Carly Benson’s victory in the 1,500-meter run, plus other top finishes, helped the West Genesee girls track and field team to a fifth-place finish in last Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championship meet at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.

Up against a trio of Fayetteville-Manlius challengers (Samantha Levy, Phoebe White and Sophia Ryan), the Wildcats freshman pulled away from all of them, finishing in four minutes, 42.44 seconds, with Levy taking second place (4:50.45) more than eight seconds behind.

All told, WG had 53 points, beating most of the 12-team field, though F-M (122.5 points) won, holding off Rome Free Academy (103 points) for that top spot.

Elise Dunshee made her way to second place in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:48.12. Maria Matkoski went 1:00.27 in the 400-meter dash to take third place and Benson was fourth (2:26.77) in the 800-meter run. Dunshee also paired with Matkoski, Paris Archung and Kendall Dombroske (who was seventh in the 3,000-meter run) to finish third in the 4×800 relay in 9:58.03.

Valerie Pirro had her best effort in the 400-meter hurdles, rising to third place in 1:07.85. Pirro also was ninth in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.03 seconds as Megan Delia took sixth in the 200-meter dash (27.49 seconds). J’Nazia Anderson was ninth in the shot put.

Abby Uczen got third place in the pole vault, topping 9 feet 6 inches. Michela Kashay, clearing 4’10”, finished fourth in the high jump. Pirro, Benson, Delia and Matkoski were fifth in the 4×400 relay in 4:110.5 as WG took eighth (53.99 seconds) in the 4×100.

On the boys side in the sectional AA meet, West Genesee had just 18 points. Josh Mattice was second in the shot put, throwing it 47’8 ½” to finish just behind RFA’s Peter Mastracco (49’11 ½”), while Evan Tuthill threw the discus 135’5”, a close second to Mastracco’s 137’2”.

Jackson Powell went 17.30 seconds in the 110 high hurdles and was fifth, the best finish on the oval for the Wildcats as David Leff took seventh (9:58.56) amid a tough field in the 3,200-meter run.

Marcellus, in its one-year promotion to Class A-2, had some strong moments in that pair of sectional meets that took place at Camden High School.

During the girls A-2 meet last Wednesday, Marcellus finished with 71 points, comfortably in third place amid a nine-team field. Only Oneida (149 points) and Mexico (138 points) fared better.

The Mustangs’ lone victory came in the shot put, where Johanna Sylcox, with a toss of 34’6”, finished well clear of Oneida’s Jane Matzen, who was second with 30’9”.

Mary Catherine Coon tore through the 100-meter dash in exactly 13 seconds, second behind Homer’s Alsasce Sanders (12.88 seconds). In the 200, Coon finished fourth in 27.64 seconds as, again, Sanders (27.23 seconds) prevailed, while in the high jump Coon cleared 4’8” to take third place.

Alex Kinsella did well in the pentathlon, her total of 1,921 points putting her in second place, not far behind Oneida’s Julia Pickard, who won with 2,017 points.

Haley Randall got to third place in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.77 seconds, with Zoe Higgins fourth in 18.41 seconds. They reversed those results in the 400 hurdles, this time with Higgins third in 1:12.20 and Randall (1:14.02) taking fourth place.

Emily Townsend finished third in the 1,500 in 5:40.70 and sixth (8:43.99) over Schuyler Stuart (8:57.57) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Tori Stopen fifth in the 400 sprint in 1:03.27 and Kendyll French (1:06.00) eighth. Stopen added a fifth-place finish in the 800 (2:36.06), with Rickie Mixon sixth (2:37.05) as Randall, Seleena Lozepone, Jane Stewart and Lauren Lundrigan were sixth (56.79 seconds) in the 4×100 relay.

Though the Marcellus boys track team earned fewer points (50) as it vied for A-2 honors Friday at Camden, it included Noah Townsend winning the pentathlon, picking up 2,988 points to rout the field, with Mexico’s Justin Gardner (2,559 points) far back in second place.

Pat McGuane won, too, posting 2:02.68 in the 800 as Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Dalzon Lewis (2:04.10) finished second. Sean Raymond, in 1:03.10, was second to Oneida’s Dylan Ano (1:02 flat) in the 400 hurdles, also taking sixth in the high jump as Mike Abbott (11 feet) and Tom Dailey (10’6”) were third and fourth, respectively, in the pole vault.

Joe Riccardi made it to third place in the 3,200 in 10:41.85. Ethan Mosure was fourth in the mile in 4:51.54. Will Coon finished eighth in the 400 and 200 sprints and helped the Mustangs to sixth (3:47.63) in the 4×400 with Mosure, Andy Marsh and Sean Kocher.