For one week and one meet in the regular season, the Cicero-North Syracuse indoor track and field teams did not make its usual pilgrimage to SRC Arena.
Instead, the Northstars joined nearly 20 other sides at Utica College’s Hutton Dome for the third Mohawk Valley meet of the season Friday night and won the boys title, while finishing second in the girls division.
In its first non-relay meet of the winter, the C-NS boys amassed 175 points to more than double the total of runner-up Rome Free Academy, who had 86 points. New Hartford was third with 72 points.
Jeremiah Willis again was a central figure for the Northstars, starting in the 55-meter dash, where he beat Henninger’s Nasir Jones, 6.68 seconds to 6.77, as Anthony Pauli gave C-NS a third-place time of 6.92 seconds.
Moving to the 300-meter dash, Willis won again, his time of 37.22 seconds more than half a second ahead of a field that included Matt Kilian in third place (38.26 seconds) and Zak Kennedy (38.48 seconds) in fifth place.
But it was in the long jump that Willis really stood out. His top leap of 23 feet 3 inches broke a school record of 22’10” that stood for 37 years, and was more than three feet ahead of the field.
Kilian and Pauli would win in the 4×200 relay, joining Joe Williams and Malcolm Christian to post 1:36.32 and beat RFA (1:37.23) as part of a Northstars relay sweep as Williams also had a second-place triple jump of 40’11 3/4″ and Kennedy was fifth in the high jump, clearing 5’4″.
Joe Williams had the only time under eight seconds in the 55-meter hurdles, winning in 7.95 seconds as Ryan Williams finished third in 8.79 seconds. Kennedy and Ryan Williams helped Calvin Garnes and A.J. Wells win the 4×400 relay in 3:46.02, well clear of second-place Oriskany (3:58.20) and the field.
C-NS also excelled in distance races, as evidenced by Sam Barber claiming the 3,200-meter run in 10:19.96, with Lucas Sharron third in 10:42.71 and Joe Tricarico sixth in 10:50.65. Then Barber, Sharron, David Ware and Brandon Martin paired up and won the 4×800 relay in 8:47.66 to New Hartford’s 8:52.88.
Allen Garnes made it to second place in the 600-meter run in 1:28.15, just behind Canastota’s Adam VanValkenburgh (1:27.97) as Ware was fourth in 1:30.02. ‘Garnes also was second in the 1,000-meter run in 2:47.02, edging Nathan Poirier, who was third in 2:47.23.
Ryan Bristow, clearing 12 feet, was second to Morrisville-Eaton’s Dale Lake (13’3″) in the pole vault as Alex Hepel (10 feet) was eighth. Poirier (4:41.98) and Martin (4:47.92) were third and fourth, respectively, in the mile. Mike Whentling was seventh in the shot put with a throw of 38’2 1/2″, adding an 11th-place finish in the weight throw.
Moving to the girls division, C-NS picked up 95 points, topping everyone except RFA, who pulled away to the team championship by picking up 140 points.
Mia Pestle was victorious in the 1,500-meter run, her time of 4:48.91 enough to pull away from Clinton’s Eva Borton (4:53.22) as teammate Annina Marullo was fifth in 5:03.47. Pestle, Mia Falgiatano, Leah Bisgrove and Megan Trubia were second (11:02.01) to Clinton (10:56.36) in the 4×800.
Cassie Baldwin, in 9.26 seconds, held off RFA’s Tiffany Thomson (9.44 seconds) for a victory in the 55 hurdles as Shayla Webb was fifth in 9.80 seconds. Kierrah Butler prevailed in the shot put with a toss of 35’5 1/2″, with South Lewis’ Kara Schnidler (33’11 1/2″) in second place.
C-NS also won the 4×400 relay as Abbey Szumloz, Ariana Lazendic, Lauren Witek and Ashlyn Slate posted 4:32.48 to hold off RFA (4:34.34) for the top spot. Slate, Lazendic, Amanda Reilly and McKenna Bradford were second in the 4×200 in 1:57.05 to the Black Knights’ winning 1:48.38.
Marullo took third place in the 1,000 in 3:17.32 as Hailee Kolakowski (3:37.90) claimed eighth place.Sarah Davis gained third place in the 600 in 1:46 flat, with Szumloz 10th as Baldwin was fourth (4’10”) and Malerie Belles (4’8″) tied for sixth in the high jump.
Hayley Schwarz cleared 7’6″ in the pole vault for fourth place as Colette Watson was eighth, topping 6’6″. Trubia was fifth in the 3,000-meter run in 11:40.39 as Leah Bisgrove was 10th. Reilly got seventh place in the 300 in 46.55 seconds. Alanna Nyholm was 10th in the long jump and Julie Phillips was 10th in the weight throw.
