Now the Skaneateles indoor track and field team might be as strong, overall, as it’s been in a long time, thanks to the rapid rise of the boys program this winter.
The boys Lakers, led by Griffin Lawson, earned the most points among small schools in Wednesday night’s Fred Kirschenheiter Memorial Invitational at SRC Arena.
With 34 points, Skaneateles finished fourth overall, ahead of the likes of Baldwinsville (28 points), Auburn (27 points) and Oswego (25 points), and more than twice the total of Westhill-Bishop Ludden and Solvay. Fayetteville-Manlius took top honors with 101 points.
Of the 49 runners that took part in the 300-meter dash, Lawson proved the fastest, as the senior ran in the next-to-last heat in 38 seconds flat, and that beat out the favorite, Corcoran’s Alec Smith, who took second with 38.08 seconds in the last heat. Nick Palmer was seventh in 39.09 seconds.
Moving to the high jump, Lawson and senior teammate Eli Goodell both got into contention. They ended up each clearing 5 feet 8 inches, tying Marcellus’ Noah Townsend for second place, only trailing Oswego’s Kyle Crossman, who won by topping 5’10”.
Tommy Hagen also had a big night, winning among small-school competitors in the 55-meter hurdles with his time of 8.42 seconds, which put him third overall behind East Syracuse Minoa’s Jeremy McGrath (8.11 seconds) and Baldwinsville’s Evan Donhauser (8.16 seconds).
Moving to the long jump, Hagen, with a top leap of 19’5 ½”, gained fourth place overall, with Andrew Weiss (18’6 ½”) in ninth place. Hagen also tied for 10th in the 55-meter dash in 7.04 seconds as Zach Schneider threw the shot put 43’ ¼” to win that small-school title and take fifth place overall.
James Hackler, in a time of 1:33.93, topped small-school rivals in the 600-meter run and was 10th overall, also pairing with Palmer, Noah Cliff and Kai Soderberg to finish ninth in the 4×200 relay in 1:43.19, just behind Jordan-Elbridge (1:43.17) in the eighth spot. Steve Ciaccio was 23rd in the 1,000-meter run in 3:06.09.
Back from competing in New York City the previous weekend, the Skaneateles girls indoor track side picked up 17 points in its portion of the Kirschenheiter meet on Thursday night.
The Lakers’ best finish came in the 4×200 relay, where Mia Grasso, Shannan Roberts, Olivia Gage and Laurel Parker blazed to a time of 1:52.31, getting to second place, just behind Liverpool, who claimed the title in 1:51.47.
Angela Krause went 15’5 ½” in the long jump and rose to fourth place, while Amanda Wetmore (14’11”) was ninth. Keely Gregg cleared 8 feet in the pole vault to finish sixth, while Gage took sixth place in the 300 in 44.77 seconds, best among small-school runners, while Parker was 10th in the 55 sprint in 7.93 seconds.
Skaneateles also led small schools in the 4×800, where Willcox, Finan Malcolm, Jillian Van Leer and Natalie Condon were sixth overall in 10:50.12. Also, Willcox finished fifth in the 1,000 in 3:15.45, trailing only Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s Skylar Pastor (3:13.92) on the small schools side.
Roberts, joined by Krause, Katelyn Ellison and Brady Iles, went 4:28.98 in the 4×400 relay to finish seventh, just out of the points. Grasso (1:50.48) and Maddie Petersen (1:52.35) were 12th and 13th, respectively, in the 600. Lauren Goodchild was 17th in the triple jump and Mikaela Terhune finished 25th in the 55 hurdles.
