It proved quite close – but thanks to the sweep of the long jump and triple jump by senior Isaiah Lee, the Solvay boys indoor track and field team emerged as the top small school from Wednesday night’s season-opening Jack Morse Kickoff Meet at SRC Arena.
The Bearcats finished with 30 points, which overall put them in a tie for fourth place with Nottingham, but that beat out the small schools, including Skaneateles, who had 29 points to tie for sixth overall as Liverpool, with 65 points, took first place.
Lee, competing in the first flight of the long jump, posted a top leap of exactly 19 feet. Then he watched as no one, including the large-school competitors, beat him, though Oswego’s Christian Cabanlig came close by going 18 feet 11 1/2 inch, just half an inch behind.
It proved more lopsided in the triple jump, where, again in the first flight, Lee went 39 feet 7 1/4 inches, and that put him comfortably in front of the runner-up, Jamesville-DeWitt’s Will Cote (38’9 1/2″), while Lee’s teammate, Owen Ryan, finished fifth with a leap of 37’8 1/2″.
Solvay nearly earned a third victory in the pole vault, where Dan Hatch cleared 11 feet, but that left him in second place behind Cicero-North Syracuse’s Mark Hentges, who topped 12’6″ as West Genesee’s Jon Bennett (10 feet) claimed fifth place.
Elsewhere for the Bearcats, Dan Blanchard finished ninth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.24 seconds, just behind Jordan-Elbridge’s Zach Rink (9.11 seconds) in eighth place. Lee, Ryan, Logan Kelly and Mike Tomoroska finished 10th in the 4×200 relay in 1:43.93. Tomoroska, on his own, cleared 9’6” to finish ninth in the pole vault.
West Genesee managed just eight points during this meet. David Leff, on his own, finished fifth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:48.84, and paired with Hunter Buza, Andy Wells and Pat Trivison to take fourth place (9:08.97) in the 4×800 relay. Ryan Dunning made it to eighth place in the 3,200-meter run (10:56.02) as the Wildcats were 10th in the 4×400 relay.
Jordan-Elbridge had Austin Milton get to fifth place (39.32 seconds) in the 300-meter dash and help the Eagles take eighth in the 4×800 relay. Ethan Kinney was ninth (1:33.99) in the 600-meter run. Brad Marshall gained eighth place (38’6”) in the s hot put.
Marcellus saw Noah Townsend, 10th in the 55 hurdles, finish fourth in the high jump, clearing 5’6″, with Ethan Mosure, Pat McGuane (who was 10th in the 1,000), Alex Stopen and Joe Riccardi getting sixth place in the 4×800 in 9:12.54.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden’s Donovan Whipple threw the shot put 40’4 1/2″ and also took fourth place as his teammate, Xavier Fleurinor, went to fifth (1:32.43) in the 600. Alex Kiley got seventh place in the long jump.