SYRACUSE -Indoor track and field in Central New York returned to SRC Aren a after missing the entire 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 protocols – and Baldwinsville immediately found the win column.
The boys Bees piled up 100.5 points to take last Thursday’s second portion of the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet, beating out the 84 points from runner-up Jamesville-DeWitt.
Fresh off a fantastic cross country season that included state and Federation meet appearances, Solomon Holden-Betts ran 1,600 meters in four minutes, 44.12 seconds to win as Arthur Bauer got ninth place.
In the first race, the 4×800 relay, B’ville’s quartet of Noah Covert, Logan Hayes, Gavin McAllister and Jeff Ragonese finished in 9:22.94, topping second-place Auburn (9:29.05) by more than six seconds.
Sam Mellinger, who led the football Bees to the Section III Class AA final, was victorious in the 55-meter dash in 6.72 seconds, with Amir Akins (7.06) in sixth place. Mellinger, Owen Weaver, Logan Hayes and Kellan Vannatta were second (4:05.60) to J-D (4:03.64) in the sprint medley relay.
Brayden Bolton, Zach Aria, Dylan Wertheim and Kyle Sheckler were second in the 4×400 relay in 4:04.76. Jack Creelman was fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.99 seconds, with Logan Zapf ninth.
Weaver cleared 5 feet 8 inches in the high jump for third place, with Sheckler (5’3”) sixth following a fourth-place pole vault of 9’6”. Dan Ewald took third in the weight throw with 37’4”.
Robert Thompson had a fourth-place long jump of 18’6” as Mason Hallenbeck (18’2 ½”) was sixth. Gibson Boudov took seventh in the shot put with 33’4” and also was seventh in the weight throw, just ahead of Amari Akins in eighth place.
Meanwhile, the B’ville girls contended for top honors in its portion of the meet, finishing with 67 points, just behind the 78.5 from Westhill and 70.5 from J-D.
No one caught the Bees in the 4×800, where Kamryn Barton, Adrianna Orlando, Sophia Cavalieri and Keira Brady went 11:29.53 to beat out J-D’s 11:34.71. Cavalieri also finished fifth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:39.47 as Erin Seitzer got ninth place.
Then B’ville won the 4×400 as Madison Kennedy, Carlie DeSimone, Avamarie Davis and Brianna Grosso posted 4:37.39 to again top the Red Rams, who were second in 4:43.34.
Kelsey Dwyer, Sydney McKenney, Mia Pozzi and Rachel Pawelek ran the 4×200 in 2:01.25 to take third place. On her own, Pozzi ran the 55 sprint in exactly eight seconds and finished fourth, with McKenney clearing 9 feet for third place in the pole vault as she was also fourth in the high jump by clearing 4’6”.
