SYRACUSE – Boys or girls, sprints or distance races or field events, it did not matter much to either of the Cicero-North Syracuse indoor track and field teams – they were just going to finish in front a lot.
That was the theme from Tuesday night’s Section III state qualifying meet at SRC Arena where a host of Northstars offered a preview to their medal pursuits at this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Complex.
Take, for example, Camron Ingram, who earlier this season set the sectional record in the boys 55-meter hurdles.
Though not quite matching that time of 7.18 seconds, Ingram still won in 7.23 as Antwan Maxwell was fourth in 8.03. In the 55-meter dash final Ingram’s 6.50 was runner-up to the 6.36 of Fayetteville-Manlius’ Nick Domashenko.
Perhaps trying to top Ingram, C-NS swept the top three in the girls 55 hurdles, Jaydin Mackey winning in 8.25 seconds to Anna Eells’ 8.30 and Aaliyah McDonald’s 8.40 as they all advance to the state meet.
Then Mackey completed a sprint sweep by winning the 55-meter dash in 7.35 seconds chased by, among others, Stephanie Todd, who was fourth in 7.52.
Eells would also win twice. The sophomore had a top high jump of 5 feet 8 inches five inches clear of the field and also won the triple jump going 37’4” to edge the 37’2 1/2” of Onondaga’s Keahra Rodriguez.
Yet another win came from Tyler Graham, who in the boys 600-meter run took it in 1:26.85 edging the 1:27.28 of Oswego’s Daniel Dunn. Then Graham would join Joe Massett, Dante Melfi and Dominic Petrera to win the 4×800 relay in 8:32.26.
Finally, in the boys triple jump Anthony Johnson made it a C-NS sweep of those events, his third attempt of 45’9” beating the 45’2 1/2” of Syracuse ITC’s Trystan Bey as Matt Freeman was eighth (40’5 3/4”) to go with a seventh in the long jump.
Sophia Graham used a second-place 1:38.62 in the girls 600 to earn her spot in the state meet as Katy Harbold’s 3:01.44 in the 1,000-meter run qualified, to, while Gabby Putman was fifth in 3:05.18.
In a close 4×800 relay Putman, running after Graham, Harbold and Cameron Sisk, could not quite hold to the win but its 9:29.66 was less than a second behind F-M’s 9:29.10 as both advanced.
Mya Patti was fourth in the 3,000-meter run in 10:50.12 as Callie Bednarski, Evelyn Maglente, Alexa Belknap and Gianna Melfi were second (4:10.82) to Baldwinsville (4:07.78).
Maxwell, Christian Kahra, Parker Laws and Angel Cuencas made it to second place in the boys Division I 4×200 in 1:35.40, Kahrs also getting fourth in the 300-meter dash in a quick time of 36.12 seconds that got him to the state meet. Colin Daley tied for sixth in the pole vault clearing 11 feet.
Liverpool was not left out of this narrative, getting two wins on the track from Taylor Page and Mia Wright and nearly upending C-NS in the girls Division I 4×200 relay.
Page was unstoppable in the 1,500-meter run as her time of 4:45.01 beat the 4:46.43 of Auburn’s Kyleen Brady, Kaitlyn Hotaling taking fifth in 4;52.19. Wright was just as decisive in the 300, her time of 41.05 seconds more than a full second ahead of the field that included C-NS’s Grace Murray fourth in 42.30.
All this followed the 4×200 where Wright, paired with Mikayla Greene, Nahlia Battle-Crenshaw and Maddie Devendorf, earned a spot in the state meet finishing in 1:45.63 but C-NS still beat them as Todd, McDonald and Murray kept it close and Mackey overtook Devendorf in the anchor leg to win in 1:45.27. Liverpool added a third in the 4×800 in 9:56.73.
Devendorf advanced in the long jump thanks to her second-place leap of 17’10 1/2” which only trailed the 17’11 3/4” of PSLA Fowler’s Anoveah Housley, with C-NS’s Selena Moreno also making the state meet with her sixth-place leap of 17’2 3/4”.
Greene got fifth place in the 55 sprint in 7.55 seconds, while Taima Tearney added a third in the high jump topping 5 feet and sixth in the triple jump with 35’6 1/2” plus a 10th in the long jump. Liverpool took fourth in the 4×400 in 4:23.74.
In the boys Division I 4×400 relay Liverpool had Josh Vang, Brayden Smith, Jack Monroe and Logan Otero second in 3:37.39 to the 3:34.83 of B’ville, while it finished fourth in the 4×800 in 8:48l.52 with Vang, Brian Juston, Jackson Allen and Trenton Gallup.
