SYRACUSE – With Section III Class AA and Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division titles earned, the Baldwinsville boys indoor track and field team now sought more glory.
And the Bees were able to climb to the top in a handful of events at Wednesday’s sectional state qualifying meet at SRC Arena, with seven of them earning trips to Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze complex for the March 5 state championships.
Sam Mellinger led this group, winning again in the 55-meter dash. Against the top sprinters in Central New York, Mellinger, in a time of 6.58 seconds, advanced to the final and then won that race in 6.57 seconds over the 6.74 from Nottingham’s Jayceon McGrew and West Genesee’s Dom Burris.
Another win followed in the 4×400 relay, B’ville having its quartet of Logan Hayes, Owen Weaver, Jack McAllister and Kyle Sheckler go 3:35.79 to finish more than five seconds ahead of runner-up PSLA Fowler (3:41.32).
In the 1,600-meter run, Solomon Holden-Betts earned a place in the state meet as his time of 4:27 flat was third overall behind South Lewis’ Collin Stafford (4:21.34) and Beaver River’s Colton Kempney (4:26.06).
Weaver nearly made the state meet in the triple jump, finishing third with 43 feet 2 1/2 inches, a quarter of an inch out of second place, while also sixth in the long jump with 20’7 1/2″. Pat Pasho had a third-place shot put toss of 46’2″ as Dan Ewald was seventh with 39’8″.
Hayes was fourth in the 300-meter dash in 37.71 seconds. McAllister got sixth place in the 600-meter run in 1:28.29. Holden-Betts, Arthur Bauer, Jeff Ragonese and Kellan Vannatta were sixth in the 4×800 relay in 8:55.91 as Sheckler, Amir Akins, Ryan Pelletier and Robert Thompson were eighth in the 4×200 relay in 1:40.89.
B’ville’s girls team had school record-holder Sydney McKenney finish fifth in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet.
McKenney, Clare Horan, Kamryn Barton and Brianna Grosso finished eighth in the 4×200 in 1:56.39. Sophia Cavalieri, Adrianna Orlando and Mary Sabatino joined Barton to take ninth in the 4×800 relay in 10:37.99.
