Indoor track and field athletes from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool gathered one more time at SRC Arena to take part in Sunday’s Section III state qualifying meet.
Spots in the March 3 New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex were at stake, and Northstars junior Jeremiah Willis quickly went to the forefront.
In the boys 55-meter dash, Willis was the fastest qualifier for the finals in 6.64 seconds and improved to 6.57 seconds for the final, beating out Henninger’s Nasir Jones (6.72) and the field.
Moving to the long jump, Willis threatened the sectional record of 23 feet 10 inches set by Rome Free Academy’s Anthony DeJean in 2010, ultimately going 23’5” in his second attempt to win as teammate Joe Williams was fifth with 20’10”.
A third victory came for Willis in the triple jump, where he went 47’1 ½”, well clear of a chasing pack that included Liverpool’s Paul Dewan, who was second with 43’1”. Dewan took seventh place in the long jump with 20’7 ¾”.
As for Joe Williams, his win came in the 55-meter hurdles, where he dominated qualifying with 7.61 seconds and then won the final in 7.59 seconds over Liverpool’s Nazir Murray (7.93 seconds) as Ryan Williams was third in 8.08 seconds. Both Ryan and Joe Williams joined Malcolm Christian and Adron Pafford as C-NS got third place in the 4×200 relay in 1:36.13.
Liverpool would win in the 4×800 relay, where the quartet of T.J. Praschunus, Spencer Ruediger, Cameron O’Connell and Nathan Reeves went 8:17.53 to pull away from Baldwinsville (8:20.20) in second place. Reeves, on his own, got third place in the mile in 4:34.75 as C-NS’s Nathan Poirier was fourth in 4:43.75.
Also for the Warriors, Antwan Kelly gained third place in the weight throw with a top toss of 53’4”, while Arthur Bittel was third in the shot put, heaving it 44’7 ½”. James Gaffney tied for seventh in the pole vault, clearing 11’6” as Central Square’s Joe Weaver won, tying his own sectional record of 15’3”.
In the girls sectional state qualifier, C-NS’s Mia Pestle continued her win streak in the 1,500-meter run, going 4:44.50 to pull away from Camden’s Elizabeth Lucason (4:47.14) for the top spot, with Liverpool’s Sydney Carlson seventh in 4:57.25.
Later, in the 4×800, Pestle, paired with Sarah Davis, Kate Putman and Marina Marullo, finished in 10:05.40, getting to second place as Fayetteville-Manlius (9:20.61) pulled away to win.
For Liverpool, Marissa Baskin gained a victory in the triple jump, qualifying for the state meet by going 36’9 3/4”, while C-NS’s Shayla Webb was third with 35’11” and Sierra Davis was sixth with 35’4 ¾”.
Baskin unleashed a long jump of 17’7 ½”, beating everyone except Baldwinsville’s Adrianna Straughter, who needed a leap of 17’10 ¼” to prevail. Davis was seventh with 16’7 ¾”.
The Northstars’ Liliana Klemanski contended in the high jump, clearing 5’1”, but finishing second because Jamesville-DeWitt’s Alexandria Payne claimed a jump-off. Liverpool’s Amina Sinclair was third.
Meanwhile, the Warriors nearly won the 4×400, seeing Anne Gullo, Windsor Ardner, Natalie Kurz and Claire Carlson go 4:11.93, just behind West Genesee’s winning 4:11.26.
Trinity Gray, with a weight throw of 41’1 ¼”, made her way to third place, this in addition to a fifth-place effort in the shot put where Gray heaved it 30’5 ¾”.
Lauren Fradette was sixth in the 55 hurdles in 9.45 seconds. Baskin gave Liverpool a sixth-place finish in the 55 sprint in 7.59 seconds, while Gullo was sixth in the 300-meter dash in 43.80 seconds.
Davis was fourth in the 600-meter run in 1:42.25, with Ardner and Kurz 10th and 11th, respectively. Kate Putman was fifth in the 1,000-meter run in 3:08.47 as Victoria Dunn, Julianna Hutt, Amanda Reilly and Marissa Bukowski were fifth in the 4×200 in 1:52.83.
