Amid the intense competition at Tuesday night’s Section III Class AA championship meet at SRC Arena, Baldwinsville’s girls and boys teams would have standout performances.
The result, at least for the girls Bees, was a fourth-place finish in a 10-team field with 52.5 points, though it was far from the winning total of 142 points that Fayetteville-Manlius posted.
Emily Soeder nabbed B’ville’s lone individual title in the high jump. By clearing 5 feet 4 inches, Soeder soared above a Class AA field where no one else topped 5 feet, and she also beat the Class A champion, East Syracuse-Minoa’s Nina Zesky (5’3”), who had just won at the New Balance Games in New York City 10 days earlier.
B’ville’s girls won two different relay races. In the 4×400, Hailey Couchman, Katie Wicks, Marissa Lathrop and Cierra Allen finished in four minutes, 5.58 seconds, which was enough to hold off F-M (4:09.50) by nearly four seconds to earn first place.
Later on, in the 4×200, the Bees gained the top spot again as Elise Seifritz joined Couchman, Lathrop and Allen. B’ville finished in 1:49.17, again beating F-M, who was second in 1:50.98, close to two seconds behind.
Individually, Allen moved up to third place in the 300-meter dash in 42.59 seconds. Lathrop got fourth place in the 600-meter run in 1:42.16. Hannah Wood was sixth (9.73 seconds) in the 55-meter hurdles.
Maria Diamond tied Cicero-North Syracuse’s Whitney Hotchkiss for second in the pole vault, managing to clear 7’6”, a number that only West Genesee’s Abby Uczen (9’9”) topped.
Kelley Hull finished eighth in the 1,000-meter run, but did better in the 4×800 relay, where she paired with Wicks, Mia Bolton and Kirby Socker as B’ville got fifth place in 10:32.20.
Moving to the boys AA meet, B’ville’s total of 41 points meant solo fifth place. Again, F-M finished on top, its 121 points enough to fend off a challenge from Liverpool (101.5 points), who was second.
Here, too, the Bees mastered the 4×400 relay. Brian Mahar, Jeff Mahar, Josh Perez and Dan Walker worked together and, in three minutes, 34.30 seconds, they pulled away from C-NS (3:38.34) and the field for top honors.
Sam Mahar threatened in the 55-meter dash and finished second, in 6.81 second, to Liverpool’s Ryheim Lawes (6.55 seconds), who also won the 300 and long jump before it was done. Evan Donhauser contended, too, in the 55 hurdles, finishing third in 8.46 seconds. Griffin Lynch was seventh (9 feet) in the pole vault.
Perez worked his way to third place in the 600-meter run in 1:26.72, while Brennan LaQue was seventh (1:30.47). Jack Martin was sixth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:41.70. LaQue, Perez, Martin and Arden Kellner were fourth in the 4×800 relay in 8:29.43, but the Bees did not finish in the 4×200.
