Only a few points separated the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys indoor track and field teams at the end of Thursday night’s Section III Class AA championship meet at SRC Arena.
And it was the Warriors getting more of them, earning 99 points to the Northstars’ 96, having its overall excellence prove just enough to overcome another three-win effort by C-NS senior Jeremiah Willis.
For his part, Willis set a sectional meet record in the triple jump, going 49 feet 2 inches to shatter the mark of 48’4 ¼” set by Jeff Miller 25 years ago. Ryan Dupra was fourth with 40’11 ¾” and Isaiah Wright (38’10”) was third.
This was part of an effort where the University of Louisville-bound Willis also prevailed in the long jump, going 22’11” as Wright was third with 20’9”, and claimed the 300-meter dash in 36.04 seconds.
Yet it was Liverpool sweeping the throwing events thanks to Antwan Kelly and Jacob Barnes. Kelly unleashed a weight throw of 56’10 ½” to crush a field that included Barnes (39’9 ¾”) well back in seventh place and Zach Haggett ninth with 38’2 ¼”’
Barnes wasn’t as spectacular in the shot put, but his top throw of 43’5 ¾” earned the victory over C-NS’s Andrew Culver, who was close behind in second place with 43’2”, and Kelly finished fifth with 40’9 ½”.
Liverpool also won the pole vault, thanks to Jamie Vong, who cleared 10 feet 6 inches, a foot better than the 9’6” from Baldwinsville’s Aaron Sprague. Bennett Robb added a fourth-place high jump of 5’10”.
On the oval, it was Nathan Reeves having a big night for Liverpool, going four minutes, 26.83 seconds in the mile to claim a close duel with Fayetteville-Manlius’ Nolan Chiles (4:27.39) as Nick Brancato was fourth in 4:39.87 and Carter Rodriguez (4:43.62) was sixth.
More important was the 20 points Liverpool got in the 3,200-meter run, Reeves pulling away to win in 9:35.14 as Jake McGowan gained third place in 9:47.34 and, again, Brancato (9:49.40) gained fourth place.
Reeves, Spencer Ruediger, Cameron O’Connell and T.J. Praschunas were second in the 4×800 relay in 8:35.68 to B’ville’s 8:27.88, with O’Connell fifth in the 600-meter run in 1:29.30 and Ruediger eighth in 1:35.31.
In the 4×400 relay, Talmari Turner, Kevin Harge, Conor Fahy and Dawson Newbern were second in 3:37.08, just behind Baldwinsville’s winning 3:36.70. Paul Dewan was fifth in the long jump with 19’7 ½”, while Turner was seventh in the 55-meter dash in 6.84 seconds.
For C-NS, Nathan Poirier got the lone race win, claiming the 1,000-meter run in 2:36.47, chased by, among others, Ruediger, who was third in 2:38.32 as Praschunus (2:50.03) was sixth. Carlin got third place in the 600 in 1:28.43.
C-NS also had Dupra finish third in the high jump, clearing 6’1”, while Wright was second in the 55-meter hurdles, his time of 8.22 seconds just behind the 8.17 from Fayetteville-Manlius’ Ryan Serp, with Carlton Garnes (9.23) eighth.
Poirier, Carlin, Lucas Sharron and R.J. Davis were third in the 4×800 in 8:48.23, this after a 4×400 where Josh Adams, Aiden Dietz, Evan Breitbeck and Sam Nessel finished third in 3:39.84. Davis took sixth place in the 3,200 in 10:04.56 as Garnes, Adams, Frank Wright and Sam Nessel were fourth in the 4×200 relay in 1:37.88.
