Even with a regular-season league title in its possession, the Cazenovia boys track and field team knew the competition would get steeper when it met up with all of the Onondaga High School League’s Liberty division sides at Marcellus for Wednesday’s league meet.
Still, with a relay victory and a 3,000-meter steeplechase title for Jimmy McPherson , the Lakers picked up 64 points to finish fourth as Phoenix (94 points) edged Westhill-Bishop Ludden (92) and Marcellus (92) for the top spot. Chittenango, with 46 points, gained sixth place in the 13-team field.
In the 4×100 relay, Cazenovia had Alec Boone, James Pavelchak, Sean McPherson and Elijah Wellington-Harper go 45.26 seconds to hold off Westhill-Luddden (45.69 seconds) for the victory. Later, in the 4×400, Boone, Pavelchak, McPherson and Jack Gabor were fifth in 3:40.11.
Then it was Jimmy McPherson’s turn in the steeplechase, the last race of the meet. In 10 minutes, 39.79 seconds, McPherson pulled clear as no one else broke the 11-minute mark, with Noah DeRochie getting sixth place in 11:22.81. McPherson also was ninth in the mile.
Sam DeLeon nearly won the pole vault, clearing 11 feet 6 inches, which put him second behind Westhill-Ludden’s Evan Watt, who won with 12’6”. Will Kmetz had a second-place shot put toss of 41’4 ¾” behind Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s Takota Jacobson (43’11”). Christian Winkler was third in the discus, throwing it 126’9” as Kmetz (111’11”) got sixth place.
Boone was third in the 100-meter dash in 11.41 seconds and fifth in the long jump, going 19’7”. Justin Gagnon took fifth place in the 110 high hurdles in 16.99 seconds, with Jack Gabor fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:10.34.
Ray Satchwell had a fifth-place triple jump of 38’7 ½”, with Aiden Emhoff in ninth place. Satchwell also was ninth in the long jump and eighth in the high jump as he and Dalton Sevier both cleared 5’2”. Sean McPherson got seventh in the 400-meter dash and ninth in the 200-meter dash. Colton Kubinec got 12th place in the 3,200-meter run.
Chittenango contended in the mile with Mike Capeling getting second place in 4:37.68 behind CBA’s Dominic Morganti (4:33.61) as Jacob Blaszkow got fourth place in 4:47.37. It was the same in the 3,200, where Capeling, in 10:14.79, was runner-up to Marcellus’ Joe Riccardi (10:10.41), with Ersilio Cerminaro fourth in 10:30.88.
The Bears’ best relay finish came in the 4×800, where Dylan Price, Caleb Prenoveau, Caleb Seale and Brian Schermerhorn were third in 8:59.38, with Cazenovia eighth in 10:42.06.
Nick Stanton got fourth place in the 400 sprint in 53.32 seconds. Stanton also was sixth (11.92 seconds) in the 100, sixth (24.00 seconds) in the 200 and sixth in the long jump by going 19’5 ¾”. Trevor Conklyn had a fifth-place shot put toss of 40’3 ¾”.
The Bears’ Lucas Spiridilozzi earned 2,253 points in the five-event pentathlon and finished third, not far behind Hannibal’s Fenix Burger, who won with 2,384 points. Devin Myers was sixth (17.80 seconds) in the 110 hurdles, eighth in the 400 hurdles and 11th in the triple jump, while Phillip Abell took seventh place in the 800 and was eighth in the pole vault.
The Chittenango girls had 16 points in its OHSL Liberty meet, half of them from the 4×800, where Mekenzie Dahlin, McKenzie Dombroski, Chelsea Lamphere and Emily Moon were second in 10:34.84, trailing only Christian Brothers Academy (9:58.77) at the line.
Dombroski went on to get third place in the 800 in 2:29.80, with Lamphere taking eighth place. Elsewhere, Alyssa Kolb was sixth in the long jump, going 14’11 ¼”, adding 10th-place finish in the triple jump.
Aaliyah Emad was eighth in the high jump, while Mia Morgillo got ninth place in the 400 hurdles. Jada Sowich was ninth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase and McKayla Capeling was 11th in the 1,500-meter run.
