With one dominant relay performance and nearly a win in another, the West Genesee girls indoor track and field team stood out among the local sides during Friday night’s season-opening Jack Morse Kickoff Meet at SRC Arena.
The Wildcats made its biggest stir in the 4×800 relay. Freshman sensation Carly Benson anchored the quartet that included Elise Dunshee, Lindsay Weaver and Maria Matkoski as WG finished in nine minutes, 57.08 seconds, more than 14 seconds ahead of runner-up Liverpool (10:11.84) at the line.
Later in the meet, WG contended in the 4×400 relay, where Benson and Matkoski joined senior Valerie Pirro and ninth-grader Megan Delia for a time of 4:18.09, easily clear of most of the field, but just behind Skaneateles, who prevailed in 4:16.80.
Those accounted for most of the Wildcats’ 26 points, which put them in eighth place overall as Liverpool (67 points) held off Cicero-North Syracuse (63 points) for the top spot to match the boys Warriors’ narrow victory over the Northstars in its edition of the Morse Meet two nights earlier.
WG’s J’Nazia Anderson earned fourth place in the shot put with a toss of 29 feet 10 inches, with Solvay’s Samantha Waters (29’4″) in sixth place. Eighth-grader Kendall Dombroskie gave the Wildcats a fifth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run in 5:27.48, where Marcellus’ Olviia Bird was 12th. Delia got to fifth int he long jump, going 14 feet 10 1/4 inches.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden’s Katherine Doherty challenged for the title in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet, which put her in second place behind Central Square’s Bethany Cripps, who won with 9’6″.
The Warriors also had Jayanna Monds finish seventh in the 55-meter dash in 7.84 seconds, while Annibel Coolican was eighth (1:49.24) in the 600-meter run as Genny Corcoran (3:18.65) and Alaina Kenny (3:21.09) were seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 1,000-meter run. The Warriors took eighth place in the 4×200 relay (1:59.51) and ninth place in the 4×400 relay in 4:40.54.
Jordan-Elbridge’s best finish came in the 300-meter dash, where sophomore Madi Hatt made an impression with her time of 45.97 seconds, while Solvay’s Katie Harrington cleared 4’10” for sixth place in the high jump. Mary Elizabeth Dristle took 10th place in the 3,000-meter run in 12:09.60.
