For seven years, and against 59 different OHSL Liberty division opponents, the Solvay boys track and field team had proved impossible to catch.
That all changed Tuesday at Earl Hadley Stadium when, in a meet that came down to the last event, Westhill overtook the Bearcats 72-69 while also edging past Skaneateles 71.5-69.5 to take the league regular-season title. Solvay beat Skaneateles 79-62.
Both the Warriors and Bearcats would find success in individual events. Chris Moore, in particular, gave Westhill a boost, as he won twice.
Moore, in the 800-meter run, finished in 2:01.5, holding off both Calvin Davis (Skaneateles) and Jeff Fedrizzi (Solvay) by less than a second. In the mile, Moore (4:33.2) and teammate Kevin Zych (4:33.2) went 1-2, with Fedrizzi in third place.
Tom Fisher worked his way to victory in the discus with a toss of 135 feet 8 inches, while Jeff Law cleared 5 feet 4 inches to take the high jump. Moore, Zych, Mitchell Lamb and Vinny Savastano gave Westhill a win in the 4×800 relay in 8:49.5.
Solvay countered with Jeremy Parker taking two sprints, as he ran the 400-meter dash in 51.9 seconds and tore to victory in the 200-meter dash in 23.1 seconds. In the 4×100 relay, Tyler Grim, Anthony Liquori, Rich Salvagno and Conor Halton won in 46.1 seconds.
So it came down to the pole vault. All the other athletes watched as Westhill’s Tom Welch cleared 12 feet to win that event and gain the points to both end the Solvay streak and hold off Skaneateles, too.
In the simultaneous girls meet, Westhill would beat Solvay 75-62, though both sides would fall to Skaneateles, the Lakers beating the Warriors 111-29 and the Bearcats 113-24.
Both sides got just one individual title. Solvay’s Bre Lioto claimed the 100-meter high hurdles in 17.3 seconds, while Westhill’s Susan Lopez won the 3,000-meter run in 12:01.3. Skaneateles got multiple wins from Victoria Sakal (100, 200 meters), Eileen Ford (400 meters, triple jump) and Caroline Walton (shot put, discus).
Each of these teams will meet again this Tuesday at Marcellus as part of the OHSL Liberty division championship meet.
