Having already proven themselves in a successful spring, area high school track and field athletes got one more chance to compete in advance of next weekend’s state championships at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
During Thursday’s Section III state qualifier, also held at C-NS, stars from Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy both blanketed the win column.
Nick Ryan led the boys Hornets. Though not matching his mile from the Mary 22 sectional Class AA meet, Ryan still won in 4:18.33, with Bryce Millar third in Division I (large schools) in 4:27.77.
In the 3,200-meter run, Ryan prevailed in 9:15.40, with Matt Deyo (9:27.06) and Ben Thomas (9:34.85) completing a 1-2-3 sweep. Ryan, Millar, Langston Lightcap and Connor Farrell worked together to win the 4×800 relay in a swift 7:57.64.
Meanwhile, F-M won two of the three girls relays. Natalie Zazzara, Olivia Ryan, Katie Brislin and Heather Martin took the 4×400 in 3:57.55, with Jamesville-DeWitt third in 4:07.15. Hannah Smith, Annika Avery, Katie Sischo and Hannah Smith won the 4×800 in 9:28.71, with J-D again in the third spot in 10:07.72.
Alana Pearl, in a time of 4:46.79, and Jillian Fanning (4:47.37) went 1-2 in the girls 1,500-meter run. Charlie Beeler took fourth in the boys 400-meter dash in 52.56 seconds. Christie Rutledge won at 3,000 meters, going 9:59.61 as teammate Michelle Duffy (10:03.88) was second.
CBA had some unusual experiences. After the favored 4×100 relay team lost the Division II final due to a bad pass before the third leg, the Brothers returned in the 4×400 and saw Jack Brower, Kevin Frasier, Jared Sayles and Brendan Smith hold off Solvay, 3:29.24 to 3:30.01.
Smith wasn’t done, of course. He went to the 3,000-meter steeplechase and led from start to finish, winning overall in 9:40.65 and beating the Division II field by more than 16 seconds. Dan Predmore again won in the discus, where he threw it 148’3” as J-D’s Ryan Peters was third (135’1”) on the Division I side.
Dametrius Brown held off Solvay’s Nick Cometti, 11.10 seconds to 11.17, in the Division II 100-meter dash, while Kevin Frasier got to second in the 400-meter dash in 51.35 seconds.
East Syracuse-Minoa star Amanda Wall was victorious in the Division I long jump, where she went 17’11 ½” to beat, among others, J-D’s Sierra Vasiliou (17’3 ½”), who was third. Wall added a third-place triple jump of 34’ 3 ¼” as her teammate, Nina Zesky, cleared 5’4” in the high jump to advance to the state meet.
J-D’s Maggie Fuller took second in the Division I portion of the pentathlon, earning 2,651 points, which included a clearance of 5 feet 3 ¾ inches in the high jump. CBA’s Will Brower edged J-D’s Nate Sturgeon, 2,576 points to 2,508, for fifth in the boys pentathlon.
Also for J-D, Will Sterriker earned third in the 400 hurdles (56.92 seconds) and fourth in the 110 high hurdles in 15.41 seconds. Ally Fox needed 26.18 seconds for second place in the 200 sprint as Liz Pieri was third in the girls 400-meter dash in 1:00.37.
Sierra Vasiliou had a fourth-place shot put toss of 33’ 1 ½”, ahead of Tangela Hightower in fifth as Hightower, in the discus, threw it 90’7” for her own fourth-place effort. ESM’s Jeff McDuffie earned third place in the Division I long jump, going 21’7 ½”, while J-D’s Danielle Doss cleared 9 feet in the pole vault and also took fourth.
For CBA, Ashley Crouch got to fourth in the Division II 100 hurdles in 16.49 seconds. Maire-Kate McGlynn was seventh in the Division II 2,000-meter steeplechase, while Anna Schug was fourth in the 400 sprint.
