Beaten by Skaneateles a week earlier at the Section III Class B meet, the Westhill girls indoor track and field team got a chance to equal the score.
During last Monday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship meet at Manley Field House, the Warriors would fight its way past the Lakers, plus a strong challenge from Jordan-Elbridge, to take the team title.
In all, Westhill had 97 points, while J-E claimed second place with 83 points ahead of Skaneateles (76 points). Solvay also had a strong showing, finishing fifth with 50 points.
Laura Zimmerman gave Westhill a victory in the 1,000-meter run in a time of 3:07.17, then added a second in the 300-meter dash in 43.69 seconds and was also second in the triple jump with 32 feet 11 inches.
Abby Lee contributed her share of points to the Warriors’ cause, too, winning the 55-meter hurdles in 9.60 seconds and teaming with Katie Powers, Briana Newman and Mackenzie Rainone to prevail in the 4×400 relay in 4:23.40, more than three seconds ahead of runner-up Cazenovia. Rainone went on to take fifth (1:56.19) in the 600-meter run.
Powers, on her own, was victorious in the 1,500-meter run in the night’s most exciting race, going step for step with Skaneateles’ Alexis Mazzeo all the way to the line. In a time of 5:07.37, Powers beat Mazzeo (5:07.38) by one-hundredth of a second.
Lissa DiPaola (12:01.76) and Catherine Coon (12:02.35) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 3,000-meter run, and Westhill ran to third in both the 4×800 (10:35.24) and 4×200 (1:55.12) relays.
In field events, Caroline Buonocore cleared 7 feet in the pole vault for third place, as Paula Sanz got third in the shot put with a toss of 24 feet.
J-E had several victories in the course of the night. Katie Darling had two of them, going 33 feet in the triple jump and earning a top long jump of 16 feet 8 1/4 inches as teammate Lyndsay Hollis (15 feet 6 inches) took second place.
Elsewhere, Nicole Darling ran to victory in the 3,000, holding off CBA’s Michaela Gildemeyer with a time of 11:29.58 to Gildemeyer’s 11:30.37. Darling added a third in the 1,500 in 5:20.85.
Margie Bailey, in the 55-meter dash, prevailed in 7.55 seconds to edge CBA star Melissa Zajdel (7.57 seconds), adding a fourth in the 300-meter dash in 44.39 seconds. Hanne Bailey ran to fourth in the 600-meter run (1:52.63) and Jessica Salisbury got third (10.95 seconds) in the 55 hurdles.
Solvay would clip J-E in the 4×200 relay. Rebecca Balduzzi, Christina Clemente, Rebecca Quick and Rachel Peterson put together a time of 1:53.80 to beat the Eagles as Hollis, Hanne Bailey, Margie Bailey and Katie Darling got second in 1:54.02. The Bearcats were also third in the 4×400 (4:49.06) and fifth in the 4×800.
Maggie Klasen earned Solvay’s other victory, clearing 4 feet 10 inches to take the high jump. Balduzzi, on her own, finished third in the 55-meter dash (7.73 seconds), as Erin Nolan finished fifth in the 1,500 in 6:00.86. Kaytlyn Perrotti was third in the triple jump with 29 feet 6 3/4 inches as Catherine Martinez gained a fifth-place long jump of 13 feet 2 inches.
The state qualifying meet is set for next Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Manley.
