Distance runners would help the Liverpool boys track and field team get to the top spot in a 19-team field during Tuesday’s Mohawk Valley Partner Relays, which were held at Utica College’s Hutton Dome.
In all, the Warriors got 92 points, holding off a tough challenge from runner-up Jamesville-DeWitt, who had 85 points. Clinton was third with 71 points as, on the girls side, Liverpool earned 69 points and finished fourth behind J-D, Rome Free Academy and Cazenovia, who prevailed with 93 points.
Stephen Schulz was victorious in the boys 1,000-meter run in two minutes, 37.86 seconds, more than seven seconds ahead of the field as he and Dawson Newbern won in a combined 5:28.33 to beat runner-up New Hartford (5:39.75) by more than 11 seconds. Also, Schulz and Justin Blowers were victorious in the 500-meter run in a combined 2:26.81, more than five seconds ahead of Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (2:32.38) and the field.
Ty Brownlow showed up in the 3,200-meter run and won in 10:09.80 among individuals, and paired with Nick Brancato to win team honors in 21:42.51 to pull away from J-D (21:58.85) in second place. Brandon Mayfield went 6.77 seconds to win the 55-meter dash, also helping Paul Dewan win the team event in 13.96 seconds to runner-up Dolgeville’s 14.16.
Though Mike Mahan won the individual 600-meter run in 1:27.93, he and Connor Fahy were second (3:09.07) to New Hartford (3:04.46) in the team standings. Arthur Bittel’s throw of 41’3 ¼ in the shot put helped him and Antwan Kelly get third place with total throws of 75’2 ¼”, with Bittel and Austin Kessler seventh (64’11 ½”) in the weight throw. James Gaffney, clearing 11 feet in the pole vault, was fourth in the individual event and got fifth-place team points.
Tyler Goss and Luke Harder combined to go 18.55 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles, trailing only J-D’s 17.54 seconds. T.J. Praschunus and Justin Blowers went 4:26.57 between them in the 800-meter run, a close second to Clinton’s 4:26.14. Dewan’s third-place triple jump of 39’8 ½” helped he and Ben Rivers to a third-place team effort (71’11 ½”) as Harder and Justin Chrisjohn were eighth in the 300-meter dash.
Moving to the girls Mohawk Valley Partner Relays, top-eight finishes from Windsor Ardner (who was third in 2:31.14) and Sarah Sedlock helped Liverpool, in 5:14.84, edge Cazenovia (5:19.84) by one-tenth of a second in the 800.
Ardner went 1:24 flat in the 500 to win as she and Natalie Kurz, who was third in 1:25.25 (Sophia Prince was fifth), won the team event in 2:49.25. Kierra Richardson was second (7.62 seconds) to RFA’s Tekitha Posey-Barry (7.58 seconds) in the 55 sprint as she and Divya Duraisamy were fourth (16.11 seconds) in the team standings. In the 300, Richardson finished third in 43.54 seconds, fourth on the team side as she paired with Natalie Tauro to go 1:32.44.
Kurz and Lauren Fradette were third in the 55 hurdles in 19.93 seconds, not far from J-D, who prevailed in19.43 seconds. Colleen Tifft and Abby Brancato were third in the 1,000 in a combined 7:04.99. with
Meghan Milazzo, clearing 5 feet, was second in the high jump as she had more misses than New Hartford’s Elizabeth Lemire, but Milazzo and Alexia Ostarander got third place in the team event, going 9’3” between them.
Richardson and Ostrander had a combined 29’5 ¾” in the long jump for sixth place. Sinedu Haley and Briella Johnson were sixth in the shot put, with combined throws of 50’3”, as Haley and Evelyn Lamanche were sixth (45’5 ¼”) in the weight throw. Also, Kurz and Megan Merola took seventh place (3:48.95) in the 600.
