Though each of the area’s girls indoor track and field teams welcomed a return to action Wednesday at the George Constantino Memorial Invitational, Marcellus senior Rachel Garn really enjoyed the night.
Garn would take down big-name foes in two different races at SRC Arena while, from a team standpoint, West Genesee proved quite impressive as, with 52 points, it had a season-best second-place finish, trailing only Fayetteville-Manlius, who won with 81.6 points.
This marked a welcome return to action for everyone in indoor track after snow and other weather concerns caused three straight postponements, including boys and girls meets on Jan. 2 and 3 at both SRC Arena and Colgate University.
For Garn, the big night began in the 1,500-meter run. With F-M’s Jenna Farrell in hot pursuit, Garn managed to hold her off and win in four minutes, 53.40 seconds, with Farrell (4:55.79) settling for the second spot, more than two seconds behind.
Much later, in the 1,000-meter run, Garn found herself again pulling away from the field. With a time of 3:10.87, Garn took the title as WG eighth-grader Carly Benson had a breakthrough, rising to second place in 3:13.58.
Of course, Laura Leff is the Wildcats’ most well-known runner, and she earned her own title in the 3,000-meter run, dominating the field and winning in 10:17.01, leaving the second-place finisher, F-M’s Alana Pearl (10:32.72), more than 15 seconds behind.
Abby Uczen earned WG’s other title, in the pole vault. No one else in the field got close to clearing Uczen’s top height of 9 feet 6 inches as Homer’s Jade Auchmoody was second with 8’6”, a foot behind.
In the 4×800 relay, Leff, teaming with Alicia Sakran, Rachel Whiting and Mary McGlynn, finished third in 10:35.34, and WG was also third in the 4×400 relay as Allison Iles, Nicole Paone, Lindsay Weaver and Maria Matkoski posted a time of 4:33.66.
WG’s Brianna Richardson made her way to second place in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.20 seconds, trailing only Pulaski star Breann Burns (8.57 seconds), while Solvay’s Hailey Holcomb gained sixth place in 9.98 seconds. In the triple jump, Richardson was fourth, going 33’11 ½”, and she added an 11th in the high jump.
Six of Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s 10 points came from the 55-meter dash, where Tatiana Monds, in 7.62 seconds, was third, inches behind Fowler’s Nytasia Survia and CBA’s Anna Schug (7.61 seconds each), with Jordan-Elbridge’s Julie Hines fifth in 7.80 seconds. Westhill/Ludden’s Bella Sterly took fourth in the shot put with a top throw of 31’10 ¼”.
Hines also helped the Eagles to a sixth-place effort in the 4×400 (4:40.95) and seventh-place finish (1:58.05) in the 4×200 relay, but it was Abby Gugel giving J-E its best finish in the 600-meter run, her time of 1:44.38 putting her in second place behind F-M’s Olivia Ryan, who won in 1:42.84.
