The area’s boys and girls indoor track and field stars were gathered once more at SRC Arena last Wednesday, taking part in the Section III state qualifier.
Berths in next Saturday’s state meet at Colgate University were at stake, and the top two finishers in any single event earned automatic berths. That would include a host of local athletes, including Marcellus’ Rachel Garn and West Genesee’s Abby Uczen.
Garn competed in the 1,000-meter run against just two opponents, including Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s Annibel Coolican, but still pulled away late to win the race in three minutes, 1.48 seconds, with Liverpool’s Morgan Chewning-Kulick second (3:04.47) and Coolican third in 3:06.13.
Meanwhile, in the pole vault, Uczen and Clinton’s Hannah Shankman both cleared 9 feet 6 inches, the only competitors to so, but Uczen did so with fewer misses, so she won the event.
It was a tight race for the second state qualifying berth in the girls shot put behind Rome Free Academy’s Mariah Mays (41’10 ¾”), but Westhill/Ludden’s Bella Sterly earned it, her top throw of 34’4 ¾” edging out Cicero-North Syracuse’s Destiny Monica (34’3 ½”) by 1 ¼ inches. Marcellus’ Suzanna Sylcox finished sixth with 31’6”.
In the girls 55-meter dash, Westhill/Ludden’s Tatiana Monds went 7.55 seconds, edged out at the line by CBA’s Anna Schug (7.48 seconds), but still finishing second and reaching the state meet.
WG’s Brianna Richardson finished third in the 55-meter hurdles, going 9.02 seconds, and was fourth in the triple jump, going 35’1 ¼”, just missing spots in the state meet in both events. Richardson added a fifth-place long jump of 15’11 ¼” as Solvay’s Nicole Antonacci (14’4 ¾”) was 11th.
Garn also took seventh place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:13.40 as West Genesee standout Laura Leff led most of the race before Fayetteville-Manlius’ Annika Avery overtook her in the next-to-last lap, prevailing in 4:41.19 as Leff finished second in 4:46.86 and advanced to the state meet.
But Leff did join Maria Matkoski, Elise Dunshee and Lindsay Weaver as WG finished second (9:43.08) to F-M (9:37.07) in the 4×800 relay. Moving to the 4×400, the Wildcats were fourth as Allison Iles, Valerie Pirro, Nicole Paone and Tianna DeChick-Perrine finished in 4:23.09.
All of this followed Leff’s appearance at the Feb. 15 Millrose Games in New York City, where she finished ninth in the New Balance High School Girls Mile in a time of 4:59.81. Virginia runner Caroline Alcorta won the event in 4:46.06.
Coolican, Genny Corcoran, Erin Morrell and Alaina Kenny helped Westhill/Ludden finish third in the 4×800 in a time of 10:30.10, as Corcoran took fifth place (10:41.66) and Kenny 10th (11:27.14) in the 3,000-meter run.
Elsewhere for Westhill/Ludden, Katherine Doherty cleared 8 feet in the pole vault and finished ninth, while Caroline Black and Noelle Coolican (7’6”) tied for 13th.
On the boys side, Solvay’s Nick Cometti qualified for the state meet by finishing second in the 55-meter dash in 6.72 seconds, beaten only by Liverpool’s Ryheim Lawes, who won in 6.63 seconds. Cometti added a fifth-place finish in the 300-meter dash in 38.58 seconds.
Josh Marotti reached the brink of a state meet berth in the pole vault, but his top attempt of 11’6” left him in third place as East Syracuse-Minoa’s Caleb Moynhian, clearing 12 feet, made it and Jamesville-DeWitt’s Zach Liebmann cleared 14 feet to win. Marotti also finished sixth in the 55 hurdles in 8.69 seconds.
West Genesee got both of its 4×800 relay teams to runner-up finishes. Jack Erhard, Nate Conroy, Kal Strickland and Logan McAnulty put up a time of 8:06.90, beating everyone except F-M, who took the top spot in 8:04.84. Individually for the Wildcats, David Leff took fifth place in the 3,200-meter run in a clocking of 10:04.32.
Jordan-Elbridge’s Dylan Whittico fell just short of a state meet placement with his time of 1:26.45 in the 600-meter run, which put him in third place as Solvay’s Eric Goodrich (1:28.56) was fifth. Whittico’s teammate, Jack Gugel, was fifth (10:11.95) in the 3,200.
Westhill/Ludden’s Anthony Pecoriello got to third place in the shot put, this throw of 47’10 ¼” a foot behind Liverpool’s Geoffrey Bell (48’8”) for the second state qualifying spot. WG’s Ejay Harrell cleared 5’10” in the high jump to finish fourth.
