As the schedule would have it, the Skaneateles track and field teams would make two trips to Christian Brothers Academy within a 48-hour span in the first week of May.
First, it was a meet between the Lakers and Brothers at Alibrandi Stadium, followed by a Friday appearance in the Brother Basilian Invitational, an event Skaneateles has won many times in seasons past.
During the head-to-head meet, Skaneateles defeated CBA 91-50, getting two wins apiece from Mia Grasso and Shannan Roberts. Grasso took the 100-meter hurdles in 18 seconds flat and won the 400 hurdles in a quick 1:09.8, while Roberts won the 100-meter dash in 13.5 seconds and then covered 800 meters in 2:39.8.
Elsewhere on the track, Maddie Peterson won the 200-meter dash in 27.3 seconds after pairing with Olivia Gage, Finan Malcolm and Natalie Condon to take the 4×800 relay in 10:54.2. Grasso, Angela Krause, Cecilia Marrinan and Lydia Parker blazed to a time of 51.4 seconds in the 4×100 relay.
Though CBA won a majority of field events, Skaneateles swept the throws, seeing Ali Grant toss the discus 60 feet 6 inches as Emma Bohrer earned a winning shot put of 24’9”. Ryleigh Peterson was the Brothers’ lone double winner, taking the 400-meter dash (1:02.4) and 3,000-meter run (11:41.5).
Skaneateles had an odd chain of events in the boys meet, where it did not win a single individual race, but swept the field events and also took two of three relays.
Chase Corcoran won both throwing events, heaving the discus 110’10” and the shot put 35’5”, while Tommy Hagen had a top high jump clearance of 5’8”. Alex VanRiper claimed the triple jump with a best attempt of 35’4 ½” as Max Moss went 15’9 ½” for first place in the long jump.
CBA countered with double wins from Tom SanGiacomo (100, 200 sprints), Dominic Morganti (800, mile) and Pat Carey (110 and 400 hurdles), but still the Lakers saw Moss, Braham Malcolm, Matt Leveroni and Jon Metz claim the 4×100 relay in 49.4 seconds, with Metz returning to help Alex Wulff, JoeCapozza and Nick Paciorek win the 4×400 in 3:55.3.
Now the Lakers would go to the Brother Basilian Invitational, where it would flourish on the girls side with a series of victories, two of them in relays.
To start with, in the 4×100, the Lakers had Parker, Krause, Marrinan and Amanda Wetmore go 51.85 seconds to pull away from Jordan-Elbridge (52.64 seconds) and the field. Then, in the 4×400, it was Roberts, Grasso, Peterson and Katelyn Ellison prevailing in 4:08.88 to edge Homer (4:09.18) for the top spot.
Roberts, on her own, was part of a 1-2 finish in the 400 sprint as she prevailed in 1:00.65, edging out Peterson, who was second in 1:00.85. Juila Willcox would go 5:04.03 in the 1,500-meter run to finish second behind East Syracuse Minoa’s Natalie Marra (4:48.53), with Condon matching that finish in the 3,000-meter run, here time of 11:25.05 only behind Jordan-Elbridge’s Abby Gugel (10:25.18).
Grasso got to third place in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, while Lydia Buck topped 7 feet and tied for fifth in the pole vault. Gage needed 27.71 seconds for fourth place in the 200. Condon, Malcolm, Katie Olsen and Lydia Parker were fifth (10:59.73) in the 4×800.
Brady Iles was fifth in the 400 hurdles in 1:11.23 and seventh in the 100 hurdles in 18.01 seconds as Katherine Carlile threw the discus 80’4 ¾” and also finished seventh. Grasso took eighth place in the 800 in 2:28.25. Marrinan was seventh in the 100 sprint, with Angelina Reese 10th.
Meanwhile, in the boys meet at CBA, Hagen rose to third place in the 400 hurdles in 1:00.88 and tied for fifth in the 100 sprint in 12.09 seconds, while Corcoran’s discus throw of 115’5” put him in third place.
In the 4×100, Moss, Jon Metz, Zach Blair and Matt Leveroni finished fifth in 48.31 seconds, with Hagen joining Leveroni, Metz and Blair to get sixth place (3:47.93) in the 4×400. Braham Malcolm gained ninth place in the 110 high hurdles in 18.11 seconds and was 13th in the 400 hurdles.
VanRiper had an eighth-place triple jump of 37’1 ¾”. Sam McClintic had a 10th-place finish in the mile, with Chris Niebuhr 10th in the 3,200. Blair was 10th in the 200 and the Lakers got 10th place in the 4×800, improving to 9:42.10, as Leveroni got 14th place in the 400 and Alex Wulff was 14th in the 800.
