With its most important events of the season looming, it was time for the Baldwinsville track and field teams to hit another gear.

That process really began with Friday’s Cicero-North Syracuse Invitational at Bragman Stadium. On the same venue where the state championships will take place, the Bees finished second in both the boys and girls division to the host Northstars.

B’ville’s boys had 65.5 points, easily clear of Whitesboro (41 points) for the runner-up spot, with a victory from Ben Timmons in the mile as he went four minutes, 28.77 seconds to top Central Square’s Brandon Martin (4:32.65) by  nearly four seconds.

A thrilling 800-meter run had Kieran Sheridan go 1:57.56 to hold off Liverpool’s Nathan Reeves (1:58.03) and C-NS’s David Ware (1:58.30) as Jon Formoza got seventh place in 2:05.33. Sheridan, TImmons, Sam Kellner and Michael Lawrence tore to a winning time of 3:33.03 in the 4×400 relay.

Jae Lee also prevailed for the Bees in the pole vault, clearing 12 feet as Central Square’s Quinn Ames (11’6″) was second and Aidan Priest was seventh, topping 9’6″. Cameron Majchrzak threw the shot put 44’10” for second place behind East Syracuse Minoa’s Gabe Holloman (46’11”) and had a fifth-place discus throw of 123’10”.

Josh Scholten went 1:00.30 to take fourth place in the 400-meter hudles, while Lawrence was fifth in the 400-meter dash in 51.61 seconds.

Nate Jaquint got to fourth place in the 110 high hurdles in 16.51 seconds, with Scholten ninth as Joe Licameli was fifth (10:22.87) in the 3,000-meter run. Jaquint also cleared 5’10” for fifth place in the high jump.

Nick Kruger had a sixth-place triple jump of 39’5 1/2″. Connor McManus was eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Zach Hahn 13th. McManus, Formoza, Jared DiFrancesco and Tim Demjanenko was fifth in the 4×800 relay in 8:48.87.

Meanwhile, in the girls meet, the Bees had 57 points, but was closer to the top spot that C-NS held as the Northstars finished with 77 points atop a field of 24.

Justus Holden-Betts beat more than 30 runners in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, her time of 7:20.61 more than 16 seconds ahead of Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Delaney Brewer (7:36.95) as Elizabeth Fawwaz was sixth in 7:59.13.

B’ville also completed a boys-girls sweep in the 4×00 when Holden-Betts, Anna Demer, Patricia Conlan and Olivia Creelman went 4:21.72, holding off VVS (4:22.34) at the line.

Jenna Wallace had the only triple-digit throw in the discus, winning with a distance of 100’1″.Danielle Marsell, throwing the shot put 30 feet, landed in third place.

Adrianna Straughter went 15.17 seconds to finish second to Jamesville-DeWitt’s Alexandria Payne, whose 14.80 seconds broke her own J-D school record. Lauren Addario, in 13 seconds flat, was a close second to Watertown’s Haleigh Foster (12.93) in the 100 as Straughter tied for fifth in the high jump, clearing 5’10”.

Anna Demer got fifth place in the 400 sprint in 1:02.87, with Courtney Clute 14th. Annabelle Horan needed 11:13.02 to finish sixth at 3,000 meters as Olivia Creelman got eighth place in the 800 in 2:28.80 as Mackenzie Wodka was ninth in the 400 hurdles.

Allyson Surowick had an eighth-place long jump of 15’9″. Maya Hewitt and Ella Smith cleared 7’6″ in the pole vault to tie for ninth place. The Bees were seventh in the 4×800 in 11:20.25 and eighth (53.83 seconds) in the 4×100.