Perhaps it took competing at a venue other than SRC Arena to slow down the Baldwinsville boys indoor track and field team.
Twice a winner this winter, the Bees could only manage a third-place finish in Tuesday night’s George Constantino Memorial Invitational, which sent all the CNY Counties League and OHSL sides to Colgate University’s Sanford Field House.
B’ville finished with 36 points, still ahead of most of the 22-team field, but trailing Fayetteville-Manlius, who won with 58 points, and Cicero-North Syracuse, who was second with 48 points.
Where the Bees could not be stopped was in the 4×800 relay. Combined, Josh Perez, Andy Fleming, Alec Peinkofer and Nate Wicks produced a time of eight minutes, 22.30 seconds, more than 20 seconds better than F-M, who was second in 8:43.20.
Individually, Peinkofer made a bid for victory in the 3,200-meter run, crossing the line in 9:55.73, which left him second behind Auburn’s Justin Middleton, who won in 9:54.85.
Brennan LaQue contended in the 300-meter dash, finishing in 38.56 seconds to earn third place. Nate Wicks got to fourth place in the 600-meter run in 1:27.87, with Jeff Mahar (1:28.22) just behind him in fifth place. Kirk Anderson
Logan Maar, clearing 11 feet, took fourth in the pole vault, while Drew Molinet (9’6″) was seventh. Fleming snatched a point with his sixth-place time of 4:40.44 in the mile. Noah Meyers cleared 5’6″ for sixth place in the high jump, two inches of teammate Harrison Warner in seventh.
The Bees were seventh in the 4×200 relay (1:43.94), just 0.06 seconds out of the points, while Dan Walker took seventh in the 300-meter dash and missed gaining a point by just 0.02 seconds.
Brian Mahar was ninth in the 55-meter dash, with Jack Martin ninth in the 1,000-meter run, and the Bees combined for a 10th-place effort in the 4×400 relay.
Brent Grippe claimed 10th in the long jump as Kirk Anderson finished 10th in the shot put. The weight throw was not a point event, but Anderson (34’5″) and Cody Young (34′) were third and fourth, respectively.
A night later, back at SRC Arena, the Baldwinsville girls indoor track team claimed fifth place in its portion of the Constantino meet, earning 27 points as, like the boys meet, F-M (90 points) earned the top spot.
It was the Bees that were victorious, though, in the 4×200 relay. The quartet of Stephanie Vasteno, Angelica Tomasello, Ceira Allen and Sarah Klaben crossed the finish line in 1:50.64, well clear of Nottingham, who was second in 1:53.42.
Emily Soeder rose to the top in the high jump. Clearing 5 feet 1 inch, Soeder had the same height as Phoenix’s Haylie Virginia, but prevailing because she had fewer misses than Virignia. Soeder also took sixth in the triple jump with 31’8 ½”.
Kelley Hull, Marisa Lathrop, Emily McComb and Mackenzie Ross needed 10:22.16 to earn third place in the 4×800 relay.
Hannah Wood just missed points as she took seventh in the 55 hurdles, with Maizy Ludden getting seventh in the 3,000-meter run. Ross was ninth in the 300 sprint. B’ville ran to eighth in the 4×400.
