Fresh off a special season and a romp to the Section III Class B-2 championship, the Cazenovia boys track and field team went to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium to take part in Friday’s Section III state meet open qualifier.
And the big highlight came from Sam DeLeon, who in the Division II (small school) pole vault earned a berth in the state championships at Middletown next weekend.
DeLeon did so by clearing six heights in the pole vault, capped by topping a school-record 13 feet 6 inches, second to the 13’9” from Sauquoit Valley’s Slater Constantine.
DeLeon joins Dalton Sevier in moving on to the state meet, as Sevier had cleared 6’4” in the high jump earlier this season to meet the state qualifying standard.
Justin Gagnon, Josh Maxwell, Sam DeLeon and Slater DeLeon paired up to win the 4×100 relay in 44.78 seconds over Solvay (45.18), who will go to the state meet, with Gagnon second in the 110 hurdles in 15.48 seconds to Hannibal’s John Ruggio (15.15).
Slater DeLeon roared to second place in the 200-meter dash in 23.22 seconds behind Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Cory Couture (22.40) and was third in the long jump, going 20’10 ¼” as Ray Satchwell had a third-place triple jump of 42 feet.
Andrew Kent gained third place in the 800-meter run in 2:02.62, while Austin Sanders tied for third in the high jump, clearing 5’10”. Jared Smith was sixth and Noah DeRochie seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Angelo Annotto finished eighth in the shot put.
Chittenango also was part of the Division II state qualifier, where the girls Bears were victorious in the 4×800 relay. McKayla Capeling, McKenzie Dombroski, Kiara Waite and Chelsea Lamphere posted 10:01.70 to edge Beaver River (10:03.07) and earn a berth in the state meet. Dombroski also was fourth in the 800 in 2:23.56.
On the boys side, the Bears had Ersilio Cerminaro, Caleb Prenoveau, Dave Gratien and Dylan Price finish third in the 4×800 in 8:19.80, improving by nearly 10 seconds over their effort at the B-1 sectionals.
Individually, Cerminaro ran to third place in the 3,200 in 10:27.81. Devin Myers got fourth place in the 110 hurdles in 16.02 seconds and was fifth in the 400 hurdles in 59.11 seconds.
