When it looks back, the Westhill girls indoor track and field team will not dwell upon the laundry list of weather delays that nearly sabotaged the 2006-07 season.
Instead, the Warriors can proudly boast about the Section III Class B championship it earned last Wednesday night at Manley Field House.
In that sectional meet, delayed a week by the Valentine’s Day snowstorm, the Warriors earned 99 points, nearly twice the number of Solvay, who got second place with 51 points. Jordan-Elbridge tied for 11th, with 16 points.
Westhill set a winning tone in the 4×400 relay when Mackenzie Rainone, Bethany Dickinson, Caroline Buonocore and Carolyn Clark combined for a time of 4:25.23, nearly three seconds ahead of runner-up Cazenovia.
The Warriors went 1-2 in the 1,500-meter run, as Laura Zimmerman claimed the race in a time of 4:55.68 and Brittany Pelsue was second (4:56.43), less than a second behind. Zimmerman had a fourth-place long jump of 15 feet 4 1/4 inches. Elena Mangano took the pole vault, the only athlete to clear 8 feet.
Emily Owen achieved solo success in the 600-meter run, winning in a time of 1:41.37, more than three seconds ahead of Chittenango’s Michelle Brandt, and was also second in the triple jump (32 feet 2 1/2 inches).
Abby Lee added a title in the 55-meter hurdles, winning in 9.65 seconds to edge out Solvay’s Rebecca Quick, who was second in 9.68 seconds.
Owen, Lee, Lissa DiPaola and Katie Powers teamed up to claim victory in the 4×800 relay in 10:25.54, while Pelsue, Rainone, Dickinson and Buonocore got second place (1:56.98) in the 4×200 relay.
Solvay won that 4×200 event by the narrow margin of 0.09 seconds. Quick, Amy Finch, Jessica Goodrich and Rebecca Balduzzi combined for that top time of 1:56.89 to fend off the Warriors and help toward the Bearcats’ second-place finish in the team Class B standings.
A 1-2 finish in the 55-meter dash helped, too, as Balduzzi finished in 7.80 seconds and Quick (7.87 seconds) got second place.
Maggie Klasen was second in the high jump, clearing 4 feet 8 inches. Goodrich earned fifth (3:22.26) at 1,000 meters, while Lauren Klasen gained sixth in the 300-meter run in 46.54 seconds. Morgan Lucio, Katlyn Perotti, Alisa Jimenez and Catherine Martinez combined for fourth (11:14.84) in the 4×800 relay.
Libby Forward led J-E’s cause. She was second in the 600-meter run in 1:44.80 and fourth (32 feet in the triple jump, while Katie Darling got sixth in both the triple jump and long jump and Nicole Darling had a fifth-place time of 5:26.69 in the 4×800 relay.
Two nights earlier, at the state qualifying meet, Westhill won the 4×400 relay as Clark, Owen, Zimmerman and Emily Ondrejka posted a time of 4:05.65.
That same quartet, except for Ondrejka (replaced by Pelsue), was second in the 4×800 in 9:36.41, while J-E’s Kristin Raeon cleared 5 feet 3 inches in the high jump to qualify for the state meet March 3 at Cornell University.
In the boys state qualifier, Solvay won two different relays. Songtha Cosby, Mike Acchione, Brendan Holiday and Greg Manning posted 1:34.70 in the 4×200 to beat Rome Free Academy by one-tenth of a second, and put up 3:31.68 in the 4×400 to win there, too.
Westhill’s Andrew Corcoran dominated the 3,200-meter run, beating Class A runners and posting a time of 9:39.59, while Greg Pallotta finished second in the mile with a clocking of 4:28.90.
