Many of the area’s top high school track and field athletes will go to Union-Endicott this weekend in pursuit of medals during the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
They do after a string of victories in last Friday’s sectional state qualifying meet at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, which featured Jamesville-DeWitt junior Alexandria Payne’s impressive effort in the Division I (large school) girls pentathlon.
With a time of 15.02 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, a clearance of 4 feet 11 ¾ inches in the high jump and a long jump of 16’7 ¾”, Payne eventually earned 3,234 points to beat out Baldwinsville’s Adrianna Straughter (2,941 points), though both advanced to the state meet.
Fayetteville-Manlius had plenty of wins, too, starting in the 4×800 relay, where Sophie Ryan, Christy Berge’, Rebecca Walters and Palmer Madsen finished in 9:03.18, nearly a full minute ahead of the field.
Ryan would tear to victory in the 3,000-meter run in 9:48.91, with J-D’s Hannah Butler second in 10:10.75. Claire Walters emerged victorious in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:05.94 over Liverpool’s Madison Neuner (7:10.30), while Phoebe White went 2:14.05 to beat the field in the 800-meter run as Berge’ finished third in 2:17.61.
Gwenn Shepardson advanced to the state meet when she won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.79 seconds. Cady Barns, with a long jump of 16’8”, was a close second to C-NS’s Shayla Webb (16’10”) by two inches, and also was third in the triple jump, going 35’10 ¾”. Sydney O’Dell was fourth in the Division I pentathlon with 2,244 points/.
F-M made it a sweep of both 4×800 events when Patrick Perry, Garrett Brennan, Jack Boltman and Jack Duncanson finished in 8:12.33, nearly 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Baldwinsville (8:27.28).
Perry also ran a mile of 4:27.69, second behind Liverpool’s Ty Brownlow (4:20.63) as Brennan was fourth in 4:31.56, third in Division I. Joe Walters went 9:24.27 in the 3,200-meter run, second only to the Warriors’ Steve Schulz (9:19.25) and just missing the state qualifying standard. Romello Mitchell cleared 5’8” for second place in the high jump.
Twice in boys races, J-D had close calls. David Fikhman, Fidel Martinez, Mike Potamianos and Joey Armenta were second in the 4×400 relay in 3:24.94, inches behind Baldiwnsville’s 3:24.58.
Then Fikhman was second, in 51.03 seconds, to the Bees’ Kieran Sheridan (51 seconds flat) in the 400-meter dash, while Patrick Dye took third place in the 3,200 in 9:27.73.
The Red Rams’ Gabrielle Tanklsey dueled with Liverpool’s Kelley Townley in the pole vault. Both cleared 10 feet, but Townley had fewer misses, so Tanksley settled for second place. Lauren Nandal got third place in the shot put with a throw of 30’9 ½”.
East Syracuse Minoa senior Isaiah Brooks was third in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.86 seconds, inches ahead of J-D’s Alex Carbacio (15.87) in fourth place. Mackenzie Bourdon was sixth in the girls 100 hurdles in 17.11 seconds.
The Spartans had Gavin Stevens toss the discus 125’10” for fourth place as Gabe Holloman threw the shot put 44’1 ¼” to grab fifth place. Mia Montgomery took ninth place in the triple jump, going 32’11 ½”.
Christian Brothers Academy was in the Division II (small school) portion, where Claire Bargabos was victorious in the 400 sprint, getting to the finish line in 1:00.26 to hold off Central Valley Academy’s Camryn Stone (1:00.74) and advance to the state meet. Dominic Morganti won the boys Division II 3,200 in 9:33.35 to reach the state meet.
Bargabos, Cory Knox, Deja Jones and Olivia Morganti were third in the 4×800 in 9:40.68 as Morganti, in 7:27.91, was second to Tully’s Brooke Rauber (7:03.48) in the steeplechase and Knox was fifth in the 400 hurdles in 1:09.37 as Elissa Kempisty was fifth in the long jump, going 16’4 ¼”, and seventh (34’2”) in the triple jump. Bishop Grimes’ Abby Wilkinson picked up 1,957 points, sixth in Division II.
