While the Baldwinsville track and field teams have made plenty of visits to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium this spring, none were as important as last Friday’s efforts in the Section III state qualifying meet.
Berths in this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Union-Endicott were on the line, and the Bees had plenty of strong finishes in the Division I (large school) portion.
The boys 4×400 relay was particularly close, but B’ville pulled it out as Kenny Stehle, Tyler Luciano, Kieran Sheridan and Evan Vannatta got a time of three minutes, 24.58 seconds to edge Jamesville-DeWitt (3:24.94) at the line.
Then, on his own, Sheridan was victorious in the 400-meter dash in exactly 51 seconds, again with a J-D rival close behind as the Red Rams’ David Fikhman. Who ran in that 4×400 duel, got second place in 51.03 seconds.
Alex Garcia threw the shot put 46 feet 4 inches, second only to Nottingham’s Jaleel Berry (56’6 ¾”) as Judson Fletcher was fourth, going 45’2 ¾”. Luciano went 20’3 ½” in the long jump and got third place, with Austin Catalano sixth (40’11”) in the triple jump.
Jack Buis took third place in the 200-meter dash in 23.20 seconds as Garcia was eighth (118’9”) and Cameron Majchrzak seventh (120’8”) in the discus, with Mike Spicer 11th (108’9”).
Davis was second among Division I runners and fourth overall in the 800-meter run in 1:58.39 as Indian River’s Tyler Godin prevailed in 1:56.76. Stehle got second place in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.70 seconds as Justin Goodridge was fourth in 58.57 seconds and Carthage’s Justin Runge (55.68) prevailed.
B’ville saw its boys 4×800 relay team of Adam Davis, Jon Formoza, Connor McManus and Ben Timmons finish in 8:27.28, second to Fayetteville-Manlius, who won in 8:12.33. Timmons managed fourth place in the Division I 3,200-meter run in 9:55.24. Luciano, Jack Buis, Justin Goodridge and Lattrell Lewis were sixth (45.17 seconds) in the 4×100 relay.
The B’ville girls team earned a victory when Karen Ekure, in the 200, crossed the finish line in exactly 26 seconds, enough to get away from Watertown’s Haileigh Foster (26.20 seconds) for first place.
Adrianna Straugher was second in the Division I girls pentathlon, her total of 2,941 points more than enough to advance to the state meet as she ran the 100-meter hurdles in 15.02 seconds and cleared 4’9 ¾” in the high jump. Jamesville-DeWitt star Alexandria Payne won with 3,234 points.
Lauren Addario, in 12.75 seconds, edged Ekure (12.76) for third place in the 100-meter dash as Liverpool’s Marissa Baskin won in 12.60 seconds, with Addario also fourth in the triple jump by going 35’9 ¼”.
Shylea Dukat got third place in the 400 hurdles in 1:06.36, not far from the winning 1:05.59 of West Genesee’s Megan Delia. Justus Holden-Betts took fourth place in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:21.83, with Elizabeth Fawwaz fifth in 7:43.40.
Jenna Wallace was fourth in the discus with a heave of 98’7”. Addario, Ekure, Dukat and Katie Weaver were fourth in the 4×100 in 51 seconds flat, nearly a dead heat with West Genesee (50.994) for third place. Sarah Rodman, Madison Dickter, Patricia Conlan and Mia Bolton were fourth in the 4×800 relay in 10:23.86.
