A pair of sprint titles from senior Sam Mahar, plus a relay triumph in the 4×400, gave Baldwinsville track and field fans plenty to cheer about during Friday’s Section III state qualifying meet at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
A big part of the motivation for all of the participants, whether in Division I (large schools) or Division II (small schools), was the fact that winners and top finishers would get to come back to C-NS for next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
Mahar would shine in the 100-meter dash, dipping under the 11-second mark as his victory in 10.96 seconds was comfortable enough over Watertown’s Mikeal Teamer (11.16 seconds) to merit a state meet berth. In the 200-meter dash, Mahar went 22.32 seconds to win again over Whitesboro’s Darnae Camp (22.72 seconds) and the field.
Yet another Bees victory came in the 4×400, where Greg Porceng, Kieran Sheridan, Evan Vannatta and Tyler Luciano had to work hard to fight off Liverpool’s challenge, posting three minutes, 25.26 seconds as the Warriors (3:26.90) were 1.64 seconds back at the finish line.
Challenging in the 400-meter dash, Porceng, in 51.28 seconds, was runner-up to Nottingham’s Abraham Tambah (51.12 seconds) as Sheridan finished fourth in 52.27 seconds. Vannatta got to fifth place in the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:01.45.
Mahar, paired with Brandon Brown, Evan Donhauser and Jack Buis, helped the Bees take fourth place in the 4×100 relay in 44.53 seconds. Donhauser was fifth in the 110 high hurdles in 15.86 seconds. Nate Jaquint scored 2,503 points in the pentathlon, fifth among Division I athletes and ninth overall as Oswego’s Christian Cabanling won the division with 2,885 points.
Meanwhile, in the girls state qualifier, it was B’ville’s Adrianna Straughter going to the forefront. Few challenged Straughter as, clearing 5 feet 4 inches, she beat the qualifying standard by three inches that runner-up Marissa Burke (Whitesboro) matched.
In the girls 4×400 relay, B’ville was second as Anna Demer, Courtney Clute, Shylea Dukat and Kelley Hull posted 4;10.11. topped only by West Genesee’s 4:03.81. Dukat, on her own, would finish third in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:07.79, not far from the winning 1:07.49 posted by Liverpool’s Natalie Kurz.
Justus Holden-Betts was third in the 1,500-meter run in 5:00.61 as Liverpool’s Juliana Basla pulled away to win in 4:47.53, while Hull was fourth in the 800 in 2:21.28. Hailey Couchman earned fourth place in the long jump, going 16’5 ½”.
Jordyn Boutilier, Katie Weaver, Katherine Siddall and Hannah Klaben were eighth in the 4×100 relay in 53.25 seconds. Katie Wicks got seventh place in the 400 sprint in 1:03.80, with Clute ninth in 1:05.27.
