For the East Syracuse-Minoa boys track and field team, perhaps the only sweeter thing than winning the Onondaga High School League Freedom division championship was who the Spartans beat to get that title.
In last Tuesday’s league meet at Chittenango High School, ESM picked up 141 points, zooming past its neighbor and rival, Jamesville-DeWitt, who settled for second place with 118 points.
What was more, J-D also found itself as the runner-up in the girls OHSL Freedom meet, despite 134 points, because Homer won with the same total of 141 points as the ESM boys. In both meets, Christian Brothers Academy finished sixth.
Jeremy McGrath and Jesse Perrone keyed ESM’s boys win. McGrath swept to first place in the 110 and 400 hurdles, beating J-D’s Joe Murphy, 16.32 seconds to 16.57, in the first of these events, and then going 1:00.83 in the 400 hurdles to edge Fulton’s Connor Aldasch (1:01.39) in the second as Murphy finished fourth.
Perrone, meanwhile, held off J-D’s Patrick Dye in a close 3,200-meter run, 10:11.31 to Dye’s 10:12.88, with Jared Henry fourth and Nick Street fifth. In the mile, Perrone, in 4:33.46, got away from CBA’s Jack Brower (4:35.35) for the victory, with Dye fourth and Isaac Tupper sixth.
To complete a distance sweep for the Spartans, Joe Coogan won the 800-meter run in 2:02.46, with Nick Schug fourth and CBA’s Brendan Keeney and Kyle Barber in the fifth and sixth spots.
Also for ESM, Chris Schiavone claimed a victory in the 200-meter dash in 23.49 seconds, with Jake Barker third in 24.28 seconds and J-D’s Joe Fazio sixth.
Barker was second (53.83 seconds) and Schiavone third (54.40 seconds) in the 400-meter dash, while Matt Young was third (11:22.49) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In the 100-meter dash, where CBA’s Tom SanGiacomo won in 11.42 seconds, Schiavone (11.59 seconds) was fourth.
J-D countered by winning three of six field events. Zach Liebmann, clearing 13 feet, beat ESM’s Caiden Moynihan (11 feet) and J-D’s Jake Saletsky (10’6”) in the pole vault, where CBA’s Ethan Wiley gained fifth place. Liebmann added a fifth in the 100 sprint.
In a close long jump, the Red Rams’ Sean Mulvilhill, going 19’4 ½”, beat ESM’s DeShaun Gorman (19’4 ¼) by a quarter of an inch, with J-D’s Will Cote (19’2 ¾”) getting third place. Gorman also took fourth in the shot put, where another J-D star, Dylan Volk, won with 40’2”.
Murphy also took second in the shot put, heaving it 43’10 ½”, with CBA’s Connor Agnew third (41’9”) and ESM’s K’Hari Flagg fifth, and got to third (5’8”) in the high jump, with Jesse Johnson fifth.
They split the two relays, as ESM, in 8:38.35, pulled away to claim the 4×800, with J-D in fourth, and it was reversed in the 4×100 as the Rams went to the top in 45.37 seconds and the Spartans had to settle for fourth place.
CBA’s big moment in a field event came in the discus, where John Frasier, with a throw of 123’1”, beat J-D’s Davis Elmore (115’2 ½”) for the crown. Nolan Roosa gave J-D a second-place finish in the pentathlon with 2,259 points, with CBA’s Nate Brower third (2,259 points) and ESM teammates Connor Harrigan and Zach Fischer in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.
As to the girls meet, J-D earned plenty of titles, two of them from Allison Semmel, who took the 100-meter hurdles in 16.77 seconds and the 400 hurdles in 1:10.32, with ESM’s Bridget Benz fourth in the latter of these races.
Patrece Martin flourished, too, going 15’8 ¾” to win the high jump and 35’1” to prevail in the triple jump over ESM’s Mia Montgomery (33’7”), who was second after a fifth in the long jump.
Elena Haarer, in the 800, won in 2:26.75, just ahead of ESM stars Natalie Marra (2:27.87) and Juliette Miller (2:28.83), but Marra rebounded to win the 1,500-meter run in 4:51.67, where Haarer finished fifth.
Tangela Hightower, throwing it 30’9”, and Salwa El Hindi (29’9 ½”), went 1-2 in the shot put, where ESM’s Jelyssa Davis was fifth. Hightower was third, behind runner-up Jesenia Haynes (95’1”), in the discus, while Francesca Mastrobattisto (82’4 ½”) put ESM in fourth place.
Brooke DeRoberts cleared 9 feet and won the pole vault, with the Spartans’ Alexis Bennik third (7 feet) and J-D’s Sara Signorelli fourth (6’6”).
Martin was sixth in the 100 sprint, behind teammate Alexia Carr in fourth place. Alexandra Street took second in the 2,000-meter steeplechase and the Red Rams got second in the 4×800 (11:00.18) as Mexico prevailed in 10:34.11. Rebecca Fuller was third in the pentathlon with 1,348 points.
Anna Schug helped CBA by winning the 400 sprint in 59.33 seconds, with J-D’s Catherine Keane fourth, with Schug and the Brothers second (52.93 seconds) to Cortland (52.48 seconds) in the 4×100 relay.
Nafysa Williams got a victory in the high jump, clearing 4’8”, two inches better than J-D’s Torie Carter, who was fourth. Megan Pierce took second place in the 3,000-meter run in 11:15.29 as Ryleigh Patterson and Kate LaCasse were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 200.
