For the fifth year in a row, track and field teams gathered at Westhill for the Warriors’ Spring Break Invitational, and many area sides would record strong finishes.
West Genesee had its big moment in the sprints. Caitlin Mills was the only competitor to go under 13 seconds in the girls 100-meter dash as she posted 12.89 to beat a field that included teammate Sandy Gardino, who finished third in 13.24 seconds as Solvay had Serenity Thomas take seventh place in 13.61 seconds.
Not content with that, Mills also won the 200-meter dash, going 27.59 seconds to beat out Oswego’s Lara Kanbur (27.68), while Mikeayla DeJesus was sixth in 27.97 seconds and Gardino (28.19) was eighth.
Meanwhile, in the boys 100, Dan Gill’s time of 11.58 seconds and Esisas Brumfield’s 11.60 seconds was topped only by Cicero-North Syracuse star Jeremiah Willis, Westhill’s Tom Howard was ninth in 12.06 seconds.
The 200 saw Brumfield, in 23.36 seconds, hold off Gill (23.36) for second place, each of them close behind Willis, who won in 23.31 seconds as Howard was fourth in 23.74 seconds.
In the girls 1,500-meter run, Faith Knox was fourth in 5:09.27, with Natalie Buckhout fifth (5:10.13) and Liz Morey seventh (5:18.29) ahead of Westhill’s Katherine Evans (5:21.21) in 10th place.
Matt Bartolotta, in the boys mile, ran to a time of 4:36.39, just beaten out for the title by the 4:35.96 from Central Square’s Gabe Chisari, Bartolotta also getting seventh place in the 800-meter run in 2:07.13.
Lauren Puchta got seventh place in the girls 800 in 2:32.71, with Mia Mitchell 10th. Abby Kuppinger earned 10th place in the triple jump, going 31’6”, while Presley Sheley tied for 10th in the high jump. Marcus Body was 10th in the boys pole vault.
The hosts from Westhill got a victory from Evan Ballard in the boys discus, his top throw of 125 feet 1 inch enough to hold off Honeoye Falls-Lima’s Mattt Volkman-Ilen (122 feet).
And it was a boys/girls sweep in the discus for the Warriors as Lennah Abraham claimed the girls title with a heave of 108 feet, with teammate Brigid Heinrich in second place thanks to an 89-foot effort.
Ballard also threw the shot put 43’5 ½”, second to Corcoran’s My’Kel Thomas (45’3”), with Charlie Doebert (39’4 ½”) in ninth place. Abraham had a fourth-place shot put toss of 29’10”, while Heinrich was ninth and Solvay’s Shareese Pierce was 10th.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Dan Washburn, in 9:58.04, was second to Beaver River’s Colton Kempney, who won in 9:53.97.
On the girls side, the Warriors had Evans, Ashley Bolesh, Lauren Bendall and Erica Gangemi finish second in the 4×400 relay in 4:14.82 to C-NS’s 4:11.87, with WG getting fifth place in 4:22.38. Ashley Heffernan, in the girls pole vault, cleared 9 feet to finish third.
Heffernan, Lauren Holstein and Lauren Marshall go 51.24 seconds to finish second in the 3×100 shuttle hurdle event, with Bolesh eighth (31’10”) in the triple jump.
Jordan-Elbridge nearly won the boys edition of the 4×400, with Marion Quigley, Derek Quigley, Kenny Williams and Logan Kinney going 3:35.57, less than a second behind the winning 3:34.62 from Beaver River.
On his own, Marion Quigley was third in the long jump, going 20’4 ¼”, and also had a third-place high jump of 6’2”, while Zach Barber was fifth place in the triple jump by going 38’6 ½” as Westhill’s Andrew Centore was seventh with 37’1 ½”. Derek Quigley tied for fifth in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet as Nate Williams (9’6”) tied for sixth.
For the girls Eagles, Vassianna Klock was fourth in the 800 in 2:30.88, with Coral Uhle eighth in 2:33.04 Hannah Fichter needed 8:33.58 to finish eighth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase. Kyra White cleared 8 feet in the pole vault to tie for seventh.
Skaneateles had Sharla Dart finish fifth in the shot put, heaving it 29’6”, with Edan Howard in 11th place, though Howard improved to seventh place in the discus, throwing it 81 feet.
Graeson Landsberg (13.67 seconds) beat out EvaVitsaxaki (13.71)for 10th place in the 100 sprint, Landsberg improving to ninth place in the 200 in 28.37 seconds. Vitasaxaki had a ninth-place long jump of 14’10 ½” as Liliana Arias was 14th in the steeplechase, with Lillian Yengo 19th.
