One more bit of regular-season work remained for the Skaneateles indoor track and field teams as both competed in this week’s Fred Kirschenheiter Memorial Invitational at SRC Arena.
The girls Lakers, quiet during the Bob Grieve Invitational a week earlier, roared back to form Thursday night, getting 32 points to leap into fourth place. Only Fayetteville-Manlius (81 points), Liverpool (46 points) and Jamesville-DeWitt (44 points) fared better.
Megan Molnar provided the big moment in the pole vault. Molnar cleared 8 feet 6 inches, something none of the other 20 competitors could pull off as Jade Auchmoody (Homer) and Shae Shenandoah (Liverpool) tied for second with 8 feet.
Emma Ford contended again in the 300-meter dash, making her way to second place in 43.16 seconds, trailing only Baldwinsville’s Cierra Allen, who won in 42.45 seconds.
As for Kaitlyn Neal, she had a strong showing in the 1,500-meter run, as her time of 4:53.72 put her third place to West Genesee’s Laura Leff (4:33.96) and F-M’s Alana Pearl (4:36.36).
Later, in the 4×800 relay, Neal, teaming with Madeline Adams, Liz Dwyer and Morel Malcolm, picked up a time of 10:11.16 and slid into second place, F-M winning in 9:30.99.
Elsewhere, Dwyer got to seventh place in the 1,000-meter run (3:19.36), while Ford cleared 4’7” to get seventh place in the high jump. Natalie Roche was 12th in the triple jump (30’2 ¾”) and Jenn DeRosa was 12th in the 1,500-meter run.
A night earlier, the boys Lakers picked up 14 points, putting them in 13th place among 26 sides that earned points, right in the middle of the pack as F-M (76 points) won again.
As he has done all winter, Carson Schwab contended in the pole vault. Schwab managed to clear 12 feet, putting him in third place as Liverpool’s Travis Chewning-Kulick (12’9”) and J-D’s Zach Liebmann (12’6) beat him out. Dan Sakal (9’6”) tied for 12th.
Nate Molnar, meanwhile, had one of his best efforts in the shot put, heaving it 43’9”, which put him in fourth place. Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s Corey Wilkinson won with 48’11 ¼”.
The Lakers’ quartet of Patrick Biver, Dan Wolfanger, Nick Smolenski and Max Dwyer covered the 4×400 relay in 3:46.38, putting them in fourth place as CBA (3:37.32) prevailed. Wolfanger, Dwyer, Smolenski and Dan Stabile were seventh (1:41.43) in the 4×400 relay, just missing the points.
The post-season starts for the Lakers with the Onondaga High School League championship meets, which take place next Thursday (boys) and Friday (girls) at SRC Arena.
