From first race to the last lunge across the finish line, the Skaneateles girls track and field team applied its full pressure, and did not let up until it had emerged with the Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship Wednesday at Marcellus High School.
Just as in their regular-season meeting one week earlier, Skaneateles had to beat its fellow Lakers from Cazenovia – and did so, Skaneateles picking up 118 points to hold off Cazenovia, who had 100 points. Christian Brothers Academy was third with 66 points.
Again, Raenah Campbell served as a catalyst for Skaneateles. In the 100-meter hurdles final, Campbell prevailed in 16.04 seconds, more than a second ahead of the field as Brady Iles was sixth in 17.65 seconds.
Then, in the 400-meter hurdles, Campbell went 1-2 with Mia Grasso, though it proved close at the line as Campbell won in 1:06.33 and Grasso (1:06.48) was just 0.15 seconds behind. Grasso would go on to finish third in the high jump, clearing 5 feet.
Skaneateles continued its dominance in the 4×100 relay as Grasso, Angela Krause, Emme Conan and Maddie Peterson posted 50.30 seconds to pull away from runner-up Jordan-Elbridge (50.89 seconds) and the field.
Later, in the 4×400 relay, Skaneateles nearly beat J-E again, but Campbell, Grasso, Iles and Peterson found itself beaten in a near-dead heat as J-E posted 4:12.185 to beat Skaneateles (4:12.187) by two-thousandths of a second.
Another victory came from Ali Grant, who in the discus threw it 88’10” to beat a field that included teammate Katherine Carlile, who was third by going 84’5”. Grant was also ninth in the shot put (26’10 ½”) behind Becca Rottger (27’ ½”) in eighth place.
Julia Willcox went 2:21.41 in the 800-meter run, finishing second behind CBA’s Olivia Morganti (2:20.01). Peterson was second in the 200-meter dash in 27.16 seconds as Krause got third place in the 100-meter dash in 12.96 seconds, with Conan fourth in 13.15 seconds. Georgia McSwain was third in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:38.43.
Shannan Roberts made it to third place in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.29 and added a fourth (27.78 seconds) in the 200 behind Peterson. Maddy Brogan was fourth in the 3,000-meter run in 12:33.87.
Krause earned fifth place in the triple jump, going 32’ ¼”. Natalie Condon finished sixth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:31.30 togo with an 11th-place finish in the 800. Lyda Buck was seventh in the pole vault and 12th in the long jump.
Meanwhile, in the boys OHSL Liberty meet, another victory came from Skaneateles thrower Chase Corcoran in the discus, where his best throw of 142 feet 2 inches topped Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s Takota Jacobson (137’11”) and the field. Corcoran also finished seventh in the shot put, heaving it 39’6 1/2/.
All told, the Lakers earned 20 points and finished 10th as Phoenix (97 points) edged Westhill-Ludden (94) and host Marcellus (92) for the top spot. Luke Rathgeb had the best track finish, getting to third place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:24.42.
Nicola Kunz had a solid showing in the pentathlon, taking fifth place with 2,141 points. Rathgeb, Ben Kringer, Calvin Blackwell and Jon Metz were sixth in the 4×800 relay in 9:15.44, with Cross Bianchi, Joe Capozza, Johnathan Lincoln and Matt Leveroni sixth (46.95 seconds) in the 4×100. The Lakers finished eighth in the 4×400 in 3:46.44.
Bianchi, clearing 5’4”, was seventh in the high jump, while Alex Vanriper was ninth (18’6 ½”) in the high jump. Alex Wulff had ninth place in the 800 in 2:12.58.
Sam McClintic took 10th place in the mile in 5:07.65, with Bianchi 11th in the 200, Calvin Blackwell 11th in the 400 sprint and Nick Paciorek 11th in the 400 hurdles.
