Cicero-North Syracuse’s Jeremiah Willis carried high expectations for himself going into last weekend’s set of state track and field championship meets at Union-Endicott – and managed to exceed them.
By the time the two-day competition in the Binghamton suburbs was complete, Willis had brought home a trio of first-place medals – one in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association portion, and two more in the Federation championships a day later.
All of this started in Friday’s NYSPHSAA triple jump. Willis, on his second attempt, flew 46 feet 8 3/4 inches. No one caught him as VS North’s Tyler John was second with 46’5 1/2″. Meanwhile, in the long jump, Willis went 22’10 1/2″ and finished second to Huntington’s Kyree Johnson, who prevailed with 23’6 1/2″.
A day later, with Federation titles on the line, Willis pulled off a clean sweep. A triple jump of 46’5 1/2″ on his final attempt put him ahead of Shevaughn Allen (JFK-Cheektowaga), who finished second with 45’11”, while in the long jump Willis improved to 23’1″, and it beat John (22’10 1/2″) for yet another title.
Also for C-NS, Joe Williams finished sixth in the NYSPHSAA portion of the 110-meter high hurdles, qualifying for the final with 14.76 seconds and then going 15.04 seconds in the finals on Saturday to trail Aaron Banson (Cardinal Hayes), who won with 14.48 seconds.
But in Saturday afternoon’s Federation final, Williams improved to 14.62 seconds, and got fourth-place honors as, once more, Banson blazed to victory, this time in 14.07 seconds. Matt Kilian was 15th in the 200-meter dash in 23.42 seconds.
Liverpool had Josh Hickmott reach the medal podium in the Division I 3,000-meter steeplechase. Hickmott finished in nine minutes, 33.89 seconds, putting him in fifth place among the large schools and sixth overall as Sachem North’s Jonathan Lauer won in 9:16.72.
Also, the Warriors’ Steve Schulz took part in Friday’s 3,200-meter run, and his time of 9:33.89 put Schulz in seventh place in Division I as East Meadow’s Tim Euler won the large-school portion in 9:30.18 and East Aurora’s Ian Russ was the overall champion in 9:25.79.
Moving to the girls portion of the state meet, C-NS’s Shayla Webb finished seventh in the NYSPHSAA portion of the Division I triple jump, going 37’8″, but she moved to sixth place in the Federation event with 37’4 3/4″ as Westhampton Beach’s Sarena Choi won both events, her best jump going 39’7 3/4″.
Webb also finished 14th in the Division I long jump, going 15’6 3/4″, while teammate Liliana Klemanski tied for eighth place in the high jump, clearing 5’2″, and Mia Pestle was 12th in the 1,500-meter run in 4:57.99.
The best finish for the Liverpool girls came in the discus, where Sarah Lavalley claimed eighth place with a season-best throw of 119’5″, beating her previous best throw of the season by more than three fee. Kelley Townley cleared 9 feet in the pole vault, while Marissa Baskin was 14th in the 100-meter dash in 13.04 seconds.
