SYRACUSE – All winter long, indoor track athletes from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool have flourished, guaranteeing that they will have a lot to say once the state championship meet rolls around on Staten Island on the first weekend in March.
This was further confirmed by Wednesday’s Section III state qualifying meet at SRC Arena, where top athletes from the Northstars and Warriors both had impressive victories.
Hannah Boyle remains one of the state favorites in the girls 1,000-meter run, as the C-NS junior went two minutes, 53.68 seconds to prevail over teammate Gabby Putman’s 3:00.46, both of them advancing to the state meet in this race.
Kate Putman took her turn in the 1,500-meter run and, in 4:33.86, was more than 11 seconds clear of the 4:45.28 from Carthage’s McKinley Fielding. Then, in the 4×800 relay, Boyle, Katy Harbold, Kate Putman and Gabby Putman won in 9:16.42 to Fayetteville-Manlius’ second-place 9:25.14.
C-NS also gained a victory in the 4×400 relay, with the quartet of Molly McGrath, Grace Murray, Elliana Ballagh and Meghan Mehlbaum posted a time of 4:15.40, more than 14 seconds ahead of runner-up Cazenovia’s 4:29.64 as Liverpool was eighth in 4:35.05.
Lilly Capria, clearing 5 feet 5 inches, was nearly half a foot ahead of the field in the high jump, Marissa Doty was second in the 300-meter dash, but her time of 41.41 seconds, just behind the 41.23 of Skaneateles’ Kyla Palmer, both of them securing state meet berths. GIanna Boland took sixth in the triple jump with 30’6 3/4″.
As for Liverpool, Jaylen Graham, ranked atop the state in the weight throw, won this event again at the state qualifier, unleashing a best toss of 59’7″ while also finishing second in the shot put, heaving it 47’2″.
Ryan Hagan won a classic 3,200-meter duel with Beaver River’s Colton Kempney, as Hagan’s time of 9:18.06 edge out Kempney’s 9:18.30, though both advanced to the state meet.
Hagan, Gavin Kenna, Michael Purvis and Jacob Makhlouf were fourth in the 4×800 in 8:35.32. Bennett Robb was fourth in the high jump, clearing 6 feet.
Kaleigh Buck, Addison Ziegler, Meghan Moyer and Taylor Page were fourth in the 4×800 in 10:22..18. The Warriors were ninth in the 4×200 relay in 1:42.03 as
For Liverpool’s girls, the 4×200 relay saw Sophia Jarosz, Margaret Bellew, Mia Wright and Anaharie Anderson went 1:48.94, second only to Westhill’s winning 1:46.67. Addison Ziegler was fifth in the 600-meter run in 1:44.91.
Gavin McAllister went 1:26.05 in the 600, just missing a state meet berth as he finished third, but rose to second place in the pole vault by clearing 11 feet, only beaten by the 13’6″ from Central Square’s Brett Fehrman.
Carlton Garnes was fourth in the boys 55 hurdles in 7.97 seconds, just outside the state qualifying standard, adding a fifth in the triple jump with 41’4″. The Northstars were sixth in the 4×400 relay in 3:46.56 as Trevon Walker had an eighth-place long jump of 20’4″.
