SYRACUSE – A new class, and now a long-awaited Section III championship – all in all, not a bad transition for the East Syracuse Minoa boys indoor track and field team.
The Spartans claimed the sectional Class AA title Friday night at SRC Arena earning 127 points to hold off the challenge of Whitesboro, who had 106 points for second place. It was the ESM boys’ first sectional title since 1994.
Again at the forefront for ESM, Jay-Neil McDuffie got going by winning the 55-meter dash in 6.70 seconds to the 6.77 of Whitesboro’s Xavier Pawlowski, with Clay Wright fifth in 6.88.
McDuffie then won the 55 hurdles going 7.67 chased by, among others, Ryan Sullivan (8.43) in third place, while in the long jump McDuffie claimed a third title going 23 feet to edge PSLA Fowler’s Syir Price (22’8 1/4″) while Phil Moore got third place for the Spartans going 20’8 1/2″.
Sullivan won twice, clearing 6’2″ on his first attempt as Caleb Byrd was third topping 5’8″, this to go with the triple jump where Sullivan’s winning 42’11 3/4″ was part of a 1-2 ESM finish as Sadak Abdi was second with 41’5 1/4″.Jayden Recabo added a fourth in the pole vault clearing 10 feet.
Seamus DeSandre went 1:28.62 for second place in the 600-meter run and helped ESM to second in the 4×800 relay in 9:04.08, while Brandon Cerlanck got fourth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:48.27. John Jordan was fifth (39.63 seconds) and Jackson Tedesco sixth (40.06) in the 300-meter sprint.
Jamesville-DeWitt, led again by the throwing duo of Kevin Vigneault and Skylar Vaught, finished fourth in both the boys and girls sectional Class AA events as ESM was third on the girls side with 76.5 points just behind Nottingham (79.5) as Central Square won with 111 points.
Vigneault would sling the shot put 50 feet 3 inches to beat the 48’6″ from Whitesboro’s Anthony Tobiasz, with ESM getting Andrew LeMarche fifth place (43’9 1/2″) and Victor Rodriguez fifth place (38’10 1/2″).
Moving to the weight throw, Vigneault went 54′ 1/2″ in his second attempt and was more than two feet clear of the field, but ESM got points here as well thanks to Aaron Ali getting third place with 46’11 3/4″ and Rodriguez again fifth going 44’5 1/2″.
The J-D boys also had a second in the 4×400 relay in 3:38.85 beating out ESM (3:43.54) in third place, adding a second in the 4×200 in 1:36.21 just behind Central Square’s 1:35.80 and beating ESM’s third-place 1:38.45. The Rams were also fourth in the 4×800 in 9:23.91.
Amar Lopez went 41’2 3/4″ for third in the triple jump and topped 5’6″ in the high jump for fourth place, Matt Campbell getting fifth (39’8 1/2″) in the triple jump. Ryan Carter was fifth in the 1,000 in 2:49.16 and Tristan Costello (6.89 seconds) seventh in the 55 sprint. Javere Lopez went 39.34 for fifth place in the 300 as Moujahid Cherif took sixth in the 600 in 1:33.49.
Meanwhile, on the girls side Vaught offered yet another sweep of her throwing events, going 36 feet in the shot put as Udo Okereke was fifth with 29’4 3/4″ while, in the weight throw, Vaught won with 44’3 1/4″ holding off the 43’11’3/4″ from Central Square’s Abby Tetreault as Okereke took third going 41’1 3/4″.
J-D also saw Ellyana Deng win the long jump, her final attempt of 17’8 3/4″ beating the field by half a foot. Brielle Rivera finish second and Kaitlyn Cohen third in the pole vault, each clearing 8 feet, while Deng topped 4’10” to land in third place in the high jump.
ESM had Amber Hayes prevail in the girls 55 hurdles, her 8.49 seconds nearly half a second ahead of the field that included Ayak Kuany (9.57) in fifth place. This came after Jaelyn Jordan, in the 600, put up 1:45.89 to hold off Oswego’s Audrey Donovan (1:46.26) and take the title, and before Hayes finished fourth in the 300 in 44.66.
Abigail Burt went a personal-best 3:15.78 to snare second place in the 1,000 as Sofia Pilger (3:28.37) was fifth. Rachael Burt took third in the 3,000-meter run in 11:21.03 ahead of Ava Wojnarek (12:44.52) in fourth place, while in the 1,500 Rachael Burt (5:27.21) beat out Abigail Burt (5:32.98) for fourth place. Elise Mancini topped 7’6″ for fourth place in the pole vault.
The Spartans added a third in the 4×800 relay in 11:05.17 and fourth in the 4×400 in 4:36.77 as J-D (4:45.40) was fifth and the Rams’ Amariyah McClinton went 10.16 seconds for sixth in the 55 hurdles.
Kuany cleared 4’6″ for fifth place in the high jump and Laura Olmstead did well in the weight throw, her attempt of 36’7″ good for fourth place as Kristina Kaplan was fifth with 31’11 1/2″. Madelyn Kopp (14’8″) beat out Kuany for fifth in the long jump.
