High finishes in relays, sprints and field events propelled the Baldwinsville boys track and field team to fourth place at Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championship meet, even as it could not win any of those contests.
On the familiar grounds of Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, the Bees picked up 56.5 points, topping most of the 14-team field. Fayetteville-Manlius, mostly through high finishes in distance-running events, won with 99 points, with Liverpool second (89 points) and host C-NS (81 points) in third place.
Shay Sargeant typified the Bees’ efforts on this day. He gained 14 points in individual events, sprinting to third in the 100-meter dash in 11.29 seconds, adding a third in the long jump by going 21 fee 4 ¼ inches and taking fourth (22.60 seconds) in the 200-meter dash.
Alec Peinkofer battled Liverpool’s Zavon Watkins to the wire in the 800-meter run, but settled for second place in 1:57.31 to Watkins’ 1:56.88, while Andy Fleming was fourth in 1:59.76.
In the 4×400 relay, Fleming, leading a quartet that included Matt Pond, Dan Walker and Bennan LaQue, tried to run down F-M in the homestretch, but had to settle for second place in a quick time of 3:29.49, less than a second behind the Hornets’ 3:28.55.
Together, Peinkofer, Fleming, Pond and Josh Perez pushed F-M in the 4×800 relay, where the Bees finished in 8:10.41, but the Hornets won in 8:08.02. In the 4×100, James Eustice, Brian Mahar, Rickey Sparks and Nate Wicks were sixth in 45.92 seconds.
Nate Wicks contended in the 400-meter dash and finished third, in 51.38 seconds, second in his heat behind the champion, West Genesee’s Luke Potash (50.70 seconds). Perez led early in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, but could not sustain that pace, though he did work his way to fourth place in 10:17.53.
Harrison Warner had a game effort in the pentathlon, the sophomore picking up 2,183 points to finish sixth, doing his best in the final event, the 1,500-meter run, where he took second in 4:54.85.
Shawn Calnan tied for sixth in the high jump, clearing 6 feet 2 inches, while Logan Maar was eighth (10’6”) in the pole vault and Pat McNamara threw the discus 114 feet, putting him in seventh place, just missing the points. Antonio Martinez was eighth in the mile in 4:37.78.
