In a three-way track-and-field meet with a lot of stakes (including some local bragging rights), the Solvay boys and Westhill girls both walked away with OHSL Liberty division titles.
On the girls side, the Warriors held off Skaneateles by a single point, 71-70, as it took out the Bearcats 85-55. Meanwhile, the Solvay boys won its first-place duel with Westhill in a 101-40 romp while also beating the Lakers 90-50.
The girls victory for Westhill depended on one race — the 4×400 relay. Trailing Skaneateles at that point, the Warriors needed a win, and got it when Brittany Pelsue, Emily Ondrejka, Abbey Lee and Emily Owen put up a time of 4:11.2 to beat the Lakers by nearly three seconds.
Before that, Ondrejka prevailed in the 400-meter dash (1:01.9), as Elena Mangano cleared 9 feet to win the pole vault. Already, Westhill had won the 4×800 relay as Ondrejka, Pelsue, Katie Lenkiewicz and Danielle Rafte hit a time of 10:19.1.
Solvay asserted itself in the girls meet, too, as Maggie Klasen took the high jump (4 feet 8 inches) and Kaitlin Perotti earned a top triple jump of 30 feet 8 inches. In the 4×100, Rebecca Balduzzi, Kim Venuti, Ashley Ramirez and Amanda Lombardi combined to win in a time of 1:10.4.
The boys meet turned in the sprints, where Solvay cleaned up at Westhill’s expense.
Mike Acchione, in particular, was unstoppable, winning three times. He ran the 100-meter dash in 11.1 seconds, took the 200-meter dash in 23.1 seconds (just ahead of teammate Songtha Cosby) and claimed the 400 in 51.3 seconds, edging out Westhill’s Pavle Bujanovic.
As that was going on, John Mossotti was winning the 110-meter high hurdles (16 seconds flat) and Calvin Howard took the 400 hurdles (1:01.8), holding off fellow Bearcat Mike Bova (1:01.9) in a 1-2 sweep.
Greg Manning also was valuable, taking the 800-meter run in 2:03.3 and combining with Casey Pucello, Alex Nappi and Tyler Grim to win the 4×400 relay in 3:38.0. In the 4×100, Manning, Nappi, Grim and Ben Carl earned a victory in 45.4 seconds.
Skaneateles won most of the field events, but Solvay’s Jason Conners sneaked in to take the shot put (47 feet 6 inches) as Westhill’s Scott Mooney won the pole vault, clearing 12 feet.
All of the Warriors’ other success came in distance races. Greg Pallotta won the mile in 4:50.8 as Pat Hartnett took the 3,200-meter run in 10:50.6. Palotta, Hartnett, A.J. Corcoran and Eric Moore teamed up to post time of 8:39.4 in the 4×800 relay.
Two days earlier, Solvay had a three-way meet against Hannibal and CBA, and won big in the boys meet, toppling the Warriors 121-20 and the Brothers 119-22.
Acchione won the 100 (11.5 seconds), 400 (52.2 seconds) and triple jump (39 feet 7 inches), part of a sweep of the field events.
Tom Hook (pole vault, 9 feet 6 inches), Pucello (discus, 117 feet 2 inches), shot put (43 feet 1 inch), Mossotti (long jump, 18 feet 8 inches) and Victor Young (high jump, 5 feet 10 inches) all prevailed, too.
Mark Waldron (mile, 4:56.1), Cosby (200 meters, 23.4 seconds), Manning (800 meters, 2:10.3) and Will Hnatko (400 hurdles, 1:01.9) all prevailed on the oval, as Solvay swept the 4×100 (45.5 seconds), 4×400 (3:58.8) and 4×800 (9:01.4) relays, too.
Solvay’s girls team also pulled off a sweep, defeating CBA 71-66 as it held off Hannibal by a margin of 102-30.
Christine Armstrong won twice, in the 100-meter high hurdles (17.6 seconds) and long jump (13 feet 7 1/2 inches), while Klasen took the 400 hurdles (1:18.4) and high jump, the latter by clearing 4 feet 6 inches.
Jessica Goodrich stepped up to win the 1,500 (5:31) and 3,000 (12:37), as Balduzzi took the 200-meter dash in 28.8 seconds and Perotti went 29 feet 7 1/2 inches to win the triple jump.
Solvay is the host team Tuesday for the OHSL Liberty division girls championship meet, with the boys meet set for Wednesday at Marcellus.
