Liverpool’s track and field teams both stepped up during the April school break, on two different fronts.
The Warriors gained an early edge in the CNY Counties League race by sweeping Wednesday’s pair of meets against West Genesee, prevailing 74-67 in the boys meet at LHS Stadium and 79-62 in the girls meet in Camillus.
Denied any wins in the sprints, the boys Warriors countered with Zavon Watkins running the mile in 4:54.0 and also taking the 800-meter run in 2:04.0. Watkins also teamed with Alex Christensen, Anthony Ostuni and Dan Muldoon to win the 4×800 relay in 9:04.9.
Keewan Rondinello backed up his first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (a swift 57.0 seconds) by helping Steve Fiorello, Ryan Ronk and Ryheim Lawes to take the 4×100 relay in 44.7 seconds. Also, Rondinello, Christenson, Fiorello and Brockton Barton claimed the 4×400 in 3:40.0 to complete a relay sweep.
Elsewhere, Gaurab Bhattacharya earned a win in the 110 high hurdles in 17.6 seconds. Nick Leedom threw the shot put 42 feet 5 inches as Christian Grannell had a first-place discus throw of 112’6”. Zach Harris tied WG’s Zach Schrader for first in the high jump, each clearing 5’4”.
For the Liverpool girls team, Jazmine Herbert and Ore Akinpelu led the way. Together, they, along with Nicole Barrett and Alexus Gersbacher, won the 4×100 relay in 53.7 seconds, with Akinpelu, Madeline Murphy, Jessica Turner and Alexandra Whiting claiming the 4×400 in 4:34.7.
Individually, Akinpelu moved from running the 400 sprint in one minute flat to winning the 400 hurdles in 1:11.2. Herbert swept the other sprints, claiming the 100 (13.2 seconds) before running the 200 in 28.0 seconds.
Emily Butler chimed in with her own pair of victories, covering 1,500 meters in 5:12.2 before winning the 3,000-meter run in a clocking of 11:19.9. In field events, Mary Reed won the discus, heaving it 85’6”, while Kahmoni Richardson had a first-place triple jump of 29’9” and Kathryn Dalton (13’1/2”) was first in the long jump.
Two days before the battle with West Genesee, the Warriors nearly swept the top spots at the Tully Spring Break Invitational. On the girls end, Liverpool picked up 76 points, enough to hold off Homer (64 points) and Mexico (62 points) at the top, while the boys Warriors had 81 points, topping everyone except Hannibal, who won with 89 points.
Akinpelu delivered a win in the 400 in 1:01.67, with Murphy (1:10.46) in fifth place. Akinpelu teamed with Turner, Butler and Kyla Bills for third (11:01.57) in the 4×800 relay.
Butler was second in the 3,000-meter run, edging out third-place Morgan Mahoney, 11:29.99 to 11:30.05, while Lindsey Thiel was sixth in the 1,500-meter run. Gersbacher got sixth in the 200-meter dash and Turner took sixth in the high jump.
Only Barrett (7’6”) and Shae Shenandoah (7’) cleared heights in the pole vault, providing Liverpool a 1-2 finish. Kathryn Dalton stepped up for fourth place in the triple jump, going 26’ ½ “.
Reed was fourth in the discus with a throw of 83’ 9”, with Nelliah Watkins getting fifth place in the shot put with 26’ 9”. Herbert claimed third (13.62 seconds) in the 100-meter dash as Bills took third in the 800-meter run in 2:34.99.
Liverpool gathered up 24 boys points with its 1-2-3 sweep in the 400-meter dash. Zavon Watkins took top honors in a time of 50.41 seconds, edging out Ryheim Lawes (50.44 seconds) as Keewan Rondinello was third in 53.02 seconds.
Watkins would win the boys 800, his time of 2:07.15 more than a second ahead of Hannibal’s Ben Griffin (2:08.25). Liverpool also won the 4×400, where Fiorello, Lawes, Rondinello and Brandon Horton, in 3:44.09, beat the field by more than three seconds.
Dan Muldoon, Connor Buck, Christensen and Ostuni were third in the 4×800 in 9:15.16. This came after Christensen ran the mile in 4:48.63, second to Griffin (4:47.63), and Adam Zinger ran 3,200 meters in 10:43.28, which put him in second place, too.
Leedom, with a throw of 44’ 8”, got second in the shot put. Chris Granell threw the discus 120’7” for fourth place, as Ronk was fifth (11.93 seconds) in the 100 and Horton earned sixth in the triple jump. In the unique 4×100 relay for throwers, Liverpool’s quartet of Leedom, Chris Gillmore, Konrad Wenneberg and Mark Williamson were fourth in 58.62 seconds.
