SYRACUSE – Over the course of the first two days of December, two area high school indoor track and field teams returned to SRC Arena, which did not host any meets in the 2020-21 school year due to COVID-19.
Jamesville-DeWitt managed to finish second in both the boys (84 points) and girls (70.5 points) events, with the boys trailing Baldwinsville and the girls Red Rams behind only Westhill.
Going 1-2 in the boys high jump, J-D had Nick Dekaney and Caleb Smith both clear 6 feet, but Dekaney won because he had fewer misses.
Both of them won their own, too, as Dekaney took the 55-meter hurdles in 7.97 seconds, the only time under eight seconds. Smith beat everyone in the long jump, going 21’8 ¾” as Mario Smith (18’4”) was fifth.
To win the sprint medley relay, Mike Meskos, Sam Smith, Will Westpfal and James Hillers had to post 4:03.64 to top B’ville’s second-place 4:05.60. Smith, Hillers, Ryan Carter and Shane Gargiulo dominated the 4×400 in 3:52.03 as no one else got close to breaking the four-minute mark.
Dante Santos took fourth in the 55-meter dash in 7.04 seconds. Connor Clarkson ran to sixth at 1,600 meters in 5:04.93 and the Rams were fifth in the 4×800 relay in 9:57.59.
Anton Kushnir got to second place in the weight throw with 38’8 ½’, with Meskos getting a fourth-place triple jump of 36’3” as Isaiah Mitchell was seventh. Shaun Gladle (33’11 ½”) beat out Daviel Cruz (33’8”) for fifth place in the shot put.
As for the J-D girls, it was second in the 4×400 as Norah Kirch, Olivia Lemondes, Lindsay Hildreth and Nicolette Milliti posted 4:43.34 behind B’ville’s 4:37.39. Hildreth, Molly McIntyre, Emma Deehan and Rebecca Mendez Squier went 11:34.71 in the 4×800, again with the Bees (11:29.53) in front.
Sydney Balotin, with a long jump of 14’7 ½”, was second, just ahead of Kaitlyn Rubenstein (14’4”) in third place. Balotin, Madeline Carter, Kaitlyn Lubenstein and Jaden Clemons-Butekno were second in the 4×200 relay in 1:56.89 as Balolin was sixth and Clemons-Butenko seventh in the 55 sprint.
Brooke Hulbert was third in the triple jump, going 28’3 ¾”, with JoJo Meskos in fifth place as Hulbert was fourth in the 55 hurdles in 10.91 seconds and cleared 4’3” in the high jump to finish sixth. Molly McIntyre was sixth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:39.47.
Going first last Wednesday, East Syracuse Minoa got five total wins from Rocky El, Michael Robb and Michael Parks, which helped propel the boys Spartans to a tie for fourth place with 51 points as the girls side finished with 23 points for ninth place.
A close 55-meter dash had El, in 6.79 seconds, edge past the 6.81 from West Genesee’s Dom Burris; In the triple jump, El’s top attempt of 44’5 ¼” put him nearly three feet ahead of the nearest competitor as teammate Luke Mancini was fifth with 36’1 ½”.
Robb, meanwhile, prevailed in the high jump when he cleared 5’10” with fewer misses than Liverpoool’s Bennett Robb. But no one could match Robb’s long jump of 20’11 ½”, the only competitor to top 20 feet.
Parks had his moment in the 55 hurdles, his 7.65 seconds beating out El’s 7.81. Mancini helped the Spartans to get fourth place in the 4×400 in 4:00.52 as ESM was sixth in the 4×200 relay.
Rhiannon Butchko was second in the high jump, clearing 5’2” as Giana DePietro topped 4’6” to tie for seventh. Kaleigh Maloof was fourth in the 55 hurdles in 10.05 seconds and fifth in the triple jump, going 30’9”. While Rachael Ladd was seventh in the 1,500.
