Having two schools together, as the Westhill/Bishop Ludden boys track and field team does, brings some advantages.
And those advantages were on display Wednesday at Earl Hadley Stadium, where the combined Westhill/Ludden side turned back Solvay, 86-55, to seize first place in the Onondaga High School League’s Liberty American division.
Corey Wilkinson again led the way for Westhill/Ludden, sweeping the throwing events. He had a top discus throw of 136 feet and tossed the shot put 49’8” to prevail there, too, while Antoine Montgomery prevailed in the triple jump.
On the track, Westhill/Ludden gained a split of individual races, with four different winners, starting in the 110 high hurdles, where Xavier Fleurinor got the top time of 16.3 seconds.
Christian St. Amour sped through the 400-meter dash in 51.3 seconds, while Peter Guy needed 1:01.1 to prevail in the 400-meter hurdles. Casey Bunce would get the victory in the mile with a time of 4:37.1.
As for Solvay, Nick Cometti swept to titles in the 100-meter dash (11.0 seconds) and 200-meter dash (22.9 seconds), while Matt Battaglia was first in the 800-meter run in 2:01.6 and Matt Creegan (10:21.1) took the 3,200-meter run. In the high jump, Brian McLeod cleared 6’2”, while Josh Marotti topped 11 feet and got first place in the pole vault.
Westhill/Ludden’s girls team also beat Solvay by a 97-41 margin, with three different Warriors winning two events apiece.
Annibel Coolican, who took the 400 hurdles in 1:13.7, also cleared 7 feet in the pole vault. Caroline Coates swept through the long jump (14’3”) and triple jump (28’3”), while Anna Beaudry beat the field in the shot put (28’9 ½”) and discus, where she threw it 84’6”.
Meanwhile, Erin Christensen, who won the high jump (4’6”), finished second to Emily Washburn in the 3,000-meter run, an event Washburn won in 11:17.2. Alaina Kenny went 2:42.3 in the 800, while Mary Kate Washburn took the 400 sprint (1:05.4) and Genny Corcoran took the 3,000-meter run in 5:12.9.
Corcoran and Coolican teamed with Emily Washburn and Erin Morrell for a first-place time of 4:35.1 in the 4×400 relay. This came after a 4×800 where Coolican, Caroline Black, Anastasija Useva and Alaina Kenny ran to a time of 11:09 flat.
Solvay did get some victories from Victoria Marks in the sprints, as she finished first in the 100 (14.4 seconds) and 200 and ran a leg in the 4×100, which the Bearcats claimed in 57.5 seconds.
