Perfect spring weather greeted the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa track and field teams when they gathered for Wednesday’s annual dual meet between the OHSL Freedom division neighbors and rivals.
The Red Rams got the best of it on the girls side, prevailing 109-32, but the closer boys meet went to the Spartans, who won a 74-67 decision.
A large part of the success for the ESM boys was seeing Abdullah Mujcic win four events. Mujcic, in 11.1 seconds, edged Sean Mulvihill and Dylan Volk (11.3 seconds) each in the 100-meter dash, claimed the 110 high hurdles in 15.5 seconds and went on to take the 200-meter dash in 23.3 seconds and the 800-meter run in 2:11.1.
Matt Young swept the mile (4:56.6) and 3,200-meter run (10:42.7) and also helped ESM’s 4×800 relay team get first place in 8:49.8. Jeremy McGrath needed exactly 63 seconds to prevail in the 400-meter hurdles and had a top long jump of 20 feet ½ inch.
J-D countered with Joe Murphy sweeping through the shot put (44’11”) and discus (125’6”), while Nolan Roosa cleared 5’10” in the high jump and, with Alex Le, each cleared 10 feet in the pole vault. Mulvihill won the 400-meter dash in 55.3 seconds, and J-D took the 4×400 relay in 3:33.8, but ESM, again with Mujcic involved, edged the Red Rams, 45.5 seconds to 45.8, in the 4×100 relay.
Meanwhile, J-D’s Alexandria Payne was the unquestioned star of the girls meet. Early on, she ran the 100 sprint in 15.1 seconds and went 1-2 with Alexia Carr (12.5 seconds to Carr’s 13.1) in the 100-meter hurdles.
Later, in the 200, Payne again finished first in 25.6 seconds, again with Payne (27.2 seconds) in the runner-up spot, and in the high jump Payne cleared 5 feet 2 inches for a fourth title.
Elena Haarer won the 400 sprint in 1:02.8, with Catherine Keane (1:04.9) second, and then held on to win the 800 in 2:35.4 over Sophia Vinciguerra (2:35.8). Haarer also paired with Keane, Rachel Fairbanks and Hannah Butler to claim the 4×800 relay in 10:56.4.
Butler took the 3,000-meter run in 10:31 flat and Lainey Foti won the 400 hurdles in 1:19.2. Alexia Carr, Mackenzie Maxam and Kailee Philleo helped win the 4×100 relay in 53.4 seconds as Haarer, Philleo and Casey Keane pushed J-D to a win in the 4×400 relay in 10:31.0.
Mariah Williams swept through the discus (88’1”) and shot put (29’6”), while Patrece Martin went 15’1 ¾” in the long jump. Sara Signorelli and Gabrielle Tankersley both cleared 8 feet in the pole vault. ESM’s Mia Montgomery unleashed a top triple jump of 34’10 ¼” as Natalie Marra ran 1,500 meters in 5:05.0 to prevail there.
J-D went from there to winning the girls division at Saturday’s Weedsport Invitational with 100 points, beating out runner-up New Hartford, who had 82.66 points.
Payne got disqualified in the 100 hurdles final, but won the 400 hurdles in 1:08.63 as teammate Ailish McDivitt (1:17.50) was third. McDivitt took third in the triple jump, going 28’8 ¾”.
In the 1,500, the Red Rams went 1-2, Butler prevailing in 4:57.64 and Sophia VInciquera (5:13.07) nailing down second place. Haarer claimed the 800 in 2:27.17, with Butler third in 2:31.51, as Haarer also won the 400 sprint in 1:01.89 over Pulaski’s Jackie Booth (1:03.12) and the field.
Jessica Pace was fifth in the discus with a throw of 79’3”, with Martin fourth (14’6 ¼”) in the long jump and Payne fifth in the high jump. J-D also was second in the 4×100 (56.23 seconds) and 4×800 (11:07.35), relays, adding a fourth-place finish in the sprint medley relay in 5:04.14. Megan Brown took third in the 3,000 (11:35.88).
