CENTRAL SQUARE – When Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division track and field teams gathered Thursday at Central Square, no one could match the girls from East Syracuse Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt.
The girls Spartans picked up 146 points and held off J-D (123 points) for the top spot, while it required 148 points for the boys Red Rams to emerge victorious as ESM got second with 112.5 points.
Evanni McDuffie had quite the meet for ESM, highlighted by a time of 25.45 seconds in the 200-meter dash that broke a school record dating back nearly 50 years, to 1974, when Theresa Ingles went 25.70. And it took that time to beat the 25.67 from Central Square’s Alyssa Costello.
This was after McDuffie joined Anaharie Anderson, Kaleigh Maloof and Akuot Kuany to take the 4×100 relay in 50.23 seconds to Central Square’s 50.74, setting yet another school mark, though in this case the old record of 50.42 was set in 2022. McDuffie also went 12.26 to win the 100-meter dash
In a 1-2 finish in the high jump, Kuany cleared 5 feet 2 inches and Arianna Brennen was second with 5’1″. The Spartans did the same in the 400 hurdles as Amber Hayes won in 1:08.65 and Anderson was second in 1:09.72.
Margaret Mading added one more title for ESM when she went 33′ 1/4″ in the triple jump, where J-D’s Ellyana Deng was third (32’3 3/4″) and Maloof fourth with 31’10 1/4″. Elise Mancini rose to second place in the pole vault, clearing 8 feet, with Brennen going 15’9″ for second place in the long jump.
J-D was led again by a sweep of the throwing events, Hailey Webber sending the shot put 38’6 1/4″ as Jillian Webber was third with 31’1 1/4″ to beat Brennen (30’10 1/2″) in fourth place. It was Jillian Webber going 102’3″ to beat the field in the discus.
After finishing third in the 100 behind McDuffie, Victoria Payne. in 15.34 seconds, beat out Kuany (15.55) in the 100 hurdles as Brennen was third in 17.18.
In the 400-meter dash, Nikki Militi, who was third in the 200, won in 59.22 seconds, with Payne second in 1:01.90 and ESM’s Lilia Pena (1:03.54) third. Militi and Payne, paired with Abiyah Campbell and Meghana Reddy, won the 4×400 in 4:13.53, beating the Spartans’ second-place 4:16.34.
Meghana Reddy needed 2:29.60 to finish second in the 800-meter run as Emma Cottet was third in the pentathlon, Ellyana Deng third in the high jump (4’10”) and long jump (15’3 1/4″) and Molly McIntyre fourth in the 3,000-meter run. Emma Deehan was fourth and Brielle Rivera fifth in the pole vault.
On the boys side, J-D was led on the track by Connor Clarkson, who was victorious in the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:10.14. Also, Clarkson was second in the 1,600-meter run in 4:44.87, with Chris Donoghue fifth.
Andres Vallardes, clearing 6 feet, won the high jump, with ESM’s Ryan Sullivan getting third place topping 5’8″. Going 1-2 in the 400 sprint, Moujihad Cherff, in 52.21 seconds, Valladares’ 52.37, and the pair would also be part of the Rams’ 4×400 victory, joining Braydon Johnson and Shane Gargiulo to go 3:33.43 to ESM’s second-place 3:38.03.
The boys pentathlon proved a particular highlight, ESM’s Sean Rigdon and J-D’s Phil Moore battling to the final meters of the 1,500-meter finale. With 516 points in that last event, Rigdon caught Moore and both finished with exactly 2,660 points.
J-D also took second in the 4×800 relay in 8:31.92, with ESM fourth, as Hudson Groat was second in the 800 in 2:04.98 as Ryan Carter was fifth. Jisan Lamichhane got to third place in the 3,200-meter run in 10:45.10, with Peter Drew fifth. Kevin Vigneault finished fifth in the discus.
ESM got a win from Abdi Aden, whose time of 16.02 seconds in the 110 hurdles beat, among others, Ryan Sullivan (16.55) in third place as J-D’s Darien Hunter was fourth and Daksh Maini fifth.
Mikah Combs edged Aidan Hirt, 22.75 seconds to 22.81, to win the 200 over the Rams’ Brayden Rivera (third) and Adam Rigdon (fourth), and was second in the 100 in 11.30 to Hirt’s 11.35, Combs and Hirt joined Aden and Sumit Kadarya to win the 4×100 in 44.11 as J-D was second in 45.74.
In the 400 hurdles, Joe Pedrosa-Garcia needed 59.13 seconds to hold off Johnson (59.98) and Gargiulo (1:00.13). Charlie English topped 10 feet for second in the pole vault, with J-D’s Sam Macie third (9 feet) and Deacon Enright fourth as the Spartans’ Mekai Carroll was third in the shot put (42’8″) and Brandon Cerlanek finished fourth in the steeplechase.
