SYRACUSE – With plenty of star power in the field events, boys indoor track and field teams from East Syracuse Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt battled it out Friday night at SRC Arena for the Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division title.
And the Spartans would take the top prize, earning 139 points to pull away from the Red Rams’ second-place total of 92. ESM’s girls also had a strong showing, second with 100 points just behind Central Square’s 111 as J-D was third with 63 points.
Jay-Neil McDuffie first got a victory in the 55-meter dash going 6.63 seconds as Phil Moore was fourth in 6.96, while in the 55 hurdles McDuffie’s time of 7.65 was the only one under the eight-second mark, Moore getting third in 8.09 and Ryan Sullivan fourth in 8.85.
Nearly adding another title in the long jump, McDuffie’s 22 feet 3 3/4 inches only trailed the 22’6 3/4″ from PSLA Fowler’s Siyir Price as Moore grabbed third place with 19’9 3/4″, but Sullivan did prevail in the high jump clearing 6’4″ half a foot ahead of the field as Caleb Byrd was fourth with 5’6″.
Seamus Desandre won, too, his 1:30.17 in the 600-meter run holding off a 1:30.57 from J-D’s Moujahid Cherif as he also helped the Spartans take second in the 4×800 relay in 9:13.06. Jayden Recabo cleared 10 feet in the pole vault to finish second.
Cooper Barth was fifth in the 3,200-meter run, with Brandon Cerlanck fifth and Elijah Evelyn sixth at 1,000 meters as Carter Bird took fifth in the 1,600-meter run and Jackson Tedesco fifth in the 300-meter dash.
Kevin Vigneault began his latest throwing sweep for J-D by unleashing a shot put toss of 51’3 1/2″ beating challengers that included ESM teammates Andrew Lemarche in third (43’10”) and Victor Rodriguez in fourth (39’6″). The weight throw saw Vigneault win it with 56′ 3/4″, well clear of the second-place 46’10” from the Spartans’ Aaron Ali as Rodriguez took fifth place.
Amar Lopez added to the J-D win total in field events thanks to a triple jump of 43’2 1/2″ that beat the 42’5 3/4″ from Sullivan, with the Rams’ Matt Campbell earning a personal-best 41’11 1/4″ for third place and ESM’s Sadak Abdi fourth going 41’3 1/2″.
Also for J-D, Paul Fischi was third in the 3,200 in 11:17.56 edging Peter Drew (11:19.37) in fourth. The Rams were second in the 4×400 relay in 3:41.11 beating ESM’s third-place 3:44.12, second in the 4×200 in 1:38.33 and fourth in the 4×800 as Joe Felasco was fifth in the 55 sprint.
Javere Lopez went 38.56 for fourth in the 300, while Shakhzod Abdusatorrov ran to fifth place in the 55 hurdles ahead of Ben Velardi in sixth place. Braden Brown got fourth, Keegan Muller fifth and Sam Vader Molen sixth in the pole vault.
ESM had several winners in the Empire girls meet starting with Rachael Burt, who in the 3,000-meter run beat the field with a time of 10:40.28 as teammate Ava Wojnarek finished fourth.
Abigail Burt prevailed, too, her time of 3:22.21 in the 1,000 just ahead of a field which included Sofia Pilger getting third place in 3:27.08 as Jaelyn Jordan was victorious in the 600 in 1:46.67 edging Oswego’s Audrey Donovan (1:46.69) by two-hundredths of a second, with Laila Thomas third in 1:52.49.
They all returned for the 4×800, where Jordan, Thomas, Pliger and Rachael Burt beat the field in 10:58.35 just ahead of Central Square’s 11:01.46. The Spartans were also fourth in the 4×200.
Amber Hayes joined in the fun for the Spartans going 8.50 seconds to win the 55 hurdles, with Ayak Kuany fourth and Isla Ellerton fifth. Hayes also was third in the 300 in 44.20 and sixth in the 55 sprint as the Spartans were fourth in the 4×400, Rachael Burt taking fourth and Abigail Burt fifth in the 1,500-meter run.
Skylar Vaught led J-D again winning both throwing events, her shot put toss of 37’6″ more than six feet clear of her challengers while, in the weight throw, Vaught heaved it 46’1 1/2″ to land in the national top 50 as Udo Okereke was third with 39’10” to go with a fifth in the shot put.
Ellyana Deng, contending in the long jump for the Rams, finished second with 16’11 1/2″, then added a third-place triple jump of 33’10” and topped 4’10” for fourth place in the high jump. Brielle Rivera earned second place in the pole vault clearing 8 feet as ESM’s Madalyn Pease was third and the Rams’ Kaitlyn Cohen took fourth place.
