On consecutive days, in varying locales and widely varying conditions, both of Cicero-North Syracuse’s track and field teams would find unqualified success.
It began with the girls Northstars venturing to last Friday’s Tully Invitational, with warm sunshine and temperatures pushing 80 degrees, something similar to post-season meets.
Katie Osborne put her all-around skills on display during the five-event pentathlon. She won the 100-meter hurdles, shot put and long jump portions, and earned 2,558 points overall, beating the runner-up, Kylie Bartlett (Altmar-Parish-Williamstown), by 151 points.
Mariah Thomson nearly swept the throwing events. She won the shot put with a toss of 36 feet 3 inches, nearly four feet ahead of the field, and in the discus threw it 99’8”, behind only Holland Patent’s Harley Buczowski, who tossed it 102’9”.
Jacqlynn Halstead, in the 1,500-meter run, was the only competitor to break the five-minute mark, winning in 4:59.55, more than eight seconds ahead of the field.
Nicole Watterud, Taylor Parry, Emily Dolan and Marissa Colburn were victorious in the 4×800 relay in 10:13.33, with Jamesville-DeWitt second in 10:19.22. Colburn and Dolan returned to help Maria LaMontagne and Katie Laris win the distance medley relay in 13:18.25.
Laris, on her own, was second (2:26.90) to Baldwinsville’s Mackenzie Ross (2:25.05) in the 800-meter run, with LaMontagne in sixth place.
C-NS also ran to fourth in the 4×400 relay in 4:31.54 Shannon McCarthy and Nicole Harringshaw tied for fourth in the high jump, each clearing 5 feet. Watterud took fifth in the 3,000-meter run in 10:53.99.
Justine Selliger earned fourth in the 100 hurdles (16.94 seconds), with teammate Jade Jenkins in sixth. Hannah Szumloz took fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:14.10) and was seventh in the triple jump, while Jenkins was 11th in the long jump.
Then, on Saturday, the C-NS boys team would go to Baldwinsville’s Arcaro Relays and win the team title with 114 points, with the host Bees (96 points) claiming the second spot – all in conditions much colder than the girls faced the day before.
Andrew Johnson, Avery Yarn, Frank Volino and Shawn Webb got together in the 1,000 sprint medley and prevailed in a time of 2:04.51, nearly five seconds better than runner-up West Genesee. Joe Castaldo, Austin George, Donovan Kims and Tyler Hemingway nearly won the 4×100, edged by B’ville, 45.83 seconds to the Bees’ 45.75.
Neil Gill, Colin Greenseich, Bryan Junod and Bryan Bausinger went 19:44.60 for second place in the distance medley relay. Corey Mitchell, Travon Wynn, Daquan Mathis and Dylon Bishop rose to third (1:42.16) in the 4×200 relay. C-NS also got third in the distance medley relay (11:31.35) as Gill, Shayne Mitchell, Evan Russell and Paul DeGennaro took part.
Mike Hyde won the individual pole vault, clearing 11’6”, as he and Cameron Shaughnessy tied Rome Free Academy for team honors, both clearing 21’6”. Hyde and Yarn teamed up for third place in the long jump, going 34’4” between them, with Mayes and Wynn fifth in the triple jump. Sam Nassar and Joe Antonello took second in the 400 hurdles with a total time of 2:08.07.
Khallil Stevens and Bryson Mayes had a combined clearance of 11 feet in the high jump, putting them second to Corcoran (11’6”). Castaldo and Kims were third in the shot put, going 76’4”, and also took third in the weight throw (73’3 ½”), with Castaldo helping George as they got third (190’10”) in the discus.
Morgan Austen, with 2,388 points, and Nick Antonello, with 2,085 points, were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the pentathlon. Ken Ryan and Kevin Cialfi got to third in the 3,000 steeplecahase (combined 22:00.7) and the Northstars were fifth in the 110 high hurdles.
