Area track and field teams, including some from the Cazenovia girls side, would all make their way to Chittenango for last Friday’s big invitational meet.
Despite having a smaller roster, the Lakers still picked up 18.33 points to finish in 10th place amid a 19-team field. The host Bears had 17 points to tie for 12th as Fayetteville-Manlius, with 147 points, won by a large margin.
More than half the Lakers’ points were earned by Maddy Gavitt, who managed to win the long jump by going 15 feet 4 inches in wet, cold conditions. No one else even reached 15 feet as Jess Macheda, going 13’8”, finished ninth. Tori Fischer cleared 4 feet 8 inches to grab third place in the high jump as Macheda tied for sixth.
Clara Rowles was invited to take part in the featured Fleet Feet Mile, and Rowles didn’t disappoint, grabbing sixth place in five minutes, 14.39 seconds. F-M’s Kaitlyn Neal was the only competitor to go under the five-minute mark, winning in 4:56.51.
Maria Stalder finished sixth in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.62. Adrien Owens got 12th place in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, with Bella Wheeler 14th in the shot put.
On Chittenango’s side, Krissy Roberts contended in the triple jump, her best attempt of 32’2 ¼” topped only by F-M’s Cady Barns, who won with 32’7 ½”.
McKenzie Dombroski rose to sixth place in the 3,000-meter run in 11:27.04. Kendria Moore was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles, with Eryn Thompson 12th in the 800-meter run as the Bears landed in 10th place (4:54.26) in the 4×400 relay.
The Chittenango boys team picked up 14 points in the boys version of its invitational, one where Liverpool (113 points) pulled away from Cicero-North Syracuse (83 points) to finish on top.
Much of that was from Tyler Howard taking second place in the 110 high hurdles in 15.82 seconds, inches behind Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s Sage Bartlett, who won in 15.78 seconds. Howard also helped the Bears take eighth place in the 4×100 relay.
Dylan Davie needed 1:02.76 to notch fourth place in the 400-meter hurdles, and also finished eighth in the 110 hurdles in 16.89 seconds. Akira Gatewood, with a long jump of 19’7 ½”, claimed sixth place.
Jacob Blaszkow went 4:52.92 in the regulation mile to grab eighth place. Gatewood was 11th in the 100 sprint and 12th in the triple jump, while Will Blanding took 13th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Gatewood, Davie, Ward Beley and Jacobi Dwyer were sixth in the 4×400 in 3:41.86.
Mike Capeling had the most prestigious honor, taking part in the boys Fleet Feet Mile and, in a time of 4:38.80, grabbing eighth place. Liverpool’s Ben Petrella, a state cross country champion, won in 4:19.10.
Prior to all this, the Chittenango girls team took part in last Monday’s Tully Spring Break Invitational, where it earned 41 points to finish seventh in an 11-team field. Lansing (Section IV) won with 129 points as Weedsport was second with 91 points.
Dombroski rose to second place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:23.15, trailing only Lansing’s Catie Eisenhut, who won in 5:14.76. Roberts unleashed a second-place triple jump of 31 feet 7 inches behind Lansing’s Mikaela Garcia (32’3 ¾”), and Roberts went 14 feet 6 ½ inches for third place in the long jump.
Devin Gordon took fourth place in the 3,000 in 12:59.18, just before Lindsay Kent grabbed fourth place in the 100-meter hurdles in 20.34 seconds. Thompson added a fourth place time of 2:39.58 in the 800-meter run, with Kent fifth in the 200-meter dash in 30.31 seconds.
The Bears were also sixth in the 4×800 relay in 12:49.42 and seventh in the 4×400 as Kai Lei Brayton threw the shot put 23’8 ½” for fourth place and Courtney Tadros was seventh. Alex Rheaume got seventh place in the 400 sprint in 1:11.41 and Roberts was eighth in the 100 sprint.
