Zavon Watkins will lead a large contingent of Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse track and field athletes that will populate next week’s state championship meet at Bragman Stadium.
During last Thursday’s Section III state qualifier at Cicero-North Syracuse, Watkins appeared in just one individual event, the 800-meter run. There, he worked his way to victory in one minute, 57.79 seconds, beating Baldwinsville’s Alec Peinkofer by 1.45 seconds.
Watkins also ran the anchor leg in the 4×400 relay, where he, along with Keewan Rondinello, Steve Fiorello and Ryheim Lawes, won in 3:27.23, more than three seconds better than second-place Whitesboro.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ryan Ronk joined Rondinello, Lawes and FIorello as Liverpool beat C-NS, 43.48 seconds to 43.94, in the 4×100 relay. Cameron Shaughnessy, Avery Yarn, Shawn Webb and Mark Broughton were second for the Northstars. Liverpool added a third in the 4×800.
Moving to the girls side, Ore Akinpelu, on her own, won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.16, ahead of C-NS teammates Justine Seliger (1:07.58) and Jade Jenkins (1:09.59). Seliger was second (16.66 seconds) in the 100 hurdles, with Hannah Szumloz (16.78 seconds) in fourth place.
This was after a 4×100 relay where Akinpelu, Connie Torres, Jazmine Herbert and Catherine Rowell won in 49.16 seconds, topping Baldwinsville (49.78 seconds) at the wire. Akinpelu, Rowell, Torres and Yasmeen Griffin were second in the 4×400 relay in 4:01.73.
Herbert, on her own, rose to second in the 100-meter dash in 12.77 seconds. Nick Leedom, in the boys shot put, threw it 51 feet, a half inch behind Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s Corey Wilkinson.
C-NS wasn’t quiet in this meet In the pentathlon, Katie Osborne went 17 feet 7 ¼ inches in the long jump, cleared 5’3 ¾” in the high jump and ran the 100 hurdles in 15.44 seconds on her way to a winning total of 3,060 points. Teammate Nicole Herringshaw had 2,283 points.
Also, Nicole Watterud took the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:10.49, while Jessica Wheeler won the pole vault when she cleared 9’6” with fewer misses than West Genesee’s Abby Uczen, though both advanced to the state meet. The Northstars’ Angela Kulpa (9 feet) took fifth place.
Mariah Thomson was second in the girls discus, throwing it 102’3”, and also took second in the shot put (35’11 ½”) as Rome Free Academy’s Mariah Mays won both events. Jacqlynn Halstead needed 10:22.29 for third place in the 3,000-meter run.
On the boys side, the Northstars’ Frank Volino won the 400-meter hurdles, edging Rondinello, 56.45 seconds to 56.91, and also taking third (15.16 seconds) in the 110 high hurdles as Morgan Austen was seventh.
Khalil Stevens, by clearing 6’4”, earned second to Corcoran’s Charles Stokes (6’6”) in the high jump, while Shaughnessy cleared 13 feet in the pole vault, the same as Watertown’s Michael Lopresti, but with more misses.
Joel Brousseau was second in the Division I pentathlon with 2,819 points, while Neil Gill got second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:13.24. Broughton rose to third in the 200 sprint in 22.65 seconds, where Yarn finished sixth. Bryson Mayes got fourth (42’2 ½”) in the triple jump, with Javielle Fanizzi sixth in the girls long jump and triple jump.
