Even with all sorts of individual titles earned in various events, each of the Liverpool indoor track and field teams had to settle for second-place finishes during Thursday night’s Section III Class AA championships at SRC Arena.
The boys Warriors were close to the top, earning 100 points, but Baldwnsville won with 107 points as Cicero-North Syracuse was third with 97 points. Liverpool’s girls also finished second, earning 97 points as Fayetteville-Manlius (127 points) won it and C-NS, with 67 points, was fourth, one point behind third-place B’ville.
To begin its near-sweep of distance races, Liverpool turned to Ty Brownlow, who in nine minutes, 37.01 seconds edged F-M’s Patrick Perry (9:37.86) to take the 3,200-meter run.
Stephen Schulz prevailed twice, first by going 2:37.95 to edge B’ville’s Adam Davis (2:38.23) as Josh Hickmott was third in 2;40.80. Moving to the 600-meter run, Schulz posted 1:25.35, just two-hundredths of a second ahead of Davis (1:25.37).
Together, Schulz, Brownlow, Hickmott and T.J. Praschunus won the 4×800 relay in 8:20.61, chased by the C-NS quartet of David Ware, Sam Barber, Allen Garnes and Nathan Poirier, who were second in 8:25.39.
Also winning in sprints, the Warriors had Brandon Mayfield claim the 55-meter dash, edging Nottingham’s Nasir Jones, 6.641 seconds to 66.48, with C-NS’s Matt Kilian fifth in 6.78 seconds and Anthony Pauli fourth in 6.84 seconds.
James Gaffney, clearing 11 feet, was second to Central square’s Joe Weaver (14’3”) in the pole vault, with C-NS’s Ward Couillard third at 10’6” and his teammate, Alex Hepel, fifth by topping 10 feet. Arthur Bittel had a third-place shot put toss of 45’8 ¼”, but was ninth in the weight throw, ahead of Antwan Kelly in 10th place.
C-NS saw Joe Williams dominate the 55-meter hurdles, winning in 7.83 seconds as no one else broke the eight-second mark, though the Northstars’ Ryan Williams (8.77 seconds) edge the Northstars’ Tyler Goss (8.78 seconds) for sixth place.
Jeremiah Willis took his turn in the 300-meter dash, prevailing in 36.74 seconds to clear a field where Pauli was fourth in 37.62 seconds and Kilian (37.96 seconds) beat the Warriors’ Khalil Wailes (37.98 seconds) for sixth place.
In the triple jump, Willis prevailed. The long jump saw Willis go 21’1 ½” to finish behind Central Square’s Erich Metz (22’ ½”), while Wililams was third, going 20’3 ½”.
Garnes took fourth place (1;26.52) and Ware fifth place (1:28.03) in the 600. Nathan Poirier finish fifth in the 1,000 (2:43.03) Brandon Martin finished eighth in the 3,200.
Pauli, Kilian, Zak Kennedy and Ryan Massena were second in 1;35.55 in the 4×200 relay, just behind B’ville’s 1;35.05, with Liverpool fifth in 1:37.95 thanks to the quartet of Wailes, Mayfield, Paul Dewan and Justin Chrisjohn.
Kennedy, A.J. Wells, Calvin Garnes and Ryan Williams took fourth place in the 4×400 in 3:42.65, a spot ahead of Liverpool as Wailes, T.J. Praschunus, Nate Reeves and Conor Fahy got fifth place in 3:45.31. In the high jump, Kennedy and teammate Jason Hughes tied for fourth, clearing 5’6”, the same height as Gaffney, who was sixth.
Liverpool’s girls again cleaned up with wins in field events, including the pole vault, where Kelley Townley again cleared 10 feet and again won, with Mackenzie Case third by topping 8’6” and C-NS’s Hayley Schwarz fourth by clearing 7’6”.
Meghan Milazzo cleared 5’2” in the high jump to edge Baldwinsville’s Adrianna Straughter (5’1”), with the Northstars’ Liliana Klemanski tying for fourth by topping 4’10”.
Marissa Baskin took her turn at the top in the long jump, going 16’9” on her best attempt as Alexis Ostrander (15’2”) was fifth. Trinity Gray, in the weight throw, heaved it 33’4” to finish second to B’ville’s Danielle Marsell (34’3 ¾”) as Sinedu Haley got seventh place for the Warriors. Baskin also finished sixth (33’6 ¼”) in the triple jump.
Kierra Richardson prevailed in the 300-meter dash in 43.65 seconds to edge West Genesee’s Megan Delia (43.72 seconds) as Anne Gullo was fifth in 44.19 seconds.. Also, Richardson was second in the 55 spring in 7.56 seconds behind Rome Free Academy’s Tekitha Posey-Barry, who won in 7.50 seconds. In the 4×200, Richardson, Baskin, Amina Sinclair and Natalie Tauro were third in 1:51.60, while C-NS was eighth in 1:54.32.
Gullo, Natalie Kurz, Sophia Prince and Abby Haley were fourth in the 4×400 in 4:18.75, with C-NS (4:22.77) in sixth place. Windsor Ardner gained fourth place in the 1,000 in 3:07.51, a spot ahead of C-NS’s Mia Pestle, who was fifth in 3:10.70.
A big C-NS girls win came in the 1,500-meter run thanks to Mia Pestle, who outlasted F-M’s vaunted group of distance runners by prevailing in 4:49.99 over the Hornets’ Christy Berge’ (4:53.46) as Liverpool’s Madison Neuner was seventh in 5:04.44.
Moving to the shot put, Kierrah Butler prevailed with a throw of 33’ ¼” as Gray was third, going 30’9 ¾”. A 1-2 effort in the triple jump saw Sierra Davis win with a top leap of 35’8 ¾”, edging Shayla Webb’s best effort of 35’7 ½”. Webb was also third in the long jump behind Baskin, going exactly 16 feet.
Pestle, Sarah Davis, Annina Marullo and Abbey Szumloz were fourth in the 4×800 in 10:04.59, with Liverpool fifth in 10:25.09 as Kurz, Ardner, Sarah Sedlock and Madison Neuner took part.
Cassie Baldwin took third place in the 55 hurdles in 9.01 seconds, where Liverpool had Lauren Fradette (9.41 seconds) beat Haley (9.54 seconds) for sixth place. Marullo was fifth in the 3,000-meter run in 10:52.90.
Liverpool and C-NS athletes go back to SRC Arena Wednesday night for the sectional state qualifier, where berths in the March 4 state championships at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex are at stake.
