Whether operating by themselves, or working together in relays, Baldwinsville’s indoor track and field teams both had plenty to be happy about at the end of Wednesday night’s Section III state qualifier at SRC Arena.
In fact, the Bees would sweep both 4×400 relay events at the start of the meet to clinch spots at Cornell University’s Barton Hall for the March 2 state championships.
The boys 4×400 proved to be a lopsided affair. Gradually, B’ville’s quartet of Andy Fleming, Nate Wicks, Jeff Mahar and Dan Walker pulled away from Fayetteville-Manlius and earned the victory in three minutes, 27.85 seconds, with the Hornets (3:34.34) more than six seconds behind.
Right after that, the girls 4×400 offered a replica of the boys event, even down to the margin and runner-up. Cierra Allen, Sarah Klaben, Angelica Tomasello and Mackenzie Ross hit the line in 4:01.32, leaving F-M (4:07.62), again, better than six seconds in arrears.
Individually, Ross made her way to third place in the Division I girls 600-meter run in 1:40.95, just behind F-M’s Olivia Ryan, who won in 1:40.30, while Katie Wicks (1:44.05) was sixth.
Allen, Tomasello, Klaben and Stephanie Vasteno were second in the 4×200 relay (1:49.94) behind Liverpool, who won in 1:47.39. Vasteno took sixth in the 55-meter dash in 7.66 seconds, the exact same time in which she qualified in the heats.
B’ville had beaten F-M in the boys 4×800 relay in the Class AA meet a week earlier, but the rematch was different. With Nick Ryan back, the Hornets, in 8:19.63, pulled away as Fleming, Jack Martin, Alec Peinkofer and Andrew Casile took third (8:37.35) behind Liverpool (8:34.11) in the runner-up spot.
Individually, though, Peinkofer did win the Division I (large school) portion of the 1,000-meter run, holding off Rome Free Academy’s Erik Winberg, 2:34.10 to 2:34.44, as Ryan Manahan (Marcellus) won the overall race in 2:33.27.
Josh Perez was third in the mile with a time of 4:28.09, trailing Ryan (4:19.61) and Mexico’s James Gowans (4:21.84). Logan Maar cleared 11 feet to tie for sixth in the pole vault.
Emily Soeder, clearing 5 feet, was fourth in the Division I portion of the girls high jump. Lauren Fisher cleared 7’6” in the pole vault and finished 10th.
