A fine season for each of Baldwinsville’s indoor track and field teams continued with their combined efforts at Tuesday’s Section III state qualfiying meet at SRC Arena.
With berths in the March 7 state meet at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex at stake, the Bees proved successful in having boys and girls athletes advance.
Karen Ekure and Lauren Addario both reached the finals of the 55-meter dash, Ekure doing so in 7.39 seconds to advance to the state meet.
Once in the final, Ekure improved to 7.35 seconds, behind only Institute of Technology Central’s Fannie Kumeh (7.32), but Addario, who was third in 7.41 seconds, got the time she needed to join Ekure in the state meet.
From there, Ekure and Addario teamed up with Courtney Bostic and Hannah Johnson to beat the field in the 4×200 relay in 1:48.85, just ahead of ITC’s second-place 1:49.66.
Ekure also finished second in the 300-meter dash in 42.27 seconds behind the 42.01 from ITC’s Karizma Brathwaite, while Addario’s triple jump of 37 feet 1 ½ inches trailed only the 37’7 3/4” from Utica Proctor’s Tamiah Washington.
On the boys side, the big highlight was Steven Miller setting a school record in the weight throw and advancing to the state meet with his opening toss of 54 feet 11 ½ inches. Miller also was seventh in the shot put with 44’1” as Alex Boak was 10th (46′ 11 1/2”) in the weight throw.
Connor Waldron ran 600 meters in 1:25.54, tops among large-school runners to reach the state meet and second overall behind the 1:25.03 from CBA’s Joel Gaffney.
In the 4×800 relay, the Bees’ quartet of Waldron, Jack Michaels, Colin Delaney and James Cary led all large schools with a time of 8:29.46, though it was second overall to Westhill’s 8:20.06.
Sam Mellinger ran the 55 sprint in 6.75 seconds to reach the final, where he went 6.78 seconds for fifth place, just off the state qualifying standard.
In the 4×200, Mellinger, Malik David, Robert Thompson and David Mahar finished third in 1:36.39. Quinn Peters, Nate Hludzenski, Justin Barkley and Logan Hayes were ninth in the 4×400 relay in 3:50.59.
Thompson had a fifth-place long jump of 20’5 3/4” as Aidan Priest tied for seventh in the boys pole vault, clearing 11 feet, with Sarah Smiley getting seventh place in the girls weight throw by heaving it 35’8 1/4”.
Madison Kennedy, Avamarie Davis, Bailey Nicholson and Carley Desimone were sixth in the girls 4×400 relay in 4;32.38 as Ella Smith cleared 8 feet for 11th place in the girls pole vault. Allyson Surowick was 13th in the long jump with 14’9” and 16th in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.88 seconds.
