Area track and field teams got a chance to taste their first spring competition during Thursday’s Westhill-Bishop Ludden Spring Invitational.
And it was the host Warriors, along with West Genesee, tying for second in the girls division, each of them producing 80 points to finish second to Jamesville-DeWitt, who won with 100 points. Jordan-Elbridge got 24 points.
Megan Delia won twice on WG’s behalf, starting in the 200-meter dash, where she posted a top time of 27.82 seconds to hold off Tully’s Jessica Donald (28.04 seconds) and J-E’s Julie Hines, who was third in 28.29 seconds.
Also, in the long jump, Delia finished in front by earning a best leap of 15 feet 2 inches, more than a foot better than J-D’s Patrece Martin (14’1 ¾”) at the end of the event.
WG also got a victory from Carly Benson in the 1,500-meter run, as she needed 4:48.14 to hold off Skaneateles’ Kaitlyn Neal (4:50.31) and Tully’s Ashleigh Crawford (a school-record 4:51.67) in one of the day’s best races. Benson, Delia, Elise Dunshee and Maria Matkoski were second in the 4×400 relay in 4:19.23 behind Tully’s 4:16.30.
J-E’s Abby Gugel gave her side a victory in the 800-meter run, earning a time of 2:26.36 to beat, among others, Westhill-Ludden’s Annibel Coolican, who was third in 2:31.47. But Coolican did win the triple jump, going 30 feet to top the Wildcats’ Abby Uczen (28’10 ½”).
Westhill-Ludden’sGenny Corcoran prevailed in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:03.76 over Dunshee (8:08.96) and Maddie Nowicki (8:09.25). It was the same in the pole vault, where Katherine Doherty won with 9 feet over Uczen (8’6”) and the Warriors’ Noelle Coolican, who cleared 7’6”.
WG went 1-2-3 in the shot put, where Elizabeth Rein, with a throw of 23’6”, beat Linnea Ceilly (21’3 ½”) and Milena Romano (20’5”). Doherty also was third in the triple jump, going 28’6 ¾”, as Shelly Sakran took third place in the discus, heaving it 67’6”.
J-E did best in the boys edition of the Westhill-Ludden meet, getting 96 points to finish second behind J-D (135 points) as West Genesee had 73 points and Westhill-Ludden 42 points
The Eagles had a 1-2 sweep in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where Brendan Bourque won in 12:42.92 and Ethan Kinney was second in 13:07.70. Austin Milton was second by inches to Skaneateles’ Tommy Hagen in the 200, though both finished in 25.06 seconds as WG’s Sean Relyea was third in 25.52 seconds. Milton also took sixth in the 100.
Nathan Hollis was second in the mile (4:58.15) behind WG’s David Leff, who pulled away to win in 4:48.97 as Ryan Dunning, Hunter Busa and Sean Byrnes led a Wildcats sweep of the rest of the top five. Leff was second (2:11.78) to J-D’s Patrick Dye (2:10.21) in the 800.
Contending in the 4×400, J-E’s quartet of Milton, Tyler Jackson, Russell Hines and Zach Rink were second in 3:45.83, just behind J-D’s 3:44.93, as WG finished fourth (3:54.31) and Westhill-Ludden settled for fifth place.
The Eagles also had Justin Quinn win the discus, throwing it 111’9”to beat out WG’s tandem of Evan Tuthill (98’7”) and Josh Mattice (96’4”), who were in the second and third spots. Mattice was second in the shot put with a heave of 41’7 ½”, and Matt Davern was fourth, as J-E’s Brad Marshall (41’2 ½”) was third and Quinn fifth.
Jackson, went 38’6 ¾” in the triple jump to get second place, ahead of Westhill-Ludden’s Xavier Fleurinor (36’5 ½”) in fourth. Mitch Colvin and Jackson Powell followed in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively, for the Wildcats, as Jackson added a fifth in the long jump.
One Warrior victory came in the pole vault, where Chris Pullano cleared 10 feet, and Ben Eassa was third, topping 8 feet. In the high jump, J-E’s Nathan Hollis cleared 5’8” for second place and Russell Hines (5 feet) was third, with Westhill-Ludden’s Donovan Whipple and Steven Bailey in the fourth and fifth spots. Fleurinor helped the Warriors win the 3×100 shuttle relay in 55.15 seconds.
