ONONDAGA COUNTY – Each of the Baldwinsville track and field teams had worked an entire season toward one post-season event where it could make one final mark.
And the Bees would find a lot of success, especially on the boys side, during the pair of Section III Class AA championship meets that concluded the season.
B’ville’s boys would go to Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium and earn 99 points in Wednesday’s AA meet, a number only the host Northstars, with 121 points, would top.
Wins came in a few events, too, such as the 100-meter dash, where junior Sam Mellenger, in 11.18 seconds, edged West Genesee’s Dominick Burris (11.20) for the title as Brandon Levin finished third in 11.28 seconds.
Moving to the 4×400 relay, the Bees triumphed when Luke DeFio, Logan Hayes, Connor Waldron and Owen Weaver posted 3:33.47 to beat out the 3:35.27 from C-NS.
And in the last race of the day, the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Colin Delaney would pull away to win in 10:26.71, more than 10 seconds ahead of the 10:37.48 from Liverpool’s Jake McGowan as Solomon Holden-Betts (10:42.05) was third.
Connor Waldron, in the 400-meter dash, went 51.86 seconds, second to the 51.33 from Utica Proctor’s Azzan Johnson, also taking fifth in the 200-meter dash in 23.16 seconds as Mellenger (23.46) was sixth.
Luke DeFio was second in the 400 hurdles in 1:00.13, just behind the 1:00.01 from C-NS’s Jacob Schmid, and Tom Bernardin was third in 1:01.17. DeFio was also fifth in the 110 high hurdles in 17.97 seconds.
B’ville’s best finish in a field event came in the triple jump, where Aidan Micho went 40 feet 11 inches, second to C-NS’s Carlton Garnes, who went 41′ 1/4” as Owen Weaver was fourth with 40’5”.
Delaney, James Cary, Jack McAllister and Aidan Micho were fourth in the 4×800 relay in 8:42.60. Holden-Betts ran 1,600 meters in 4:34.40 to gain fourth place, with Jeff Ragonese ninth in 4:50.84.
David Dobrolowski, throwing the discus 108’10”, gained fourth place. The Bees were eighth in the 4×100 relay in 48.64 seconds. Weaver had a sixth-place long jump of 20’9 3/4” and Weaver cleared 5’8” in the high jump for seventh place as Tyler Rawlins (5’6”) was eighth.
A day earlier, at Liverpool High School Stadium, B’ville’s girls had its turn vying for sectional honors, and earned 33 points for sixth place as Fayetteville-Manlius (180 points) easily claimed the team title.
But no one could beat the Bees’ Ella Smith in the pole vault. Clearing 9 feet 6 inches, Smith beat out F-M’s Wren Usiatynski (9 feet) as Sydney McKenney got fifth place by topping 8 feet.
B’ville had its best relay finish in the 4×100, where Rachel Pawelek, Avamarie Davis, Madelyn Diep and Madayia Simons got third place in 53.34 seconds as F-M won in 49.25.
In the 4×400, the Bees had Avamarie Davis, Deanna Gzhiniskaya, Olivia Creelman and Madison Kennedy run to fourth place in 4:26.44. Kennedy took seventh in the 400 sprint in 1:02.44 as she also helped Creelman, Sophia Cavalieri and Adrianna Orlando take fourth in the 4×800 in 10:31.67.
Diep, topping 4’8”, earned fourth place in the high jump, while Pawelek was fifth in the long jump, going 15’4 1/2” to go with a ninth in the 100 sprint in 13.63 seconds. Vivian Holden-Betts was seventh in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:38.50.
