For all the other things that took place during Monday’s Onondaga High School League Liberty division championship meet, none was as impressive as what Marcellus senior Rachel Garn did in three of the longer individual races.
Garn, a senior, swept them, starting in the 1,500-meter run, where in four minutes, 51.31 seconds she held off Skaneateles star Kaitlyn Neal (4:53.38) in another one of their duels.
Moving to the 800-meter run, Garn had to worry about Skaneateles challenger, Madeline Adams, but won that race, too, in 2:22.52 to Adams’ 2:24.19. Two Westhill/Ludden runners, Annibel Coolican and Emily Washburn, were fifth and sixth, respectively.
Finally, in the 3,000-meter run, Garn would hold off Westhill/Bishop Ludden’s Genny Corcoran, 10:45.74 to 10:47.74, as Corcoran’s teammate, Alaina Kenny, finished third in 10:49.59. Corcoran had taken third (4:56.20) and Coolican fourth (5:09.37) in the 1,500.
Those three wins helped push Marcellus to third place, with 99 points, in the 10-team OHSL Liberty field, behind Westhill/Ludden’s runner-up total of 114 points as Skaneateles, with 133 points, prevailed. Solvay (30 points) and Jordan-Elbridge (26 points) lagged further back.
Emily Washburn, Caroline Coates, Olivia Dagineau and Molly Clark were second in the 4×800 relay in 10:28.36 to Skaneateles (10:13.92), with Marcellus fourth in 10:54.75 as Tori Stopen, Emily Townsend, Eliza Bell (who was fifth in the 1,500) and Brianna Szczech taking part.
Another Marcellus win was earned by Zoe Higgins in the 400-meter hurdles, as she needed 1:11.63 to hold off Hannibal’s Tayler Dence (1:13.29) and the field, including Higgins’ teammate, Haley Randall, who was fourth in 1:15.68.
Westhill/Ludden won three field events. In the shot put, Bella Sterly prevailed with a top throw of 36 feet 3 inches, well clear of Marcellus’ Johanna Sylcox (30’4 ¾”) in second place. Solvay’s Samantha Waters (30’ ½”) was fourth, ahead of Sterly’s teammate, Kayla Wild, in fifth.
But Wild would have her turn in the discus, as a throw of 93’11” easily put her in front of Waters, who was second with 81’3”, and Sterly, who was third in 80’1”. Another Solvay thrower, Felicia Neves, finished fifth.
Katherine Doherty cleared 8’6” in the pole vault, but did so with fewer misses than Megan Molnar (Skaneateles) and Liz Pittman (Cazenovia), with Noelle Coolican taking fourth place for the Warriors.
Anna Ross gave Westhill/Ludden a second-place pentathlon score of 2,484 points, just behind Phoenix’s Haylie Virginia, who won in 2,691 points. Marcellus teammates Makenzie Felicia and Alex Kinsella were fourth and fifth, respectively, with the Warriors’ Erin Christensen in sixth place.
Also for the Warriors, Maddie Nowicki was second in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:02.69, with Erin Morrell fourth in 8:08.94. Mary Washburn was third in the 400-meter dash (1:03.14), with two Marcellus runners, Rickie MIxon (1:06.18) and Tori Stopen (1:06.27), in the fifth and sixth spots.
Morrell, Coates and the Washburn sisters finished second (4:22.95) to Skaneateles (4:16.51) in the 4×400 relay, while J-E’s Julie Hines, Emma Burns, Emily Weichert and Madi Hatt were third in 4:24.60 and Marcellus (4:34.27) was sixth.
Abbie Fallon put up a time of 13.11 seconds in the 100-meter dash, which got her second place behind Skaneateles’ Taylor Woodruff, who won in 13 seconds flat. Fallon’s teammate, M.C. Coon, was fourth in 13.39 seconds. Coon, Fallon (who was fourth in the long jump), Randall and Higgins were fourth (54.11 seconds) in the 4×100, with Westhill/Ludden sixth in 55.46 seconds.
J-E’s lone victory came in the 200-meter dash, where Hines won in 26.67 seconds, edging out Skaneateles’ Taylor Woodruff (26.69 seconds), who would win the 100 and 400-meter sprints. Fallon was fourth (27.54 seconds) and Coon was sixth.
Solvay’s Courtney Napolitano cleared 4’10” to finish second, just ahead of Hines in third place as Napolitano’s teammate, Katie Harrington, was fifth and Coon got sixth place. Kathleen DeMong (29’11 ½”) and Christina Marotti (29’ ¼”) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the triple jump.
The Eagles’ Emily Weichert was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.58 seconds, just ahead of Marcellus’ Higgins (17.65 seconds), who was fifth. The Mustangs’ Emily Townsend was sixth in the 2,000 steeplechase, with Westhill/Ludden’s Ciara Hoyne sixth in the 400 hurdles.
