What was already a strong and successful campaign for the Cazenovia boys track and field team culminated with a third-place finish in Wednesday’s Section III Class B-1 championships at Canastota High School.
The Lakers, with individual titles from Alec Boone and Jimmy McPherson plus a relay victory, earned 84 points, just beating out Marcellus (83 points) for that third spot as Phoenix, with 107 points, claimed the team title, holding off Westhill-Bishop Ludden (95 points) in second place. Chittenango claimed seventh place with 46 points.
Boone went faster in the qualifying round of the 100-meter dash (11.58 seconds) than he did in the final, but in 11.63 seconds he still beat out Westhill-Ludden’s Tom Howard (11.68) at the line as Sean McPherson was fifth in 12.19 seconds and James Pavelchak (12.29) was seventh.
Then, in the 4×100 relay, Boone, Pavelchak, Sean McPherson and Elijah Wellington-Harper went 45.26 seconds, again edging out Westhill-Ludden (45.40) to finish in front. Boone would get fourth place in the 200-meter dash in 23.58 seconds.
In the last race of the day, the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Jimmy McPherson would claim a tight battle, his time of 10:33.70 just enough to hold off Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Owen Rose (10:35.18) as the Lakers’ Noah DeRochie was seventh in 11:25.31.
Even without a win in the discus, Cazenovia earned 18 points as Christian Winkler was second with a throw of 117 feet 11 inches, with Angelo Annotto third by going 115’2” and Nate Spangler fourth with a throw of 112’8”.
Jacob Olkowski had a strong showing in the pentathlon for the Lakers, as his total of 2,303 points put him in second place behind Marcellus’ Sean Raymond (2,738) and just 11 points ahead of the Bears’ Lucas Spiridilozzi, who was third with 2,292 points.
Elsewhere, Justin Gagnon was third in the 110 high hurdles in 17.13 seconds, while Dalton Sevier was third in the high jump, clearing 5’6”, and Sam DeLeon had a third-place pole vault clearance of 12 feet. Jack Gabor was eighth in the 800-meter run, but helped Boone, Pavelchak and Sean McPherson finish fourth in the 4×400 relay in 3:35.92. Ray Satchwell finished ninth in the triple jump.
Meanwhile, Chtitenango prevailed in two events. In the 4×800 relay, Phillip Abell, Dylan Price, Ersilio Cerminaro and Caleb Prenoveau went 8:27.69 to pull away from CBA (8:31.42) and take first place. Cazenovia was ninth.
Then the Bears went 1-2 in the mile, with Mike Capeling roaring to victory in 4:32.73, exactly three seconds ahead of Jacob Blaszkow (4:35.73) in second place. In the 3,200-meter run,
Capeling was third in 10:13.34, with Cerminaro sixth (10:50.83) and Dave Gratien seventh. Blaszkow was sixth in the 800 in 2:09.62 as Brian Schermerhorn was ninth, with Cerminaro eighth in the steeplechase and Matt Morak 10th.
Myers was sixth in the 110 hurdles in 18.29 seconds and seventh in the 400-meter hurdles, while Nick Stanton was sixth in the long jump, going 19’ ½”, plus seventh in the 400-meter dash in 54.24 seconds and also seventh in the 200. Dieago Prado got sixth place in the shot put with a throw of 40’5 ¾” as Trevor Conklyn finished eighth, with Prado also sixth (110’9”) in the discus.
Cazenovia entered the sectional meet having picked up 79 points for a fourth-place finish in the May 20 Clinton Junkyard Relays, with Chittenango earning 59 points for sixth place as New Hartford prevailed with 160 points.
Winkler, Spangler and Will Kmetz combined to win the discus with throws adding up to 343 feet 6 inches. Spangler had a winning 25-pound weight throw of 55’2 ½” as the Lakers took third in that event and was third in the shot put, plus fourth in the javelin.
DeRochie and Jimmy McPherson were second (22:14.90) to Holland Patent (21:14.90) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Chittenango third in 23:29.70 thanks to Cerminaro and Justin Fukes.
Kmetz, Winkler, Chad Carges and Nate Coates were third in the 4×100 relay for athletes 180 pounds or higher in 52.36 seconds. Satchwell, Sevier and Collin Killany tied for fourth in the high jump, combining to clear 15’6”. The Lakers were fourth in the 110 hurdles, with Chittenango fifth. Cazenovia got fifth place in the 1,000 sprint medley and tied for fifth in the pole vault.
Cerminaro, Blaszkow, Price and Capeling were second (8:30.72) to New Hartford (8:28.83) in the 4×800. Morak, Schermerhorn, Gratien and Dan Rayhill were second in the mile relay in 20:02.44 as Blaszkow, Capeling, Stanton and Prenoveau were second in the distance medley relay in 11:10 flat, with Cazenovia fourth in 11:57.45.
Myers, Devlin Cameron and Jeremy Warters were second in the 3×400 hurdles in 3:19.28, where Cazenovia finished fifth. The Bears were third in the 1,600 sprint medley as Price, Schermerhorn, Caleb Seale and Devlin Cameron posted 4:05.81. Chittenango was fourth in the 4×400 in 3:47.11.
