CICERO – Once more, the entire attention of high school track and field in New York State will turn to Bragman Stadium which next weekend again serves as host for the state and Federation championships.
And as always proven the case in the past, athletes from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool will be a big part of it, due to what they had accomplished all season plus their efforts in Thursday night’s state qualifier at that same C-NS facility.
Northstars freshman Anna Eells would win the long jump by going 17 feet 11 ¾ inches to win a close battle with East Syracuse Minoa’s Akuot Kuany, second with 17’11” as Samantha Moreno was sixth in 16’8 3/4” and Selena Moreno seventh with 16’6 3/4”.
In the triple jump, Eells’ 39’ 1 1/2” was second to Kuany’s 40’5” as Elizabeth Moreno (34’7”), Selena Moreno (34’2) and Samantha Moreno (34’1”) closely followed.
Jaydin Mackey got the Northstars a victory in the 200-meter dash in 25.87 seconds to the 26.01 of Liverpool’s Mikayla Greene. A 1-2 finish in the 400 hurdles saw Aaliyah McDonald, in 1:08.25, beat out the 1:08.81 from Grace Murray.
In the girls Division I pentathlon, C-NS’s Jasmine Ayre had a strong showing, taking third place with 2,347 points, though it was well behind Rome Free Academy star Imani Pugh’s first-place total of 3,261.
Aaliyah McDonald got to fourth place in the 100 hurdles in 14.99 seconds, with Alexa Bellknap, in 1:01.42, edging Stephanie Todd (1:01.45) for third place in the 400-meter dash, Todd adding a fifth (27.53) in the 200.
Kennedy Jones gained fourth place among Division I runners in the 3,000 in 10:38..98, while Camilla MacNaught was sixth (8:08.02) and Allison Moran eighth (8:37.72) in the 2,000 steeplechase.
Liverpool’s wins included the 4×800 relay, where the quartet of Taylor Page, Charlotte Warner, Addison Ziegler and Kaitlyn Hotaling went 9:34.66 to pull away from Fayetteville-Manlius (9:55.95) and the pack that included C-NS (10:53.63).
Page, who ran the third leg in the 4×800, won on her own in the Division I portion at 1,500 meters in 4:52.26, more than seven seconds ahead of Auburn’s Mary Alice Pineau (4:59.91), to go with a fifth (2:24.96) in the 800 behind C-NS’s Cameron Sisk (2:23.81) in fourth place.
Maddie Devendorf was victorious in the 100-meter dash, her 12.52 seconds making her the fastest qualifier for the finals and then, matching that 12.52 in the final, beating out a field that included teammate Nahla Battle-Crenshaw (12.61) in sixth place. Devendorf also finished eighth in the long jump.
In the pole vault, Layla Pearl Collins cleared 9’6”, second to the 10’2” of Central Square’s Aubrey Greene as C-NS had Nuata Luangaphay fourth topping 8’6”.
Devendorf and Battle-Crenshaw helped Greene and Audrey Jenkins take third in the 4×400 relay in 4:17.93, while in the 4×100 the favored teams from C-NS (disqualification) and Liverpool (did not finish) ended up behind Nottingham’s winning 50.19. Taima Tearney cleared 5 feet for sixth place in the high jump as Jenkins (4’10”) was seventh.
On the boys side for C-NS, Joe Main swept both Division I throwing events, heaving the discus 152’7 ahead of Jamesville-DeWitt’s Kevin Vigneault (138 feet) along with a shot put of 53’6” on his second attempt beating the 50’ 1/2” from Vigneault.
Dante Melfi was victorious in the 800, his time of 1:57.42 edging Auburn’s Keegan Brady (1:57.62) as Liverpool had Roman Murray third in 1:57.69. The Northstars’ Tyler Graham (1:58.97) and Warriors’ Nate Auriello (2:01.41) also finished in the top eight.
Andrew Potter nearly won the Division I portion of the pentathlon, earning 2,887 points, just 70 behind the winning 2,957 of PSLA-Fowler’s Siyir Price.\
Anthony Johnson’s triple jump of 43’5” was only behind the 43’10” of East Syracuse Minoa’s Ryan Sullivan. Davine Bennett finished fifth in the 100 sprint in 11.11 seconds.
Bennett, Johnson, Derick Hicks and Antwan Maxwell were third in the 4×100 relay in 44.21 seconds, beating out Liverpool’s fifth-place 44.70 done by Ny’Quez Madison, Rondell Cunningham, Malrtin Ramadani and Antonio Rivera, wih Rivera adding a 10th in the 100 sprint in 11.31.
Jaiden Tagliarano climbed to third place in the 110 hurdles in 15.70 seconds, with Dan Henry fourth in the 400 sprint in 51.81. Rhett Andrews ran 3,200 meters in 9:47.97 for eighth place. Joe Massett got sixth in the Division I 3,000 steeplechase in 10:45.92 ahead of Nolan Zinsmeyer (11:08.74).
As for Liverpool, Madison was third in the long jump with 21’9” and added a third in the triple jump with 43’ 1/2”.
Dom Petrera, Evan Champ, Ryan Stuper and Jacob LaPoint were fourth in Division I in the 4×800 relay in 8:52.97, with the Northstars eighth in the 4×400 in 3:49.76. Brayden Smith took seventh in the 400 hurdles and Brady Ruediger 11th in the 3,200.
