Right to the final events, Thursday night’s Section III Class AA boys indoor track and field championships at SRC Arena remained in doubt, with Baldwinsville battling Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse for top honors.
When all had settled, though, it was the Bees taking the sectional title with 107 points, just ahead of the the Warriors (100 points) in second place and the Northstars (96 points) in third place.
It helped that the Bees started and finished strong by winning two relays. Early in the meet, Kenny Stehle, Justin Goodridge, Evan Vannatta and Kieran Sheridan claimed the 4×400 relay in three minutes, 33.45 seconds, more than five seconds ahead of runner-up Auburn (3:38.97) and the field.
Then, in the last race of the night, Goodridge, Sheridan,Greg Porceng and Tyler Luciano posted a time of 1:35.07 to win the 4×200 relay, edging C-NS (1:35.55) for the top spot.
In between those points, B’ville found points in all kinds of disciplines, from sprints to distance runs to field events, never dominating in any of those spots, but making an impact in all of them.
Sheridan nearly won the 600-meter run, his time of 1:23.37 just two-hundredths of a second behind Liverpool’s Stephen Schulz (1:23.35), while Vannattta was third in 1:25.88 and Stehle (1:30.80) was sixth, amounting to 15 points for the Bees in a single race.
Adam Davis, posting 2:38.23 in the 1,000-meter run, was a close second to Schulz (2:37.95), while Connor McManus was seventh in 2:46.35. Then, in the mile, Davis again got second place in 4;32.59 to the Warriors’ Josh Hickmott (4:31.80), with Garrett Vannatta fifth in 4;35.09.
In the only boys relay B’ville didn’t win, Davis, Connor McManus, Evan Vannatta and John Kresovich made it to third place in the 4×800 in 8:25.59. Ben Timmons was fifth in the 3,200-meter run in 10:04.09.
Luciano contended in the 300-meter dash, needing 37.41 seconds to get second place behind C-NS star Jeremiah Willis (36.74 seconds) as Nate Jaquint got to third place in the 55-meter hurdles with a clocking of 8.45 seconds, with Stehle seventh (8.79 seconds) and Nate Cutie ninth (9.03 seconds).
Ten more points came from the triple jump, helped by Austin Catalano gaining third place with a leap of 41’7 1/2″ and Tyler Luciano finishing fourth with 41’3″. Luciano got seventh place in the long jump (19’2 1/4″) behind Catalano (19’3 3/4″) in sixth place.
Jaquint nearly won the high jump, clearing 5’10” and only trailing Central Square’s Erich Metz, who won with 6 feet. Mike Lagana was fourth in the pole vault, clearing 10’6″ as Jaeho Lee was sixth by topping 10 feet. Judson Fletcher had a fourth-place shot put toss of 43’8″ and also was fourth in the weight throw, going 44’6 1/2″.
In the girls portion of the sectional AA meet, B’ville produced 68 points and a third-place finish. Fayetteville-Manlius pulled away to win with 127 points and Liverpool (97 points) took the runner-up spot.
The Bees’ lone girls victory came in the weight throw, where Danielle Marsell, with a toss of 34 feet 3 3/4 inches, beat Liverpool’s Trinity Gray (33’4″) and the field that included teammate Anna Miller, who was fifth with 28’5″. Miller, with a shot put toss of 30’1 1/2″, finished fourth, with Marsell (27’7 3/4″) in sixth place.
Adrianna Straughter, in 8.97 seconds, was runner-up in the 55 hurdles behind F-M’s Gwenn Shepardson (8.79 seconds). In the high jump, Straughter had another second-place finish, topping 5’1″ as Liverpool’s Meghan Milazzo (5’2″) prevailed.
In the 4×200, Lauren Addario, Maria Henwood, Karen Ekure and Katie Weaver posted a time of 1:48,34, a close second to Rome Free Academy’s winning 1:47.32.
Addario, who was fourth in the triple jump (33’11 1/2″), needed 7.61 seconds to finish third in the 55 sprint, with Ekure sixth in 7.77 seconds. Henwood earned a fourth-place time of 44.17 seconds in the 300 as Anna Demer got fifth place in the 600 in 1:40.97.
B’ville was third in the 4×800 as Henwood, Natalie Farnett, Emme Foote and Shylea Dukat posting a time of 4:17.43. Dukat was eighth in the 600 in 1:45.39 as Patricia Conlan (1:43.38) finished seventh.
Lauren Place cleared 7 feet for sixth place in the pole vault, with Marina Blasi sixth in the long jump at 15’1 1/4″. Elizabeth Fawwaz got 11th place in the 1,500-meter run before helping Conlan, Mia Bolton and Sarah Rodman finish sixth (10:30.66) in the 4×800.
Some of B’ville’s athletes will return to SRC Arena on Wednesday for the sectional state qualifier, a last chance to earn spots in the March 4 state championship meet, which moves this year from Cornell University to Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.
