SYRACUSE – When top indoor track and field athletes make their way to Staten Island for March’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, Fayetteville-Manlius will have a major presence.
The Hornets’ star duo of Izzie Sullivan and Nolan McGinn both recorded two victories during Wednesday’s Section III state qualifying meet at SRC Arena, while Jamesville-DeWitt also registered wins on the girls and boys sides and East Syracuse Minoa flourished, too.
Sullivan, in the first final of the meet, went nine minute, 50.04 seconds in the 3,000-meter run, the only competitor to break the 10-minute mark as Auburn’s Kyleen Brady (10:09.40) was runner-up.
Then, in the 1,500-meter run, Sullivan would go step for step with Brady and, in 4:48.24, beat out Brady’s 4:48.58, though both are going to the state meet. Jordan Giannetti was fifth in 4:57.72 and Camille Ryan (5:02.55) was seventh.
As for McGinn, the state Class A cross country individual champion roared to victory in the 3,200-meter run in 9:22.38 to edge the 9:23.21 from South Lewis’ Colin Stafford, followed by a 1,600-meter run where, just like Sullivan in the girls 1,500, McGinn had to win by a narrow margin, 4:24.58 to Stafford’s 4:28.64.
Also for the F-M boys, sophomore Nik Domashenko, with his sixth-place time of 6.69 seconds in the 55-meter dash, earned a spot in the state meet since the state qualifying standard was 6.74.
The Hornets’ Maria Khalifeh qualified for the state meet with her third-place 3:01.39 in the girls 1,000-meter run to beat the qualifying standard of 3:02.05 as J-D’s Meghana Reddy posted
3:16.87 and Bishop Grimes’ Ella Reilly finished in 3:27.06.
J-D’s girls were victorious in the 55-meter hurdles when Victoria Payne, in 8.39 seconds, edged Cicero-North Syracuse’s Anna Eells (8.40) by one-hundredth of a second.
Also, in the girls weight throw, Kenna Ridzi took it for the Red Rams, going 43 feet 1 ¾ inches to beat out the 42’7” from Skaneateles’ Mara Stanton as F-M’s Michelle Ifeonu was sixth with 38’5”. Ridzi was second in the shot put with 35’ 1/2” ahead of Skylar Vaught (31’9 3/4”) in seventh place.
Nicki Militi was fourth in the 600-meter run in 1:41.60, but she had already run 1:36.74 this season to advance to the state meet. Ellyana Deng cleared 4’10” in the high jump for ninth place.
The J-D boys would win the 4×400 relay when Brayden Rivera, Shane Garguilo, Ben Kenna and Will Westpfal would take an early lead and, in 3:30.90, pull away from runner-up Auburn (3:33.34) and the rest of the field. The Rams were also fifth in the 4×200 in a clocking of 1:35.85.
Matt Campbell, in the triple jump, got fourth place for the Rams, going 41’10 3/4” as Jaden Addai was 11th with 39’11 1/4”. Hudson Groat was fifth in the 600 in 1:27.77, ahead of F-M’s Vincent Hunt (1:28.21) in sixth place.
ESM had Jay-Neil McDuffie earn a spot in the state meet in the 55 hurdles, finishing third in 7.71 seconds as Ryan Sullivan (8.24) was sixth before he improved to fourth in the high jump, clearing 6 feet.
Later, in the long jump, McDuffie would go 22’1 3/4”, a new season mark and good enough for a state meet berth as he was a close second to the 22’3” from Henninger’s Alex Acevedo, with Rigdon (20’6 1/4”) in sixth place for J-D and Phil Moore going 19’8” for the Spartans.
Amber Hayes was sixth for ESM in the girls 55 hurdles in 8.83 seconds and 10th in the 300 in 44.29. Christian Brothers Academy saw Xavier Caesar finish 10th in the boys 300 in a personal-best 37.42.
