Laura Leff and Elise Dunshee both emerged with a pair of victories as part of strong relay teams for West Genesee’s girls indoor track and field team during Tuesday night’s Jack Morse Holiday Relays at SRC Arena.
The Wildcats first struck in the distance medley relay, where Leff and Dunshee ran the final two legs, following Maria Matkoski and Allison Iles, as they posted a time of 13 minutes, 5.42 seconds, just enough to hold off Skaneateles (13:07.81) and 18 other sides.
Then, in the 4×800 relay, it proved more lopsided. Dunshee opened and Leff ran the third leg, with eighth-grader Carly Benson in between them and Rachel Flynn claiming the anchor spot. In a time of 10:30.65, WG rolled past runner-up Jamesville-DeWitt (10:38.08) and the rest of the challengers.
These wins accounted for 20 of the Wildcats’ 25 points as it tied Liverpool and Mexico for sixth place in the team standings. Fayetteville-Manlius and Cicero-North Syracuse shared top honors as they earned 50 points apiece, with Sknaeateles (43 points) in third.
Brianna Richardson was second (9.45 seconds) to Pulaski’s Breann Burns (8.71 seconds) in the individual portion of the 55-meter hurdles. She also teamed with Tianna DeChick-Perrine in the long jump, where combined leaps of 27 feet 1 ½ inches led to a tie for third with Fulton.
Westhill/Bishop Ludden managed 15 points for 10th place, most of it from winning the pole vault as eighth-grader Noelle Coolican and Caroline Black cleared 14 feet 6 inches with fewer misses than J-D, who got that same height.
Tatianna Monds, Olivia Dagineau, Shelby Stack and Mackenzie Aiello were third in the 4×400 relay in 4:35.94, while WG (4:41.86) settled for seventh place. Bella Sterly was second in the shot put, heaving it 32 feet 3 ½ inches, a number only Nottingham’s Shayna Santarelli-Hansen (36’6 ½”) could top. Annibel Coolican was seventh (4’6”) in the high jump.
Marcellus got all six of its points in the same events where West Genesee won. Rachel Garn, Eliza Bell, Dominique Weeks and Brianna Szczech were fourth in the 4×800 in 11:15.09, while Garn and Bell joined Emily Townsend and Shannon Twombly to take fifth (13:47.10) in the distance medley.
Jordan-Elbridge also had six points from a single event – the 1,600 sprint medley, where Julie Hines, Alexis Malvaso, Emily Weichert and Abby Gugel ran the Eagles to third place in 4:38.84. By herself, Julie Hines got fifth (7.94 seconds) in the 55-meter dash.
