Onondaga — A terrific indication of how quickly the Christian Brothers Academy indoor track and field program has risen to prominence was the way they performed Friday night in the Section III Class B championship meet at SRC Arena – and it nearly turned into much more.
The CBA girls led in the team standings most of the night, only to get caught at the wire by Cazenovia as the Lakers prevailed by half a point, 96.5 points to 96. And on the boys side, the Brothers also finished second, with 63 points, topped only by Westhill-Bishop Ludden’s total of 102 points.
Anna Schug won twice, going 7.58 seconds in the 55-meter dash to edge teammate Kiana Ferguson (7.63 seconds) as part of a 1-2 finish as Anna Langlois finished ninth.
In the 300-meter dash, Schug, in 42.83 seconds, won again, with Ferguson fourth (44.53 seconds) and Claire Bargabos (45.16 seconds) in fifth place, but Ferguson had her turn at the top in the long jump, going 16 feet 8 1/2 inches to finish well clear of Cazenovia’s Maddy Gavitt (15’3 3/4″) in second.
Eighth-grader Olivia Morganti had an impressive night, too, winning twice, starting in the 1,000-meter run, going 3:06.37 to edge out Clinton’s Gabrielle Dewhurst (3:06.48) at the finish line. Lea Kyle was seventh in 3:18.78.
Moving to the 600-meter run, Morganti needed exactly 1:42 to edge Skaneateles’ Mia Grasso (1:42.48), with Schug gaining third place in 1:42.94.
Skylar Decker had a second-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.49 seconds to Hannibal’s Tayler Dence (9.23 seconds), and was seventh in the triple jump.
Also, Lucy Person was fifth in the 3,000-meter run in 11:18.24, with the Brothers’ 4×800 relay team of Morganti, Kyle, Person and Kat Fletcher third in 10:16.24 as Cazenovia (10:11.14) won. The 4×400 relay team of Langlois, Bargabos, Fletcher and Ryleigh Peterson finishing fourth in 4:26.01.
continued — It was the last relay, the 4×200,that proved decisive in the team battle between CBA and Cazenovia. Still up by 1.5 points, the Brothers ran well here as Decker, Bargabos, Peterson and Langlois posted a time of 1:56 flat, getting third place.
But Cazenovia finished second in 1:53.88, and since second place counted for eight points and third place got six points, it was Cazenovia moving ahead by a half-point at the wire for its sixth straight sectional team title.
Moving to the boys side, CBA’s Tom SanGiacomo matched Schug’s sprint sweep. First, in the 55 sprint, SanGiacomo, in 6.79 seconds, held off Skaneateles’ Jack Kimm (6.96 seconds) to prevail, and followed it up in the 300 by winning in 37.32 seconds as Marcellus’ Mike Provvidenti was second in 38 seconds flat.
CBA’s best finish in distance races came in the 1,000, where Brendan Keeney was second in 2:47.95 and Nikhil Reddy third in 2:49.21 behind Syracuse ITC’s Solomon Lawrence (2:39.44). Pat Carey went 8.59 in the 55 hurdles, taking third place, and tied for fourth in the high jump, clearing 5’2″.
In the 3,200-meter run, Dominic Morganti rose to third place in 10:06.62, with Morganti also fourth in the mile in 4:47.73, while Keeney was third in the 600 in 1:31.36.
SanGiacomo, Nate Torrence, Jake Vanpatten and Brett Vanpatten were fifth in the 4×200 in 1:43.15. The Brothers were also fifth in the 4×800 as Morganti, Keeney, William Bianchi and Josh Pucci finished in 9:27.55, with CBA seventh in the 4×400 in 4:01.16.
