In four different locations, local high school track and field teams went to work in a quartet of weekend meets.
At the 59th annual New Hartford Invitational on Friday, the West Genesee boys team finished fourth out of 22 entrants with 45 points, as Cicero-North Syracuse (75 points) went to the top as Solvay earned 21 points to claim 12th place.
Luke Potash dazzled in the 400-meter dash, winning in 50.13 seconds to edge Clinton’s Jordan Chrobak for the top spot, while Peter Richardson sped to second place in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.59 seconds, trailing only Jamesville-DeWitt’s Will Sterriker (56.76 seconds).
Martin Leff, Nate Conroy, Matt Romano and Mike Lannon needed 11:16.94 to finish second in the distance medley relay. Jack Erhard contended in the 800-meter run, finishing third in 2:01.85, while Dave Martin was fifth in the shot put. The Wildcats also were fourth in the 1,600 sprint medley relay in 3:56.98.
Nearly half of Solvay’s points were earned in the 4×400 relay, where Matt Battaglia, Nick Cometti, Nate Carr and Eric Goodrich blazed to a victory in 3:34.50, beating runner-up Holland Patent by 2.79 seconds. Matt Cregan gained second in the 3,200-meter run in 10:24.03, while Cometti was fifth in the 200-meter dash.
Marcellus, who only had 13 points, got most of them from seeing Ryan Manahan pull away and win the mile in 4:18.37, more than eight seconds ahead of the field as WG’s Leff was third (4:39.11). Manahan’s teammate, John Bell, was fifth, and Conroy was sixth. Also for Marcellus, Joe Fallon was sixth in the 800.
Jordan-Elbridge competed in Friday’s CBA Brother Basilian Invitational, where Brianna Byrnes needed 2:32.5 to take third in the 800, just as Abby Gugel (5:07.5) and Julia Conlan (5:13.5) were third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,500-meter run. Courtney Hourigan took fourth (18.6 seconds) in the 100 hurdles.
On the boys end, J-E was third in the 4×800 relay in 8:49.1. Individually, Steve Slonosky had the best finish, a third in the 3,200, while Austin Whittco was fourth at 200 meters and Jack Gugel gained sixth in the mile.
West Genesee’s girls were at the Rome Girls Invitational at Rome Free Academy Stadium, where Abby Uczen rose to second place in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet 9 inches, just three inches behind South Lewis’ Sara Young. Brianna Richardson added a fifth (33’3 ½”) in the triple jump, with Maureen McInerney and Erica Fitch fifth and sixth, respectively, in the shot put.
Paige Copeland was third in the 400 hurdles in 1:11.23, while Abby Kastick took third (7:47.8) in the 2,000-meter steeplechase. Copeland, Kelly Powell (sixth in the 1,500), Alyssa Zeman and Amy Hannahan were fifth in the 4×400 relay.
Westhill/Bishop Ludden decamped Saturday at Auburn’s Michelle Duprey Invitational, and won plenty, including Corey Wilkinson’s top throw of 145’8” to win the discus.
Jack Honis blazed to a time of 15.26 seconds in the 110 hurdles, prevailing by 1.42 seconds over the field. Christian St. Amour roared to victory in the 800-meter run in 2:07.6, with teammate Peter Lynch (2:10.1) in third place. Vincenzo Carr was third in the 3,000 steeplechase.
Meanwhile, Westhill/Ludden teammates Betsy Black and Emily Washburn went 1-2 in the girls 1,500, as Black won in 4:56.4 and Washburn (4:59.2) got the runner-up spot.
Marcellus star Rachel Garn pulled away in the 2,000 steeplechase, her time of 7:23.4 more than 21 seconds ahead of J-E’s Gugel, who was second. Westhill/Ludden teammates Annibel Coolican and Caroline Coates were fifth and sixth, respectively.
