For Nick Cometti and the Solvay boys track and field team, the degree of difficulty during the regular season is always increased because they are competing, head-to-head, against a slew of large-school opponents with far deeper rosters.
So any time the Bearcats can break through and find a fair amount of success is welcome, and that’s exactly what took place Wednesday night during the John Arcaro Memorial Invitational at SRC Arena.
Cometti led the way as Solvay earned 29 points, good for eighth place, just one less than its much larger neighbors from West Genesee, who tied Corcoran for sixth. Liverpool won the meet with 79 points.
Twice, Cometti got close to victories in sprints. During the 55-meter dash, Cometti got a time of 6.75 seconds, which left him in the runner-up spot behind Liverpool star Ryheim Lawes, who earned the title with a top time of 6.59 seconds.
Then, in the 300-meter dash, Cometti finished in 37.66 seconds, again topping everyone in the field except Lawes, who went to the top with 37.05 seconds. Jordan-Elbridge’s Dylan Whittico was fifth in 38.35 seconds.
Elsewhere, the Bearcats saw Eric Goodrich, Dan Blanchard, Garrett Lee and Owen Ryan finish fourth in the 4×200 relay in a time of 1:41.30. Garrett Lee also finished ninth in the long jump, going 18 feet 2 1/2 inches.
Frank Pucello, with a throw of 42 feet 9 1/4 inches, got to fourth place in the shot put. Isaiah Lee stepped up and was fourth in the triple jump with a best leap of 39’2 1/4″. Dan Hatch, clearing 9’6″, earned sixth place in the pole vault.
West Genesee rolled to victory in the 4×800 relay as the quartet of Kal Strickland, Sean Beney, Hunter Buza and Nate Conroy posted a time of eight minutes, 32.91 seconds, beating runner-up Fayetteville-Manlius (8:39.38) by more than six seconds.
Conroy, on his own, added a second-place finish in the 1,000-meter run in 2:41.65, as F-M’s Bryce Mililar, the reigning state Class A cross country champion, prevailed in 2:39.10. Jack Erhard was fourth in the mile in 4:36.64 and David Leff was fourth in the 3,200-meter run (10:12.47). Logan McAnulty had a time of 1:30.76 in the 600-meter run, finishing fifth.
Jordan-Elbridge got eight of its 10 points from the 4×400 relay, where Dylan Whittico, Ethan Kinney, Jacob Patterson and Jack Gugel got second place in 3:49.19, behind only F-M (3:44.94). West Genesee, in 3:51.02, settled into fifth place as McAnulty, Ejay Harrell, Eldon Hard and Anthony Bartollata took part.
Westhill/Bishop Ludden picked up six points, all of it from Xavier Fleurinor, who needed 8.67 seconds for third place in the 55-meter hurdles as Cicero-North Syracuse’s Pete Girardi (8.29 seconds) won. Kyle Fitch get seventh place in the mile (4:47.40), just out of the points, while John Ringwood was seventh in the pole vault.
Marcellus had just three points, all of it from seeing Noah Townsend clear 5 feet 6 inches in the high jump, part of a tie for fourth behind Corcoran’s Charles Stokes, who won with 6’2″. Patrick McGuane was seventh in the 1,000 in 2:52.63.
