ONONDAGA COUNTY – With most of its regular-season slate of meets now in the books, track and field teams at Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool could start to focus their practices on building momentum toward a busy – and locally based – post-season.
The Northstars competed twice in a 48-hour span, culminating with Friday’s East Syracuse Minoa Invitational, where its girls team rolled to first place with 84 points, well clear of runner-up Cazenovia (49.25) and more than 20 other challengers.
Anna Eells went 40 feet ¼ inch to win the triple jump and, in 15.04 seconds, was second in the 100 hurdles after qualifying for the final in 14.98.
Jaydin Mackey, Stephanie Todd, Grace Murray and Morgan Hayes paired to win the 4×100 relay in 49.05 seconds, the only time under 50. Later in the meet, Murray, Mackey, Todd and Camryn Jacob beat the field in the 4×400 in 4:03.46.
Todd won the 200-meter dash in 26.67 seconds, edging Pulaski’s Vanessa Trumble (26.71) and Murray took second in the 400-meter dash in 59.31 to the 59.03 of Baldwinsvlle’s Kamryn Barton, while Hayes was third in the triple jump (35’9 1/2”) behind Eells.
Kennedy Jones ran to second (10:52.84) and Cameron Sisk third (10:54.45) at 3,000 meters, while Jasmine Ayre accumulated 2,153 points for third place in the pentathlon and Selena Moreno got third in the long jump with 16’2 1/2”.
On the boys side, C-NS had Dante Melfi win the 800 in 2:00.32, with Rhett Andrews third (2:04.28) and Dom Petrera fifth in 2:05.92, all before Melfi, Andrews, Petrera and Tyler Graham went 8:25.91 to win the 4×800 relay.
Joe Main threw the discus 148’2” to beat the field by nearly 28 feet while also winning the shot put with 46’1”. Anthony Johnson beat the field in the triple jump with 41’8”, with Zuriel Dickerson third at 40’1 3/4”. Johnson added a fourth-place long jump of 19’9”.
Graham finished fourth in the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:37.83, while Andrew Potter was fifth in the 110 hurdles and tied for sixth in the high jump. The Northstars were third in the 4×100 in 43.08 seconds.
Two days earlier, C-NS swept West Genesee at Bragman Stadium, prevailing 103-38 on the girls side and 96-45 on the boys side.
Mackey and Eells won two girls events apiece, Mackey going 12.60 in the 100 sprint and 25.69 in the 200 as Eells claimed the 100 hurdles in exactly 15 seconds while adding a top long jump of 17’3”.
Sisk (1,500, 5:05.49) and Jones (3,000, 11:09.09) won distance races as Murray took the 400 hurdles in 1:07.89. Ayre clered 4’7” in the high jump as Anne Capone and Natta Luangphay both topped 7’6” in the pole vault, Hayes going 35’9” in the triple jump and Andrea Kurpiewski throwing the discus 76’11”.
The stars on the C-NS boys side included Dickerson, who went exactly 20 feet to win the long jump and 41 feet in the triple jump to equal WG’s Hayden Rothenberg.
Main unleashed a discus throw of 147’6” to go with a top shot put toss of 44’5 1/2”, while Andrews ran to first in the 800 in 2:05.92 and 3,200 in 10:31.27 and Graham went 4:47.49 to win the 1,600.
Kavon Brunson took the 110 hurdles in 15.66 seconds, Melfi (51.80) edging Dan Henry (52.10) in the 400 sprint as Potter topped 5’4” in the high jump and Colin Daley cleared 9’6” to win the pole vault.
Back on Monday afternoon, Liverpool went head-to-head against Fayetteville-Manlius and split that meet, winning on the girls side 99-41 but having the boys fall to the Hornets 77-64.
The girls Warriors got two wins apiece from Mikayla Greene and Layla Pearl Collins, with Greene going 12.68 seconds to edge Maddie Devendorf (12.73) in the 100-meter dash and taking the 200-meter dash in 26.14 to Mia Wright’s 27.04.
Colllins won the pole vault and also took the 100-meter hurdles in 17.74 seconds as Wright won the 400-meter dash in 1:01.59 and Emily Aiello, in 1:16.30, edged F-M’s Claire McDonald (1:16.34) to win the 400 hurdles.
Greene, Devendorf, Wright and Nahla Battle-Crenshaw tore to a time of 49.17 seconds in the 4×100 relay as Addison Ziegler, Kaitlyn Hotaling, Charlotte Warner and Taylor Page went 9:35.99 in the 4×800 relay. Audrey Jenkins cleared 5 feet in the high jump, with Jenna Hayes going 28’11” in the shot put and Taima Tearney first in the long jump.
In the boys meet, Ny’Quez Madison won three field events for Liverpool, going 40’4 3/4” in the triple jump and 19’7 3/4” in the long jump while also clearing 5’6” to share high jump honors with teammate Aundreas McLaughlin, while Tom Nguyen (8’6”), Landon Parry (8 feet) and Kaden Bickford (7’6”) went 1-2-3 in the pole vault.
In 17.70 seconds, Tajkeoni Ryan edged Ade Adefashola (17.73) for a 1-2 Warriors finish in the 110 hurdles as Brayden Smith took the 400 hurdles in 1:03.70. Antonio Rivera was second in the 100 (11.45) and 200 (23.74 sprints) as Dakota Healy was second in the discus with 104’7” and TyKere Jones second in the shot put with 36’2”.