Onondaga — Many of the stop Skaneateles indoor track and field athletes will find themselves at Cornell University’s Barton Hall next Saturday, taking part in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meets.
Both on the girls and boys sides, the Lakers would win over large-school competition during last Wednesday night’s Section III state qualifier at SRC Arena, with no event more exciting than the girls 4×200 relay.
Skaneateles saw its quartet of Mia Grasso, Angela Krause, Maddie Peterson and Amanda Wetmore run to a time of one minute, 46.72 seconds, inches ahead of Rome Free Academy’s team of Tekitha Posey-Barry, Mattison Hunt, Meghan Evans and Kayla Barber, who finished second in 1:46.87.
Meanwhile, in the boys long jump, Lakers senior Tommy Hagen took the title. Hagen’s best leap of 21 feet 8 inches was just enough to hold off Westhill-Bishop Ludden’s Alex Kiley, who was second by going 21’6” as Cicero-North Syracuse’s Jeremiah Willis (21’5 ¾”) was third.
Hagen also finished fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.28 seconds after going 8.22 seconds in the heat to reach the finals. East Syracuse Minoa’s Jeremy McGrath won the race in 7.69 seconds.
Grasso also tied for the top high jump in the state qualifier, clearing 5 feet 1 inch, the same height as Jamesville-DeWitt’s Alexandria Payne, though Payne had fewer misses and took that title to go with her victory in the girls 55 hurdles. Juila Willcox, in 3:04.49, was fifth in the 1,000-meter run as West Genesee’s Carly Benson prevailed in 2:57.86.
Wetmore qualified for the final of the 55-meter dash by going 7.67 seconds, and while she slowed down a bit (7.71 seconds), she still took sixth place as Posey-Barry won in 7.29 seconds and Parker finished 13th in 7.81 seconds. Krause took 11th place in the triple jump, going 31’3 ¾”.
