Now the regular season is done for the area’s indoor track and field teams, with everyone looking forward to seeing what happens at next week’s Section III championships at SRC Arena.
Before that, though, there was Wednesday night’s CNY Indoor Track Association Last Chance Qualifier, where Fayetteville-Manlius won the girls portion and nearly prevailed on the boys side, too.
The F-M girls, with 66 points, doubled the total of runner-up Liverpool, who had 33 points. Jamesville-DeWitt, with 27 points, fit into third place as East Syracuse-Minoa earned sixth place with 21 points and CBA got 10 points.
No relays were held, and in the 12 individual events, F-M won three of them. In the 3,000-meter run, Jenna Farrell prevailed in 10 minutes, 33.86 seconds, with J-D’s Hannah Butler second in 10:54.64 as the Hornets’ Reilly Madsen (10:58.56) finished fourth.
Later, in the 600-meter run, Alana Pearl gave F-M the victory, edging Liverpool’s Ore Akinpelu, 1:39.61 to 1:40.09, with Olivia Ryan third in 1:40.19 and J-D’s Elena Haarer (1:42.78) fifth. The Hornets’ Annika Avery won at 1,500 meters in a swift 4:41.19, with teammate Jessica Howe, in 5:00.74, edging ESM’s Natalie Marra (5:00.81) for third place as the Red Rams’ Emilee Carpenter was fifth.
F-M had Christabel Ezidiegwu land in third place in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.23 seconds and added a fourth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 1 inch. Natalie Zazzara (43.51 seconds) and Anna Perrotti (44.27 seconds) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 300-meter dash.
CBA’s Anna Schug earned all her team’s points when she won the 55-meter dash, holding off Akinpelu, 7.53 seconds to 7.56. J-D also earned a victory in the triple jump, where Patrece Martin went 34 feet 11 3/4 inches, more than a foot ahead of Corcoran’s Taniya Williams (33’10”).
ESM’s Nina Zesky got second place in the high jump, just behind Baldiwnsville’s Emily Soeder, as both of them cleared 5’3″, but Soeder did so with fewer misses. Zesky’s teammate, eighth-grader Mia Montgomery, went 16’4 1/2″ for second place in in the long jump, just half an inch behind Auburn’s Shahnika Williams, who won with 16’5″.
Also for F-M, Sophia Ryan was fifth in the 1,000-meter run in 3:12.06, with ESM’s Juliette Miller (3:15.58) sixth, while Sophia Wojnovich tied for fifth (7’6″) in the pole vault and Megan Josephson was sixth in the triple jump behind Martin.
Going for the sweep, the F-M boys side nearly got it, picking up 62 points, but Liverpool pulled it out with 64 points as J-D got 15 points for seventh place.
Bryce Millar roared to victory in the 3,200-meter run in 9:27.29, with Andrew Berge’ second in 9:28.52 as the Red Rams’ Patrick Dye (10:09.93) got fourth place. Then Millar went to the mile and, in 4:35.32, held off West Genesee’s Jack Erhard (4:37.04) for the top spot, Adam Hunt (4:41.84) finishing sixth.
The Hornets also saw Kyle Barber snare victory in the 600 in 1:24.44, edging out Liverpool’s Alex Christensen (1:24.70) as CBA’s Jack Brower was third, in 1:25.30, and ESM’s Jake Barker (1:27.92) landed in sixth place.
Kyle Barber, in 8.25 seconds, got third place in the 55 hurdles, where J-D’s Rob Murphy (8.57 seconds) and ESM’s Jeremy McGrath (8.58 seconds) were fifth and sixth, respectively. Barber nearly won the triple jump, too, going 40’7 3/4″ to beat everyone except Fulton’s Mike Holcomb, who won with 40’11 1/2″.
F-M also saw Kyle Bronson finish fourth in the shot put, heaving it 42’6 1/2″, while Justin Jones cleared 11 feet in the pole vault to beat out ESM’s Caiden Moynihan (10’6″) for fourth place.
Another Spartan, Tom Grayer, went 19’7″ in the high jump to finish fourth, while J-D’s Will Cote (18’10” was fifth. F-M’s Jon Abbott was sixth in the 1,000 in 2:44.89. J-D’s Zach Liebmann, who didn’t compete in the pole vault, did run the 55 sprint and finished sixth in 6.90 seconds.
