstars’ Cameron LaBarge got to fourth (10 feet 6 inches) in the pole vault as Anthony Lupia (4:37.38) and Neil Gill were fourth and sixth, respectively, in the mile.
In the girls edition of the Arcaro meet, CNS had 45 points and Liverpool 39.7 points, but both trailed J-D, who lay claim to the top spot with 63.7 points after finishing second to the Northstars in the Morse meet.
Mariah Thomson gave the Northstars a clear victory in the shot put, tossing it 33 feet 4 inches as Katie Osborne, sixth in that event, cleared 5 feet 2 inches for second place in the high jump.
CNS teammates Justine Seliger (9.65 seconds) and Jade Jenkins (9.70 seconds) were second and third, respectively, in the 55-meter hurdles, with Liverpool’s Tammy Brodie (9.97 seconds) in fourth.
In the 1,500-meter run, Nicole Watterud got fourth place in 5:05.53, ahead of Maria LaMontagne (5:07.80) in fifth.
Liverpool freshman Ore Akinpelu, fresh off helping the girls soccer Warriors win a Section III Class AA title, won here, too, taking the 500-meter run in 1:24.16. Kyla Bills added a second in the 1,000 in 3:11.72, where CNS’s Taylor Parry (3:13.37) was fourth, and Catherine Rowell was second in the triple jump, going 31 feet 8 1/2 inches.
Akinpelu, Rowell, Stine Albers and Alex Whiting ran to third in the 4×400 relay in 4:21.17, ahead of CNS in fifth (4:34.03), and the Warriors were sixth in the 4×200. Brodie added a sixth (14 feet 2 3/4 inches) in the long jump as Shae Shenandoah tied for fifth in the pole vault.
Everyone gathers at OCC again next Wednesday to stage the Oscar Jensen Holiday Relays, the last event of the 2011 portion of the schedule.
