Finding success in most of the disciplines, the Skaneateles girls indoor track and field team gained a second-place finish in Saturday’s Section III Class B championship meet at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
With 114 points, the Lakers beat everyone except that other Laker unit, from Cazenovia, who went to the top spot with 165 points. No one else was close as Homer grabbed third place with 53 points.
Kaela Fiutak continued her season-long win streak in the pole vault. By clearing 9 feet 6 inches, the senior edged out Clinton’s Hannah Shankman (9 feet) for first place. Fiutak added a fifth in the long jump, ahead of Gianna Campanile in sixth place.
It turned out that senior Erin Tonzi also found herself in a duel with Shankman in the triple jump. With a leap of 32 feet 6 1/4 inches, Tonzi beat Shankman by 2 3/4 inches.
Moving to the 3,000-meter run, sophomore Madeline Adams was the only competitor to break the 11-minute mark as, in a time of 10 minutes, 52.93 seconds, Adams beat Cazenovia’s Jeannette Cudney (11:03.34) by more than 10 seconds. Later, Adams was second in the 600-meter run in 1:45.88 as Tonzi (1:46.90) got to third place.
It didn’t stop there, either, as Tonzi joined Jane Gaffney, Anna Barnett and Taylor Woodruff for a romp in the 4×400 relay, the Lakers finishing in 4:18.73 as Homer (4:34.49) was far back in second place.
Barnett joined Emma Ford, Molly McCarthy and Corinne LaFrance to finish second in the 4×200 relay in 1:54 flat. Adams, Gaffney, Casey Van Slyke and eighth-grader Kaitlyn Neal went 10:31.34 in the 4×800 relay for another second-place finish. Cazenovia won both the 4×200 and 4×800.
Ford ran 300 meters in 42.05 seconds, finishing second, while Woodruff was fourth in 43.40 seconds, and Ford also got to third (4 feet 8 inches) in the high jump. Alana Navaroli’s shot put toss of 30 feet 2 3/4 inches left her in second place.
Neal, on her own, got to third place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:06.76, while Morel Malcolm (5:18.86) was fourth. Van Slyke went on to finish fifth in the 1,000-meter run in 3:20.59, while LaFrance took fifth in the 55-meter dash in eight seconds flat. Jenn DeRosa was sixth in the 3,000 behind Adams.
Skaneateles also had a strong showing in the boys sectional Class B meet, rising to fifth place with 43 points as Christian Brothers Academy (87 points) claimed team honors.
Khiary Gale produced the Lakers’ lone title, in the triple jump. By going 43 feet 7 3/4 inches, Gale dominated the event as Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s Joe Carusone (39 feet 10 3/4 inches) was second. Gale also took third in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 4 inches.
Nick Smolenski, Taylor Weyneth, B.J. Kerr and Austin Amory worked their way to second place in the 4×400 relay in 3:48.52 as Cazenovia (3:41.78) prevailed. Amory and Smolenski helped Patrick Biver and Ethan Johanns for a fourth (9:23.83) in the 4×800 as the Lakers were also fifth in the 4×200.
Malik Merritt earned fourth in the 55 sprint in 6.89 seconds, with Weyneth earning fourth (8.49 seconds) in the 55 hurdles. Dan Wolfanger was fifth in the 300 sprint in 40.64 seconds, with Weyneth fifth and Matt Short sixth in the long jump.
Skaneateles has just a few days to rest before coming back to SRC Arena for Wednesday night’s Section III state qualifying meet.
