At just the right moment, the Solvay boys track and field team found its way to the top.
The Bearcats claimed a furious nine-team battle for the Section III Class B-1 championship Friday at Canastota High School, earning 112 points to edge Skaneateles (105 points) for first place. Marcellus, with 67 points, slid into fifth place.
Nick Cometti prevailed three times for Solvay in sprints. He won the 200-meter dash, edging Skaneateles’ Malik Merritt, 23.79 seconds to 23.82, and did the same in the 100-meter dash, 11.58 seconds to Merritt’s 11.76. Cometti and also got a victory in the 400-meter dash, crossing the line in 51.22 seconds.
Also, Cometti joined Jake Callisto, Rich Nagen and Carmen Sarno to finish second in the 4×100 relay in 46.26 seconds. The quartet of Matt Battaglia, Eric Goodrich, Nate Carr and Mike Nicolini was second in the 4×400 (3:39.44), with Carr, Battaglia, Goodrich and Owen Ryan fourth in the 4×800.
Brian McLeod stepped up, too, as he won the high jump by clearing 5 feet 10 inches with fewer misses than Marcellus rival Brian O’Connell. McLeod also was second to Skaneateles’ Khiary Gale in both the long jump (19 feet 4 3/4 inches) and triple jump (39’1 1/2″), giving him 26 individual points.
Matt Cregan worked his way to second place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:40.83, while John Salvagno needed just 16.39 seconds to grab second in the 110 high hurdles.
Mike Ferrara picked up 1,326 points for third place in the pentathlon. Nate Gillette managed a fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Battaglia took fifth in the 800-meter run. Josh Marotti was sixth in the shot put and 400 hurdles.
As for Marcellus, Ryan Manahan led a 1-2-3 sweep in the mile, winning in a time of 4:13.37 as Joe Fallon was second (4:29.79) and John Bell (4:33.36) was third. In the 800, Manahan prevailed again, in 1:59.21, where Fallon was fourth.
Manahan, Fallon, Bell and Justin Garn got together to crush the 4×800 field, its time of 8:15.12 more than 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Holland Patent. Garn added a fourth in the 400 as Nate Waite took fifth in the 200, Rob Coon was fifth in the pole vault and Matt Raymond got fifth in the discus.
In the simultaneous Class B-2 meet, Jordan-Elbridge earned 58 points, good for fourth place in an eight-team field as CBA won with 200 points.
Steve Slonosky worked his way to a second-place time of 10:42.74 in the 3,000 steeplechase and also was third (11:07.61) in the 3,200. Andrew Forward went 19′ 1 1/2″ for second in the high jump, had a third-place triple jump of 39’3″ and was sixth in the high jump.
Jack Gugel, Austin Whittico, Bill DiRezno and Robert Patterson were third in the 4×400 in 3:42.73, with DiRenzo, Patterson, Gugel and Anthony Faiola third in the 4×800 (9:02.75) and the Eagles were fourth in the 4×100.
James Winney threw the discus 114’5″, putting him in third place. Tyler Jackson was fourth in the pentathlon, while Eric Gross cleared 9’6″ for fifth in the pole vault. Faiola got sixth in the 400 hurdles.
Far away from all this, Westhill/Bishop Ludden, a combined entry, was in the sectional Class A meet at Camden, where it picked up 66.5 points to finish fourth, not that far from Indian River’s winning total of 110 points.
Corey Wilkinson again ruled in the throwing events, unleashing a top shot put toss of 50′ 11 1/4″ and, in a thrilling discus duel, going 142’5″ to beat Jamesville-DeWitt’s Ryan Peters by one inch. Tre Fesinger was fourth in the shot put (43’10”).
Jack Honis continued his win streak when he took the 110 high hurdles in 14.57 seconds, and he added a fourth in the 200 sprint, ahead of Christian St. Amour in fifth, and Honis was sixth in the 400 hurdles.
Tim Sheridan worked his way to third place in the pentathlon, picking up 2,389 points. Peter Lynch got a third-place clocking of 11:15.1 in the 3,000 steeplechase In a pack, Liam Rogers, fourth in the 3,200 (10:52.61), finished ahead of Alec Walsh in fifth and Dan DeMauro in sixth.
St. Amour earned fourth in the 400 sprint (52.59 seconds). Casey Bunce was fifth in the mile as Alex Phelan tied for sixth in the high jump.
