Arden Kellner’s first-place finish in the 600-meter run, plus strong efforts in the relays, helped the Baldwinsville boys indoor track and field team rise to third place in the season-opening Jack Morse Kickoff Meet on Wednesday night at SRC Arena.
On the Onondaga Community College campus track to which it will return often in the next two months, the Bees managed 46 points, topping everyone except its neighbors – Liverpool, who won with 65 points, and Cicero-North Syracuse, who took second with 57 points.
What made the win for Kellner more remarkable was the fact that he didn’t run in what was supposed to be the fastest heat. Instead, Kellner posted one minute, 28.44 seconds in his heat and watched as the top runners could not catch him, Liverpool’s Nick LeClair coming closest as he finished second in 1:29.93.
B’ville’s Evan Donhauser posted a runner-up finish in the 55-meter hurdles, going 8.43 seconds as East Syracuse-Minoa’s Jeremy McGrath took the top spot in 8.27 seconds.
The Bees also had a second-place finish in the 4×800 relay, where the quartet of Joey Frink, Denis Keegan, Andrew Carter and Dan Conlon posted 8:56.96, which put them in second place, trailing only Auburn, who roared to victory in 8:51.60.
Later in the meet, in the 4×400 relay, Kellner, paired with Jason Ekure, Evan Vannatta and Kieren Sheridan, got a time of 3:46.28, leading to yet another second-place finish, this time trailing Fayetteville-Manlius, who won in 3:44.15.
Sam Mahar, competing in the 300-meter dash, went 38.81 seconds and got third place as Connor Hill (Skaneateles) preaviled in 36.72 seconds. Mahar, George Kresevich, John Kresevich and Alex Anselment were sixth (1:43.38) in the 4×200 relay.
Ryan Delola made it to fifth place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:40.07 as Adam Davis needed 4:53.33 to rise to sixth place in the mile. Tyler Luciano, competing in the long jump, went 18 feet 3 3/4 inches to grab fifth place as Carter Smith was seventh in the shot put (39’1 1/2″) and Martin Sak got 10th in the triple jump. Anselment tied for 11th in the high jump.
Two nights later, during the girls edition of the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet, B’ville picked up 27 points for sixth place, again seeing Liverpool (67 points) edge C-NS (63 points) to win it.
Maizy Ludden led the Bees as she made her way to second place in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 11 minutes, 7.16 seconds, though it was far back of East Syracuse-Minoa’s Natalie Marra, who won in 10:33.07 as Ludden’s teammate, Nadine Dickter, finished ninth.
Meanwhile, in the long jump, Hailey Couchman nearly won, going 16’1 1/4″, which beat everyone except Auburn’s Shahnika Williams, whose first-place leap went 16’6 1/4″. Maddie Darstein (14’3″) was eighth.
Rebecca Lawrence did well, too, getting to fourth place in the 55-meter dash in 7.78 seconds, while Katie Wicks needed 1:44.04 to finish fourth in the 600. Mia Bolton took sixth place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:27.67, ahead of Emily McComb (5:33.58) in ninth, with Marissa Lathrop needing 3:18.42 to finish sixth in the 1,000-meter run.
Lathrop, Elizabeth Fawaz, Claire McMahon and Kelley Hull were sixth in the 4×800 in 10:48.51. Anna Demer took ninth in the 300 sprint and Haleigh Jaquint was 12th in the 55 hurdles after going to seventh place (32’7 3/4″) in the triple jump. The Bees claimed ninth place (2:00.77) in the 4×200 relay.