SYRACUSE – When the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships convene again March 8 at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze complex Cazenovia senior Susie Pittman will be a part of it.
Pittman was victorious in the pole vault during Tuesday night’s Section III state qualifying meet at SRC Arena, topping a field of both large-school and small-school competitors.
After clearing 9 feet and 9’6” in her first attempts Pittman needed two tries to top 10 feet and 10’3”, whjich ultimately put her ahead of Rose Jeff (New York Mills), Aubrey Greene (Central Square), Josie Rioux (Clinton) and Ava Baty (Westhill), who all stopped at 10 feet.
Then, claiming an outright victory, Pittman topped 11 feet on her first attempt, though she was unable on three ties to clear 11’3”. Jeff cleared 10’3” in a jump-off to finish second by herself.
Many other Cazenovia athletes had strong efforts in the qualifier, especially in the relays where it had a trio of runner-up finishes in Division II (small school) events.
In the girls 4×400 relay, Pittman joined Izzy Stromer-Galley, Avery Cashatt and Caroline Mehlbaum and nearly made up a deficit of more than five seconds in the anchor leg before settling for second place in 4:17.82 to the 4:15.28 of Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Cazenovia would add a third in the 4×800 relay thanks to Maura Phillips, Maeve McGreevy, Olivia Ruddy and Lily Kogut who put up a time of 10:22.02, South Jefferson winning it in 10:10.74. Alyssa Wardell tied for fourth in the high jump clearing 5 feet.
Over on the boys side in the Division II 4×400 relay, the Lakers’ quartet of Eliot Comeau, Caleb Gilmore, Alex Dolly and Tristan Field Bradley finished in 3:38.23, less than a second behind Westhill’s winning 3:37.30.
Comeau returned for the 4×200 in the opening leg. Wyatt Scott and Braden Carnahan kept it close and on the anchor leg Finn Worthington cut into Clinton’s advantage, only to have the Comets take it in 1:36.39 to Cazenovia’s second-place 1:36.63.
Also competing in the high jump, Comeau cleared 6 feet for third place overall. Only Auburn’s Amadi Onyeani, topping 6’3”, and Phoenix’s Julius Spaights clearing 6’2” did better.
Jake Woolbert climbed from ninth in the initial stages to fourth overall in the 3,200-meter run finishing in 10:06.05, second in the small schools to the 9:57.37 of Remsen’s Ean Piaschyk. Woolbert, Field Bradley, Gilmore and Owen Woodworth took fifth in the Division II 4×800 relay in 8:54.98.
Chittenango had its boys team finish fourth twice in the state qualifier, including the Division II 4×400 where Joshua Lin, Bryce Edwards, William Kimball and Landon Pease posted 3:43.78.
Over in the shot put, Sean Eiffe made his way to fifth place with a top throw of 48’3”, not that far from the winning 52’6 1/2” posted by Whitesboro’s Anthony Tobiasz.
