Less than a month after the Central New York high school sports community said farewell to legendary television and radio broadcaster Jack Morse, the indoor track and field event named in his honor started another season.
The Jack Morse Kickoff Meet at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena was held over two days Wednesday and Thursday, with Cazenovia’s boys team part of the Thursday session.
And it proved quite successful for the Lakers, who with 71 points was second in the 12-team field, trailing only Baldwinsville, who won with 94 points.
In the first race of the day, the 4×800 relay, Jared Smith, fresh off a cross country season where he advanced to the state Class C championship meet, paired with Hunter McCullough, Mike Senehi and Andrew Kent to go eight minutes, 57.47 seconds, pulling away from runner-up Christian Brothers Academy (9:09.71) by more than 12 seconds.
Later, in the 4×400 relay, Cazenovia won again, with Jacob Olkowski, Cormac Race, Dylan Albicker and Alex Lansing going 3:59.17, the only time under four minutes as East Syracuse Minoa (4:01.15) was second.
Dalton Sevier was victorious in the individual pole vault, the only competitor to clear 10 feet. Sevier also cleared 6 feet 1 inch in the high jump for third-place points. Smith ran 1,600 meters in 4:47.33 for third place and got third on the team side with Senehi, McCullough and Stanley Angus in 20:38.49.
Slater DeLeon, paired with Dylan Albicker, went 74’7 3/4″ in the triple jump, second place to B’ville’s 75’5″. DeLeon and Dylan Anderson got third in the long jump, their leaps adding up to 37’4 3/4″, while DeLeon and Connor Wilson were fourth in the 55-meter dash in a combined 14.24 seconds.
Albicker, Connor Wilson, Andrew Lee and Charles Kubinec were fourth in the 4×200 relay in 1:44.57 as Race, Kent, Anderson and Cassidy Gilmore were fifth in the 1,600 sprint medley in 4:06.79.
Chittenango took part in the Wednesday session of the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet, where in the boys 4×400 the Bears’ quartet of Kenny Matthews, Marcus Perretta, Parker Tedford and Warren Tedford were fourth in 3:58.74. Chittenango also was seventh in the 4×200 and seventh in the sprint medley.
The Bears’ best girls finish was in the sprint medley as McKayla Capeling, Kiara Waite, Jordan Wagner and Lauren Suppe rose to fourth place in 4:59.64. In the 4×400, Capeling, Suppe, Waite and Lailah Emad Waite were sixth in 4:48.10.
