UTICA – Though most of the area high school indoor track and field teams went to SRC Arena to start their season in the Jack Morse Kickoff Meet, Jamesville-DeWitt took a different – and winning – course.
The Red Rams were at Utica College for Friday’s Mohawk Valley ITA Kickoff Meet and won the boys title with 68 points, well clear of Auburn’s second-place total of 45 points.
In the boys 4×400 relay, J-D prevailed as Moujiahid Cherif, Shane Gargiulo, Brayden Rivera and Will Westpfal went three minutes, 42.28 seconds, more than 12 seconds clear of Phoenix’s second-place 3:56.03.
Later, the Rams would finish first in the 4×200 relay, with Cherif, Rivera, Dante Santos and Adam Rigdon going 1:37.85 to Utica Proctor’s 1:38.52.
Connor Clarkson, Hudson Groat, Isaiah Sternberg and Ryan Carter were third in the 4×800 relay in 8:59.80 before Clarkson took fourth in the 1,600 in 4:42.90 and Groat (4:51.28) was seventh.
Chris Donaghue, Mahir Bechir, Ryan Carter and Ben Velardi were second in the sprint medley relay in 4:06.98. Daviel Cruz got fourth in the weight throw with 44 feet 1 ½ inches as Jonah Buff had a fifth-place shot put toss of 40′ 3/4”.
Andres Valladares cleared 5’4” to tie for fourth in the high jump. Santos took sixth in the 55-meter dash in 7.02 seconds and Rigdon was seventh (18’2 1/2”) and Santos ninth in the long jump. Emile Antoine was eighth in the triple jump with 35’3”.
Meanwhile, the J-D girls did well, too, picking up 54.5 points to finish a close second in a 23-team field, topped only by Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s 61 points.
Going 1-2 in the shot put, the Rams had Kenna Ridzi win with 32’7 1/4” and Jillian Webber take second with 32’5 3/4”. Ridzi also finished eighth in the pole vault, clearing 6’6”.
A similar sweep happened in the weight throw, this time with Hailey Webber on top as her 36’9 1/2” easily outdistanced a pack that included Jillian Webber, second with 30’8 1/2”.
Winning the 4×400, the Rams had Nicolette Militi, Victoria Payne, Meghana Reddy and Norah Kirch go 4:21.15 to finish exactly 18 seconds ahead of Westhill’s 4:39.15.
Another relay title came in the 4×200, where Militi, Payne, Reddy and Kirch teamed up again and, in 1:55.88, once more pulled away from Westhill (2:00.61) and the field. Rebecca Mendez Squier, Molly McIntyre, Abi Adams and Emma Deehan were second in the 4×800 in 11:18.85 to VVS’s winning 11:09.06.
