SYRACUSE – By any conceivable standard, it is proving to be a special and historic season for the East Syracuse Minoa boys indoor track and field team.
And led by the likes of Michael Parks and Rocky El, the Spartans added another memorable moment by winning over Liverpool and the rest of a top-flight field at Saturday’s morning session of the Fred Kirschenheiter Memorial Invitational at SRC Arena.
ESM finished with 92 points, one ahead of Liverpool’s 91 and, in the process, continued to set new school and state standards in various events.
Parks is ranked tops in the state and fifth in the nation in the 55-meter hurdles, and here he won in 7.52 seconds to beat out El’s 7.67 that put him second in the state rankings.
Winning three events, Parks cleared 6 feet 2 inches to prevail in the high jump and, in the long jump, Parks won by going 20’9 ¼”.
El sits atop the state standings in the triple jump, where on this day he went 45 feet 10 inches as Luke Mancini (36’2 ½”) was eighth. He was also victorious in the 55-meter dash, his 6.76 seconds ahead of the 6.83 from West Genesee’s Dom Burris as Dan Tovar finished eighth.
Kevin Hasty threw the shot put 38’5 ½” to finish third as Mekai Carroll was eighth, and in the weight throw Hasty again got third place, heaving it 50’5 ½”.
ESM saw Caleb Byrd claim second place in the 600-meter run in 1:32.10, while. Joe Pedrosa-Garcia gained fourth place in the 1,000-meter run in 2:57.40, with Aidan O’Brien eighth.
On the girls side, ESM finished seventh with 42 points, 13 of them from Rachael Ladd, who made her way to second place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:23.70 and got fourth place in the 1,000 in 3:20.84.
Rhiannon Butchko finished second in the high jump, clearing 4’10”. Kaleigh Maloof earned fifth place in the 55 hurdles in 9.97 seconds and had a fifth-place triple jump of 32’5 ¾”.
The Spartans were fourth in the 4×400 in 4:50.53 as Rylie King got seventh place in the 55 sprint and Lilia Pena eighth in the 300, King also helping ESM to fourth place in the 4×200 relay in 1:59.85.
Bishop Grimes had Sean Moran finish sixth in the boys 3,200-meter run in 11:00.46, with Katherine Murphy eighth in the girls shot put by throwing it 24’8 ¼”.
