CHITTENANGO – Less than a point kept the East Syracuse Minoa girls track and field team from adding the Section III Class A championship to the league title it earned earlier this spring.
The Spartans gained 105.5 points during Wednesday’s sectional Class A meet at Chittenango, only to have Central Square finish first with 106 points.
ESM beat Central Square 73-67 head-to-head on May 17. Here, the Redhawks amassed 56 points in six field events to offset the Spartans’ advantage in races.
Akout Kuany went 16.38 seconds to prevail in the 100 hurdles, with Kaleigh Maloof fourth in 17.94 to go with a tie for sixth in the pole vault. Aryanna Finkelstein was victorious in the shot put, throwing it 33 feet 1/4 inch.
Evani McDuffie went 13.20 seconds to beat out teammate Rylie King (13.30) in a 1-2 effort in the 100-meter dash as King also was second in the 200-meter dash in 28.34 seconds Margaret Mading, in the triple jump, got second place with 33′ 1/2″ as Maloof (31’1″) was fifth.
Rachael Ladd ran the 2,000 steeplechase in 8:30.8 to take third place, while Rhiannon Butchko was third and Arianna Brennen fourth in the high jump, each clearing 4’10” as Sophia Jackson had a third-place discus throw of 96’6″. Butchko got sixth in the long jump with 15’2 1/2″.
Lilia Pena got fourth place in the 400-meter dash in 1:04.68, with Elena Vespi fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:46.39. The Spartans were also fifth in the 4×800 relay in 11:01.74.
Jamesville-DeWitt gained fifth place with 48 points, including a 4×100 relay where Maeve Murphy, Cadence Milligan, Kaitlyn Lubenstein and Madeline Carter went 54.23 seconds to beat out ESM (54.39 seconds) for second place behind Cortland’s winning 52.96.
In the 4×400, it went the same, with Carter, Molly McIntyre, Jaden Clemons-Butenko and Audrey Norden putting J-D in second place in 4:31.95 to Cortland’s 4:27.55, with the Spartans again third in 4:33.60.
Brooke Hulbert took third place in the 400 hurdles in 1:15.90. Carter was fifth in the 100 sprint in 13.69 seconds, with Murphy (14.22) sixth before Carter (28.61 seconds) topped Murphy (28.75) for fourth place in the 200.
Lucy Heflin, clearing 8’6″, made it to third place in the pole vault as a 1-2 Central Square sweep included Evelyn Dolce clearing 11’9″. The Rams got fourth place in the 4×800 in 10:53.44.
Madeline Foss ran 3,000 meters in 11:39.42 to finish fourth. Audrey Norden was fifth in the 400 sprint in 1:04.68 as Cora Gilbert-Sicherman got sixth place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:22.21.
