It helped the Baldwinsville girls track and field team to serve as the hosts for last Thursday’s CNY Counties League National division championship meet at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium – at least a little bit, anyway.
Wins by sprinter Katie Wicks and high-jump specialist Emily Soeder helped the Bees pick up 88 points and finish third, behind Fayetteville-Manlius (157 points) and Cicero-North Syracuse (131 points), in the league meet standings.
Wicks was part of a 1-2 effort in the 400-meter dash, prevailing in 59.44 seconds to hold off Cierra Allen, who was second in 59.93 seconds. Then Allen teamed with Rebecca Lawrence, Brittany LaRock and Randi Bort to win the 4×100 relay in 51.39 seconds, topping F-M (52.24 seconds) and the field.
Soeder, meanwhile, continued to dominate opponents in the high jump, her top attempt of 5 feet 4 inches well clear of everyone except C-NS’s Nicole Herringhsaw, who was second with 5’2”. Soeder’s teammate, Bryn Judkins, was sixth with 4’6”.
Lawrence ran the 200-meter dash in 26.86 seconds, finishing second to Liverpool star Ore Akinpelu, who won in 25.99 seconds, as Bort gained ninth place. LaRock, clearing 8 feet, was fourth in the pole vault, with Maria Diamond (7’6”) in fifth place.
Carlie McNamara unleashed a discus throw of 87’3” that put her in second place behind C-NS’s Shannon Hanmer (91’5”), this following a seventh-place effort in the shot put, where Julia Kamide finished ninth.
In the 4×400 relay, Wicks, paired with Rachael Miller, Elise Seifritz and Marissa Lathrop, took second place in 4:06.94 to F-M’s winning time of 4:01.97.
Miller, Mia Bolton, Kirby Socker and Kelley Hull were fifth in the 4×800 relay in 10:27.03. Hull, on her own, gained sixth place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:21.23 as Socker finished ninth. Bolton was sixth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:08.2, with Claire McMahon eighth.
Liz Wisely (17.59 seconds) and Hannah Wood (17.64 seconds) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles, while Dominique LaPointe got to sixth (1:12.41) in the 400 hurdles.
Lathrop gained fifth place in the 800-meter run in 2:24.66, with Miller sixth in 2:25.51. Haleigh Jaquint gained fifth place in the triple jump with a leap of 31’7”.
Hannah Moyer was seventh and Jaquint 10th in the long jump. Shylea Dukat was eighth and Madison Gonzalez ninth in the 3,000-meter run.
Just down the road, at Liverpool High School Stadium, B’ville’s boys track team was fourth in the CNYCL National meet, even though it scored more points (94) than the girls did. F-M, with 148 points, beat Liverpool by one point for the title as C-NS (126 points) was third.
Brian Mahar was victorious in the 100 and 200 sprints, his time of 12.08 seconds in the 100 just enough to hold off Liverpool’s Brandon Mayfield, who edged out Jeff Mahar for second place, even though both of them finished in 12.13 seconds.
Then, in the 200, Mahar went 24.23 seconds to get past F-M’s Parker Noble (24.35 seconds) by a similar margin as in the 100, while Dan Walker finished third in 24.48 seconds.
To cap off his day, Mahar teamed with Walker, plus David Mazurkiewicz and Connor Lunduski, as B’ville won the 4×100 in 45.84 seconds, with Liverpool (46.30 seconds) nearly half a second behind.
Jeff Mahar also was second (50.37 seconds) to F-M’s Kyle Barber (49.91 seconds) in the 400 sprint, where Brennan LaQue (53.71 seconds) finished fifth. Dante Giannino rose to third place in the long jump, going 19’3 ½”, with Martin Sak in seventh place, as Austin Catalano went exactly 38 feet in the triple jump for fourth place.
Evan Donhauser, in 16.89 seconds, took third in the 110 high hurdles, ahead of teammate Sam Smith (17.51 seconds) in fourth place, with Smith (who was 10th in the triple jump) also fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:01.22, where Josh Perez was sixth. Mike Boyce was seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
LaQue, Jeff Mahar, Steve Keegan and Jason Ekure were third in the 4×400 relay in 3:34.49, with Jack Martin, Braden Miles, Dan Conlan and Denis Keegan fourth in the 4×800 in 8:44.03. Brad Krahl and Griffin Lynch each cleared 9’6” to tie for fifth in the pole vault.
Perez was seventh in the mile (4:44.74), beating out Arden Kellner (4:52.65) in eighth place, while Martin was eighth in the 800 (2:09.29) and Connor Ross 10th.
Mike Yorkey, throwing the discus 132’7”, rose to fourth place after a seventh in the shot put, with Perez eighth in the discus and Karl Smiley 11th in the shot put. Paul Moore was seventh and Ryan DeLola eighth in the 3,200-meter run, while Alex Anselment took seventh in the high jump and Kevin Niedziewicki tied for eighth.
