LIVERPOOL – What was started in the regular season by the Baldwinsville boys track and field team continued, in an emphatic way, during its post-season debut.
The Bees rolled to first place in Thursday’s Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division championships at Liverpool High School Stadium, earning 183 points to easily beat runner-up Fayetteville-Manlius, who had 106 points.
To lead the Bees on the track, Solomon Holden-Betts won two distance races, including the last event, the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where he posted nine minutes, 26.83 seconds, and no one else broke the 10-minute mark, Keagan Hayes finishing third in 10:46.89.
B’ville went 1-2 at 800 meters, Holden-Betts prevailing in 1:58.94 and Jack McAllister second in 2:01.27. Holden-Betts and McAllister also helped Jeff Ragonese and Kellan Vannatta take second in the 4×800 relay in 8:24.07.
Logan Hayes, in 51.90 seconds, held off Cicero-North Syracuse’s James McConnell (52.06) in the 400-meter dash, with Kyle Sheckler seventh in 54.61. In the 4×400 relay, Hayes, paired with Brandon Levin, Owen Weaver and Jack McAllister, won in 3:27.47.
Sam Mellinger rolled to another 100-meter dash victory in 11.02 seconds as Levin (11.46) finished fifth. Moments later, Mellinger and Levin joined Kaleb Paul and Malik Davis to help the Bees go 43.53 seconds and win the 4×100 relay over West Genesee’s 43.96, while Levin was second in the 200-meter dash in 23.18.
In a sweep of the throwing events, Dan Ewald heaved the shot put 44 feet 5 1/2 inches to win as Pat Pasho was third with 43’3 1/2″. Gibson Boudov threw the discus 117’4″, part of yet another 1-2 Bees finish as Boudov edged the 116’5″ from David Dobrolowski.
Weaver got a victory in the triple jump by going 40’10” to edge the 40’9″ from Cicero-North Syracuse’s Carlton Garnes. He also was fourth in the high jump, clearing 5’8″ as Ryan Wilson (5’2) was seventh.
Sheckler cleared 9’6″ for second place in the pole vault as Grayson Brady topped 9 feet for third place, while in the long jump Robert Thompson was third with 19’5 1/2″.
Arthur Bauer was fourth in the 3,200-meter run in 10:22.08 as Adam Kozman (10:48.82) was seventh. Logan Zapf, in 16.85 seconds, edged Jackson Creelman (16.93) for fourth in the 110 high hurdles. Noah Covert took sixth at 1,600 meters in 4:43.24 as Ragonese (4:45.41) was seventh.
Meanwhile, in the SCAC Metro girls meet, Baldwinsville had a strong showing with 73 points, trailing only the 175 from C-NS and 158 from F-M.
Lauren LeTourneau, clearing 4’10”, was second in the high jump as Natalia Lewis (4’4″) finished fifth, with Letourneau also getting a fourth-place long jump of 15’4″ to beat Erin Gregoire (14’8″) in fifth. In the 200, Kamryn Barton was second in 27.25 seconds, with Anika Selover third in 27.56.
Sydney McKenney made her way to second place in the pole vault, clearing 10’3″. McKenney also was fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:11.89 as Nela Loftin made her way to second in the triple jump with 33′ 1/2″ and Brianna Andrews (29’5 1/2″) was sixth.
Madison Kennedy was fourth in the 400 sprint in 1:03.37, with Avamarie Davis sixth in 1:05.93. Natalie Bartkowiak, Aaniya Johnson, Madayia Simmons and KayLynn Pine were fourth in the 4×100 in 53.60 seconds, with Davis, Kennedy, Barton and Clare Horan fourth in the 4×400 in 4:19.46.
Horan, Margaret Solomon, Adrianna Orlando and Brianna Grosso were fifth in the 4×800 relay in 11:02.19 before Solomon went 8:32.68 in the 2,000 steeplechase to finish fifth.
Jadyn Kantak took fifth place in the pentathlon. Selover took fifth in the 100 sprint in 13.58 seconds, with Johnson sixth in 13.73 as Orlando was eighth and Grosso ninth in the 800.
Gregoire was eighth and Brianna Andrews 11th in the 100 hurdles. Sophia Cavalieri took eighth place and Emilee Salzman 10th in the 1,500-meter run. Lily Horan was ninth at 3,000 meters and Elliott Boak ninth in the discus.
Both B’ville sides would now get ready for next Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championships at C-NS’s Bragman Stadium, where the state qualifier and state championships will also take place in June.
