ESM’s Akuot Kuany wins twice at state track meet

CICERO – In a rare convergence of talent and opportunity, track and field stars from four different high schools has real shots at winning gold medals during last weekend’’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.

And when all was settled, East Syracuse Minoa had a two-time state champion in senior Akuot Kuany, who accomplished it in the girls overall high jump and the Federation portion of the triple jump.

Both wins came on Saturday, starting in the high jump, where Kuany had a miss at 5 foot 2 inches, cleared both 5’5 and 5’6” on her third and final attempts and, finally, topped 5’8” on her first try to put her above three challengers who cleared 5’7” that included C-NS freshman Anna Eells in fourth place.

Moving to the triple jump, Kuany had finished second in the NYSPHSAA portion of the event Friday with 40’10 1/2” behind the winning 41’9 1/4” from Pine Bush’s Madison Williams, but in the Federation event her 40’6” was the only jump past the 40-foot mark and put her atop the podium again, with Williams second going 39’4 3/4”.

As for Jay-Neil McDuffie, he was the no. 4 seed in the 110 high hurdles thanks to his 14.42 seconds during the season. In the opening round, he went 14.73, second only to the 14.46 from Baldwin’s Tristan Brown and moving to the finals, where in 14.52 he took third, just behind Brown’s winning 14.11, and added a fourth in the Federation final in 14.60.

In the NYSPHSAA portion of the 4×100 relay, McDuffie, Mikah Combs, Hashim Abdi and Anthony Bryant went 42.52 seconds for sixth place, far off their season-best 41.86, in the public-school portion, then in the Federation final got to fifth place in 43.24.

Ryan Sullivan had gone 6’5” in the high jump this season, and anything better here could mean a medal, but he only managed 6’2”. Sullivan also was in the triple jump, where he looked to improve on 44’7” but only did 42’5 1/2”. Combs competed in the 100-meter dash, looking to finish under 11 seconds after an 11.01 during the season but settling for 11.26 here.

Christian Brothers Academy had its group of sprinters ready, especially in the Division II (small school) 4×100 relay where Darien Williams, Dante Bacheyie, Quinten Lewis and Zion Green were the no. 2 seed at 42.66 seconds to Waverly’s 42.52.

Ultimately, the Brothers would post 42.81, again beating most of the field but denied the state title as Waverly improved to 42.47 for the victory.

Williams, the no. 2 seed in the 200-meter dash (21.62 seconds), qualified for the final in 21.99 and then got to the medal podium in Saturday’s final by finishing third in 22.09 and then adding a third in the Federation final in 22.13.

Bacheyie looked to improve on 10.98 in the Division II 100-meter dash, and he got to the final with 10.99. Even though he slowed to 11.20 in Saturday’s final, Bacheyie still matched Williams with a third-place effort, the win going to Maryvale’s Sohel Ahmad Peran in 10.95 while in the 4×400 relay CBA’s James Cass, Xavier Caesar, Jacob DuBrey and Dan Abbe were 14th in 3:34.55.

Fayetteville-Manlius was hoping for at least medals, and perhaps more, from Nolan McGinn in two boys distance races (1,600 and 3,200 meters) and Izzie Sullivan in the girls 3,000-meter run.

McGinn did far better in the 1,600 on Saturday, tearing to a season-best 4:15.94 and finishing fifth overall and in Division I after taking 12th in Division I in the 3,200 in 9:14.46.

Sullivan, meanwhile, was the second seed at 9:42.21 going into the 3,000, and got to 9:44.31 here, ultimately taking fifth place to equal what McGinn would do in the boys 1,600.

Nick Domashenko was here, too, having gone 10.97 seconds in the 100-meter dash during the season. He finished in 11.14 here, inside the top 20 in 19th place.

For Jamesville-DeWitt, the main medal challenge came in the girls throwing events, with Kenna Ridzi in the shot put sand Skylar Vaught in the discus.

Ridzi, the no. 6 seed with her shot put toss of 38’1 1/4”, only did 31’11” here. Then Vaught fouled in each of her three discus attempts after a 128’4” during the season that would have put her second here.

Nicki Militi, running in the 400-meter dash, finished 13th in 58.80 seconds. Victoria Payne qualified the 100 hurdles with 14.73 seconds, but only went 15.27 here and, in 15th place, did not advance to Saturday’s finals.