Scan the standings, and perhaps the Chittenango track and field team’s efforts at Thursday’s Section III Class B-1 championships at Westhill High School seem modest – but that was not the case.
Among the accomplishments for the girls Bears was seeing its 4×800 relay team break a school record in the 4×800 relay on the way to winning that race.
Junior McKenzie Dombroski, joined by freshman McKayla Capeling and sophomores Mekenzie Dahlin and Chelsea Lamphere, finished in 10 minutes, 2.63 seconds, setting the new school mark and beating runner-up Camden (10:05.14) by more than two seconds.
Overall, the Chittenango girls had 28 points to finish eighth in the 12-team field, with the boys Bears getting 26 points but settling for 10th place as, quite often, each side finished just inside or just outside of the top six point-earning spots.
Sophomore Jeremy Warters nearly won the boys pentathlon. Trailing Mexico’s Morgan Derby, he made a charge in the final event, the 1,500-meter run, with a time of 5:02.36, but with 2,410 points settled for second place, 21 points behind Derby.
Trying to match what the girls did, the Chittenango boys 4×800 quartet of senior Matt Morak and juniors Dylan Price, Ersilio Cerminaro and Caleb Prenoveau posted 8:37.39, getting second place, though Homer pulled away to win in a school-record 8:11.37.
Devin Myers had his own runner-up finish in the 110 high hurdles, going 16.39 seconds to beat everyone except Phoenix’s Jacob Marr, who prevailed in 15.99 seconds.
Elsewhere, Myers was seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.38, seventh in the triple jump with 38 feet 6 ¾ inches and ninth in the long jump, going 19’ ½”.
Meanwhile, in the girls pentathlon, junior Mia Morgillo had a strong showing, her 1,964 points good for third place, just four points behind Solvay’s Rhiannon Ackerman as Oneida’s Melina Ball (2,322 points) prevailed.
Emily Moon went 32’5 ½” in the triple jump to finish fourth. Kendria Moore was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.41 seconds, with Tamia Williams seventh in the 100-meter dash in 13.64 seconds as Moore, Williams, Marilla Bongiovanni and Emily Montroy were sixth in the 4×100 relay in 54.84 seconds.
Lamphere took fifth place in the 3,000-meter run in 11:44.54. Dombroski needed 2:32.39 to finish sixth in the 800-meter run as Capeling got eighth place in the 1,500 in 5:29.98. Delany Dawkins cleared 4’8” for sixth place in the high jump.
In the 4×400 relay, Dombroski, Capeling, Dahlin and Moon finished sixth in 4:29.83, right before Piper Beckwith got to seventh place in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:24.52. Williams was eighth and Moon ninth in the long jump.
On the boys side, Price earned sixth place in the 800 in 2:12.10, with Prenoveau 10th as Cerminaro was sixth (10:47.74) in the 3,200-meter run. Nate Lampman, Jake Boyer, Parker Tedford and Tristam LaFountaine were seventh in the 4×400 in 3:49.88.
Lampman was ninth in the mile in 4:57.36 as the Bears were ninth (49.40 seconds) in the 4×100. Tedford was 10th in the 200 in 24.83 seconds as Karl Farber and Dave Gratien were ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 3,000 steeplechase as Callum Reed was ninth in the shot put with a throw of 37’3 ¾” and 11th in the discus.
