Led once again by Laura Leff, West Genesee’s indoor track and field teams had plenty to smile about during Monday’s Oscar Jensen Holiday Relays at SRC Arena.
Leff’s pair of individual victories led to team titles, and ultimately the girls Wildcats finished with 37 points, moving them to third place behind Fayetteville-Manlius (69 points) and Cicero-North Syracuse, who was second with 47 points.
In the 1,000-meter run, Leff roared to first place in three minutes, 4.04 seconds, more than 10 seconds ahead of Jamesville-DeWitt’s Emilee Carpenter (3:14.59) in the second spot. With Elise Dunshee ninth among individuals, WG won in 6:23.95 as J-D (6:33.95) was exactly 10 seconds behind.
Later, in the 600-meter run, Leff finished in 1:41.82, again well clear of the runner-up, F-M’s Sophia Ryan (1:46.82), as Alicia Sakran joined in with an 11th-place effort and WG, in 3:33.22, again beat F-M (3:39.52) to finish in front.
Abby Uczen offered her own victory in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet and getting second-place team points all by herself as Homer had two athletes, Jade Auchmoody and Molly Ulrich, clear 15 feet between them.
Brianna Richardson, second among individuals in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.34 seconds, and Valerie Pirro were third on the team side with 20.29 seconds as Richardson added a third in the triple jump (33’9 ½”) and sixth in the long jump, where she and Pirro got sixth on the team side.
Carly Benson and Maria Matkoski were fifth in the mile relay in 11:24.10, with Jordan-Elbridge’s Abby Gugel and Mary Eilzabeth Dristle sixth in 11:31.15.
For Westhill/Bishop Ludden, the big highlight was Tatiana Monds winning the individual 55-meter dash in 7.72 seconds, with Solvay’s Nicole Antonacci ninth.
Annibel Coolican and Erin Christensen took second in the high jump, clearing 9’4” between them as Baldwinsville (9’9”) prevailed. They also were sixth in the 1,000 in 6:45.21, with Bella Sterly fourth in the shot put (30’5”), Natalie Jetter tying for fifth in the high jump and Alaina Kenny seventh in the 3,000-meter run.
J-E also saw Julie Hines get fourth in the 300-meter dash in 43.63 seconds, pairing with Emily Weichert for a fourth-place team showing in 1:31.66.
In the boys meet, West Genesee finished with 28 points and fit into fifth place, well off F-M, who like the girls also got 69 points to earn the victory. J-E had nine points and Westhill/Ludden got just 4.5 points.
WG’s Jack Erhard and Logan McAnulty, who were second (2:46.35) and third (2:46.41), respectively, among individuals in the 1,000 behind Baldwinsville’s Jack Martin (2:44.35), won the team race in 5:32.75, well clear of F-M (5:40.13) and the field.
Nate Conroy and Kal Strickland got to third place in the 3,200 relay in 20:42.97, while Ejay Harrell cleared 5’8” in the high jump to tie for second place.
J-E got to second place in the 600, where Dylan Whittico and Jacob Patterson bolted to a combined time of 3:01.95, a number only F-M (2:58.37) could top. Jack Gugel and Austin Milton were sixth (9:58.88) in the mile for J-E, with Whittico and Patterson seventh in the 300 in 1:18.73. Nate Hollis was seventh (5’4”) in the high jump.
Anthony Peciorello and Eddie Kernan put Westhill/Ludden in fourth place in the shot put, with combined throws of 77’3 ½”. John Ringwood cleared 9’6” to tie for sixth in the pole vault. Xavier Fleurinor and Alex Riley took seventh in both the long jump and triple jump.
