CENTRAL NEW YORK – A chilly, damp Wednesday afternoon brought season debuts for track and field teams from Jamesville-DeWitt, Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy, but only one of them won.
That was the Red Rams, who handled Fulton in both sides of that meet, with the boys prevailing 106-26 and the girls roaring past the Red Raiders 88-33.
Caleb Smith was at the forefront for the J-D boys, winning three events. He cleared 5 feet 8 inches in the high jump, went 21’8 3/4” in the long jump and unleashed a top triple jump of 41’10”.
Daviel Cruz threw the shot put 35 feet and the discus 86’1”, while Shane Gargulo took the 400 hurdles in 1:08.1. Nate Rindfuss ran 1,600 meters in 5:06.2, with Sean Rigdon taking the 110 hurdles and Connor Clarkson going 10:56.4 in the 3,200-meter run. Gabriel Cuello won the 400-meter dash in 56.7 seconds.
East Syracuse Minoa claimed its SCAC Empire division opener at Auburn, with the boys holding off the Maroons 72-62 and the girls Spartans prevailing by a bigger 93-42 margin.
Excelling in field events, the ESM girls included Rhiannon Butchko clearing 4’6” in the high jump while also recording a first-place long jump of 14’6”, while Aryanna Finkelstein threw the shot put 36 feet and Margaret Mading had a top triple jump of 30’6 1/2”.
On the track, Rylie King went 13.5 seconds to win the 100-meter dash as Elena Vespi took the 400-meter dash in 1:09.9. Rachael Ladd ran the 400 hurdles in 1:26.4 and Kaleigh Maloof claimed the 100 hurdles in 17.5 seconds.
Meanwhile, in the boys meet, ESM had Rocky El and Bennett Ferrari take on lead roles, with El running the 100 in 11.4 seconds, taking the 110 hurdles in 16.8 seconds and unleashing a top triple jump of 42′ ½”, while also helping the 4×100 relay team prevail in 47.0 seconds.
Ferrari, for his part, also ran in the 4×100, but also tore to a time of exactly 55 seconds in the 400 sprint while clearing 7 feet in the pole vault. Aidan Hirt took the 200 in 24 seconds flat and Joe Pedrosa-Garcia won the 400 hurdles in 1:18.0.
F-M’s first meet of the season was against Baldwinsville at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, where the boys Hornets could not keep up with the Bees as it took a 102-37 defeat.
B’ville swept the field events as F-M only gained wins in distance races, two of them by Peyton Geehrer, who went 4:35.74 in the 1,600-meter run and 2:08.0 in the 800 as Daniel Patrick took the 3,200 in 10:24.0. Connor Waldron led the Bees with wins in the 200 and 400 sprints, plus a leg in the 4×400 relay.
As that went on, CBA opened against Homer and was unable to win on either side, the boys taking an 87-27 defeat and the girls falling to the Trojans 79-43.
CBA’s boys were able to win some distance races, Michael McMahon taking the 800 in 2:08.8 and Cooper Groat getting a time of 4:49.9 in the 1,600-meter run. Christian Smith got wins for the Brothers in the long jump (14’9 1/2”) and the 100 sprint, where he finished in 12.3 seconds.
On the girls side, CBA did pick up some more points thanks to a sweep of the distance races. Annie Toole finished first in the 3,000 in 12:39.2, with Abby Nash taking the 1,600 in 5:54.7 and Claire Krueger going 2:54.1 in the 800.
