Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse brought more than a dozen of their top indoor track and field athletes to Cornell University’s Barton Hall to participate in last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet.
And though the two schools are rivals in every sport, in this instance three of these athletes – two from the Warriors, and one from the Northstars – worked together to produce a state championship.
Liverpool senior Ore Akinpelu and junior Juliana Basla, along with C-NS junior Jilliann Norris, joined Jordan-Elbridge junior Abby Gugel as Section III’s representatives in the intersectional medley relay.
Together, Akinpelu, Basla, Norris and Gugel would help Section III post a time of 10 minutes, 33.54 seconds, enough to hold off Section II (10:36.25) by 2.71 seconds for the first-place medals.
Liverpool’s medal count didn’t stop there, either. Akinpelu joined Yasmeen Griffin, Danelle Sims and Morgan Chewning-Kulick in the 4×400 relay, Liverpool looking to improve upon a time of 4:03.61 it had set during the season.
And the Warriors did just that, going faster by 0.09 seconds, to 4:03.52, to finish third in its qualifying heat and advance to the finals, where in 4:07.22 it took sixth place. Suffern blazed to the state title in 3:55.37, more than six seconds ahead of the field.
Moving to the boys side, Liverpool’s Dylan McCarthy did a superb job in the mile, as the senior posted a time of 4:22.96, nearly two seconds ahead of his season-best 4:24.64, and jumped all the way to fifth place. Port Jefferson’s James Burke won in 4:17.88.
Ben Petrella had qualified in both the mile and 3,200-meter run, but decided to concentrate on the 3,200, which proved wise. In a time of 9:23.25, Petrella got to sixth place, while Connor Buck took 10th place in 9:32.91, all of them chasing Saratoga’s Aidan Tooker, who claimed the victory in 9:05.47.
Also for the Warriors, Dan Muldoon won his 600-meter heat in 1:24.23, which placed him 11th overall in the standings, with Lynbrook’s Luke Germankos (1:20.60) in the top spot. Nick LeClair also won his heat in the 1,000-meter run, his time of 2:37.34 putting him in 15th place by the time everyone had run.
C-NS’s Andrew Bearkland joined the Section III team for the intersectional medley relay. Though they didn’t win like their female Section III counterparts, Bearkland, Arden Kellner (Baldwinsville), Nick Proper (Rome Free Academy) and Sean Kuehn (Central Square) would make it to fifth place in 9:02.08 as Section I (8:55.87) finished in front.
On the girls side, the Northstars’ Javielle Fanizzi had solid finishes in a pair of events. In the long jump, where she had gone 17 feet 9 ¾ inches during the season, Fanizzi only got 17’3” here, but that still put her in seventh place as Cardozo’s Marie-Jose Ebweabile won with a top leap of 19’1”.
Then, in the triple jump, Fanizzi looked to improve upon a 36’4 ½” effort during the season, but settled for 34’4” and took 19th place.
In the boys pole vault, C-NS’s Mark Hentges entered with a season-best attempt of 13 feet, while Liverpool’s David Lewis started at 12’6”. Hentges made it to 12’6” and finished 18th, with Lewis topping 12 feet for 22nd place as Iona Prep’s Ryan Herrera-Murphy won, clearing 15’9”.
C-NS was also part of both of the throwing events – Ross Mathewson in the weight throw Tyler Mosher in the shot put. Mathewson’s weight throw of 46’9 ½” improved his previous effort by more than a foot and put him in 22nd place, while Mosher’s shot put toss of 38’9” left him in 29th place.
