Brianna Richardson and Abby Uczen led the way for the West Genesee girls track and field team during its appearance at Thursday’s CNY Counties League National division championship meet at Baldwinsville’s Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Even though the Wildcats finished fifth out of six sides with 77 points (Fayetteville-Manlius won with 157 points), Richardson and Uczen combined for three individual titles.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Richardson finished in 16.47 seconds, beating Cicero-North Syracuse’s Hannah Szumloz by 0.22 seconds for that top spot.
Later, in the triple jump, Richardson had a best attempt of 35 feet 4 inches, which put her well clear of C-NS’s Javielle Fanizzi, who was second with 33’10 ½”. Valerie Pirro, with a top leap of 30’8”, took sixth place as Richardson also got fourth place (15’5 ¼”) in the long jump.
During the pole vault, Uczen cleared 9 feet, the same best height as C-NS’s Whitney Hotchkiss, but claimed first place because she had fewer misses than Hotchkiss.
J’Nazia Anderson contended in the shot put, with a best throw of 31’11 ½” that put her in second place, trailing only Liverpool’s Nelliah Watkins, who won with 33’6”. Anderson also was 10th in the discus, with Lonnie Barbagos 11th. Catrina Hogan was 11th in the shot put.
Eighth-grader Carly Benson earned third place in the 3,000-meter run in 10:57.54, with Mary McGlynn seventh. Melissa Bakowski made it to fourth place in the high jump, clearing 4’8”, while Michaela Kahsay cleared 4’6” for seventh place. Pirro took fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:11.30 as Grace Craig was fifth (8:03 flat) and Rachel Whiting seventh in the 2,000-meter steeplechase.
Allison Iles got to fifth in the 400-meter dash in 1:03.43, with Alicia Sakran eighth. Bakowski, Pirro, Iles and Maria Matkoski took third in the 4×400 relay in 4:18.04, with Benson, Matkoski, Delaney Nolan and Elise Dunshee third in the 4×800 in 10:00.58. Uczen, Iles, Nicole Paone and Megan Hannahan went 56.78 seconds in the 4×100 relay to finish fifth.
Lindsay Weaver was fifth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:00.06, ahead of Sarah Sveen in seventh place, with Weaver eighth (2:30.28) and Dunshee ninth in the 800-meter run. Carlee Kingston and Kelsey Shanahan were 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 200-meter dash, with Hanahan 11th and Paone 12th in the 100-meter dash. Anna Chwiejczak was 11th in the 100 hurdles.
WG only managed 35 points in the boys edition of the CNYCL National meet at Liverpool High School Stadium, where F-M edged Liverpool by one point, 148-147, for the title.
Ejay Harrell nearly went to the top in the high jump, clearing 5’8”, topped only by Liverpool’s Mark Vanmarter, who went 6’2”. Josh Mattice had a fourth-place shot put toss of 43’6 ¾”, adding a seventh-place finish in the discus.
The Wildcats’ best finish in a relay came in the 4×100, where Harrell, Sam Brown, Mike Hanley and Pat Murphy earned third place in 46.37 seconds, not far from B’ville’s winning time of 45.84 seconds. Kal Strickland, Eldon Hard, Mike Lannon and Hunter Buza were fifth (3:42.05) in the 4×400 relay.
Ejay Harrell took fifth in the 100 sprint in 12.41 seconds, with Murphy seventh in 12.53 seconds, as David Leff got to fifth (10:02.38) in the 3,200-meter run. Jack Erhard was eighth in the 800 in 2:03.51 as Kal Strickland ran the mile in 4:41.09 to take sixth place.
Jackson Powell and Sean Relyea were eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 110 high hurdles, with Powell eighth in the 400 hurdles, Lannon eighth in the 400 sprint and Mike Richards eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Relyea took 10th and Sam Brown 11th in the 200. Hanley was ninth in the long jump, with Brown taking ninth in the triple jump.
