True, the Westhill indoor track and field teams had to wait an extra week, but it was worth it.
The Warriors roared to both Section III Class B-1 championships Wednesday night at SRC Arena seven days after the original event was postponed by winter weather.
Westhill earned 134 points on the boys side, more than double the total of runner-up Camden (64 points), with the Westhill girls getting 123 points and also beating out Camden (87 points) for the top spot.
Tom Howard, in 38.09 seconds, rolled to victory in the 300-meter dash before joining Connor Schwartz, Evan Watt and Cal Niezabytowski to win the 4×200 relay in 1:40.43, nearly four seconds ahead of the field.
Howard also got second place (6.83 seconds), inches behind Camden’s Jason Richards (6.82 seconds), in the 55-meter dash. Watt got second place in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.53 seconds behind Phoenix’s Jacob Marr (8.41) and was second in the pole vault, clearing 12 feet 6 inches.
Ben Eassa, who was fourth in the pole vault with 10’6″, got to second place in the long jump by going 19’10 1/2″ and also was second in the triple jump with 42′ 1/2″, half an inch behind Richards (42’1″) as Schwartz finished third with 36’5 3/4″.
Wyatt Lavigne, Cade Van Ornam, Cal Niezabytowski and Michael Laszlo were third in the 4×400 relay in 3:52.78, while Van Ornam, Jake Suddaby, Jacob Fricano and Jacob Roberts got third place in the 4×800 relay in 9:18.75. Laszlo, clearing 5’6″, was second to Camden’s Hunter Keil (5’8″) in the high jump.
In the weight throw, Evan Ballard got second place with a toss of 41’5 1/2″, with Ben Helfeld fifth (36’3) and Mark Vaughn sixth. Also, Ballard was third in the shot put with a heave of 40’5″ as Helfeld was sixth and Charlie Doebert seventh.
Van Ornam was third in the 600-meter run in 1:32.99, with Niezabytowski fourth in 1:36.01. Brendan Rewakowski was fourth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:50.30 as Mike Ferrara finished sixth.
Westhill’s girls got 22 points from the 55 hurdles, where Alyssa Holstein won in 9.19 seconds. Lauren Marshall was third in 9.61 seconds, with Quinn Mannion fourth (9.96 seconds) and Lauren Holstein fifth in 10.02 seconds.
Then, in a 1-2-3 sweep of the pole vault, the Warriors had Noelle Coolican win by clearing 9 feet as Ashley Heffernan was second with 8’6″ and Mannion was third with 8 feet. Abby Feyerabend prevailed in the high jump, clearing 4’8″
In the girls 4×400 relay, Westhill had Ashley Bolesh, Angie Mesa-Espinosa, Reilly Geer and Molly Bobbett prevail in 4:26.29 as Marcellus had Alaura Cushman, Delaney Manahan, Emma Holzwarth and Caroline Trytek finish second in 4:31.86, more than five seconds behind.
The Warriors also prevailed in the 4×400, where Bolesh and Mesa-Espinosa joined Megan O’Reilly and Ashley Heffernan to win in 1:57.31 over South Jefferson (1:58.87) and the field.
Lennah Abraham, throwing the shot put 29’2 1/2″, earned second place as Bella Lavigne had a fourth-place weight throw of 22’9″. Marshall was fourth in the triple jump, going 27’10 1/2″, while Bolesh had a sixth-place long jump of 13’3 3/4″.
Haylei Coolican got third place in the 1,000 in 3:15.59. Kylie Nowicki was fifth in the 3,000-meter run. Liz Kessler got third place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:11.70 as Coolican was fifth and Nowicki sixth.
Maura McAnaney (1:48.76) and Kendra MacCaull (1:50.71) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 600, also running in the 4×400 with Alaina Kenny and Mackenzie Powers as they finished third in 10:53.08.
Marcellus, who was sixth in the boys B-1 standings and eighth in the girls event, had Joe Riccardi finish second in the 3,200-meter run in 10:22.40, just behind Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Owen Walker (10:21.95) as Westhill had Fricano (10:45.34) edge Suddaby (10:45.94) for fifth place.
The Mustangs also had Ethan Mosure take second place in the mile in 4:46.36, ahead of Rewakowski (4:50.22) in third place and Jacob Roberts fifth for Westhill.
Also for Marcellus, Brayton Johnson topped 5’2″ in the high jump to finish third. Luke Norstad was fourth in the weight throw (38’10”) and fifth in the shot put. Ryan White was sixth in the 55 hurdles and helped Johnson, Zhengduo Dai and Max McAuliff finish fourth in the 4×200 in 1:46.99.
The Mustangs’ Sophia Shaw cleared 4’4″ for third place in the girls high jump as Courtney Otis and Julianna Szczech tied for fourth in the girls pole vault, each clearing 7’6″.
