A bit more spice was added to the Skaneateles girls indoor track and field team’s appearance at SRC Arena due to a larger field for Thursday night’s Fred Kirschenheiter Memorial Invitational.
Cazenovia, who had swept through Mohawk Valley Indoor Track Association meets all winter, showed up to challenge both Skaneateles and the top large-school programs, too.
But Skaneateles proved far from quiet on this night, gaining 17 points to finish eighth as Cazenovia emerged with 29 points and a fourth-place finish. Fayetteville-Manlius won with 89.5 points, completing a boys/girls sweep of the two meets.
Kaitlyn Neal earned nearly half the Lakers’ points. Competing in the 1,500-meter run, Neal posted a time of four minutes, 47.19 seconds, better than 40 runners and topped only by F-M’s Alana Pearl, who won the race in 4:43.39. Madeline Adams, in 5:09.26, claimed ninth place.
Amanda Wetmore, Ashley Bonocore, Taylor Woodruff and Katelyn Ellison finished fourth in the 4×200 relay in 1:53.32, with Baldwinsville (1:50.08) taking the top spot. Adams, joining Olivia Gage, Alana Navaroli and Aubreah Lynn, got sixth place in the 4×400 relay in 4:34.37.
Keely Gregg had the best Laker finish in field events, getting to fourth place in the pole vault as she cleared 7 feet 6 inches. Wetmore was ninth in the 55-meter dash in 7.87 seconds and 26th in the long jump, while Navaroli threw the shot put 29’1” and finished 10th as Ellison was 13th (45.73 seconds) in the 300-meter dash.
Natalie Roche took 17th place in the triple jump (29’3”) as Virginia Hamlin was 20th in the 3,000-meter run in 13:19.62, while Finan Malcolm was 21st in the 600-meter run.
During the boys edition of the Kirschenheiter meet two nights earlier, Skaneateles nearly earned a victory in the 4×200 relay.
Connor Hill, Griffin Lawson, Nick Smolenski and Patrick Biver worked together as the Lakers, in a time of 1:38.26, topped fellow contenders Corcoran (1:38.40) and Solvay (1:38.73), but could not quite beat Corcoran, who won in 1:38.08, just 0.18 seconds ahead of Skaneateles.
Biver, Hill, Lawson and Cooper Watt returned for the 4×400 relay and got sixth place, in 3:48.51, as Baldwinsville won the race in 3:35.07.
Zach Schneider threw the shot put 38’7 ¾” and finished 11th. Andrew Weiss was 13th in the long jump, going 17 feet 6 ¾ inches. Smolenski was 26th in the 300-meter dash as Watt, Luke Leubner, Scott Harrop and Joe Capozza were 17th in the 4×800 relay in 10:09.52.
