Though neither of the Baldwinsville track and field teams was able to make it all the way to the top of the standings in last Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championships at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, there was still plenty of individual glory to spread around.
For example, the Bees swept both the boys and girls 400-meter hurdles. Sam Kellner won the boys race in 59.07 seconds as Nick Kruger (1:00.43) finished third, while Justus Holden-Betts rolled to the girls title in 1:05.61, nearly two seconds ahead of the field.
Also, in the girls pole vault, Ella Smith matched C-NS’s Kaley Bristow in clearing 8 feet 6 inches, but did so with fewer misses, so Smith earned the sectional title. Kyra Sattler cleared 7 fee to tie for fifth.
Overall, the B’ville boys earned 82 points and took third place behind Liverpool (132) and Utica Proctor (102), while in the girls sectional meet the Bees finished fourth with 68.5 points, with Liverpool, Fayetteville-Manlius and C-NS in the top three.
In the boys 4×800 relay, the Bees chased Liverpool all the way to the end as Kellner, Connor McManus, Jon Formoza and Garrett Vannatta finished second in 8:07.24 to the Warriors’ 8:05.45.
B’ville also was a runner-up in the 4×400 relay, where Kruger, Formoza, Michael Lawrence and Connor Waldron went 3:30.19, beating everyone except Utica Proctor’s 3:28.68. Kruger also finished fourth in the triple jump with a top attempt of 40 feet 9 ½ inches.
Aidan Priest cleared 10 feet in the pole vault, second to the 12 feet of C-NS’s Nate Osborne. Steven Miller had a fourth-place discus throw of 120’5” as Owen Weaver cleared 5’6” in the high jump for sixth place, also finishing sixth in the triple jump with 39’8 ¾”.
Mike Letizia went to third place in the 100-meter dash in 11.42 seconds as Nottinghams’ Jamel Nellons (11.12) won. Letizia, fifth in the 200-meter dash (23.45 seconds), joined Malik Davis, Sam Mellinger and Anthony Delvecchio to take third place, in the 4×100 relay in 45.10 seconds.
Jack Michaels ran 3,200 meters in 9:55.15 to finish third, adding a sixth in the mile in 4:31.17. Formoza was fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:02.74, with Vannatta ninth and McManus 10th. Tyler Rawlins was fifth in the boys pentathlon with 2,153 points as Tom Hagopian finished seventh.
Waldron, in 52.57 seconds, beat out Michael Lawrence (52.81) for fifth place in the 400-meter dash. Kruger got fifth place in the 110 high hurdles in 16.52 seconds, with Colin Delaney fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:30.51.
The B’ville girls had Karen Ekure take second place in 25.95 seconds behind Liverpool’s Haven Hicks (25.71) in the 200-meter dash, while Courtney Bostic was seventh in 27.54 seconds.
In the 2,000-meter steeplechase, Justus Holden-Betts got to second place in 7:30.27 behind Liverpool’s Madison Neuner (6:57.23) as Vivian Holden-Betts was sixth in 7:56.41.
Lauren Addario contended in the triple jump, as her best attempt of 38’5 ¾’ beat everyone except C-NS’s Brooke Blaisdell, who won with 39’3”.
Ekure also finished third in the 100 sprint in 12.81 seconds, just behind the winning 12.57 from Liverpool’s Marissa Baskin. Ekure, Bostic, Lauren Addario and Allyson Surowick got to third place in the 4×100 in 50.96 seconds. Surowick was seventh (17.27 seconds) and Catherine Iven (17.96) 10th in the 100 hurdles. Courtney Clute was eighth in the 400 sprint in 1:03.57.
Taite Archer was eighth in the girls pentathlon, while Megan Brecht 10th in the high jump and Leah Carpenter 12th in the 3,000-meter run.
Many of these same B’ville athletes will return to Bragman Stadium this Friday for the sectional state qualifying meet.
