On the last Saturday before Christmas, a new season began for the area’s indoor track and field teams, with the Jack Morse Holiday Meet, so large that it was broken up to morning and afternoon segments.
West Genesee, Westhill-Bishop Ludden, Jordan-Elbridge and Solvay all took the afternoon shift, and the Wildcats were right in the mix for the girls team title, eventually finishing on top over Liverpool by a single point, 69 to 68, with Homer third with 66 points,
But WG was far from alone with local success. J-E, aided by a pair of victories, got 29 points, edging out Solvay (25 points) and Westhill-Ludden (24 points), among others for fifth place in those same team standings.
Leading the Wildcats again, Carly Benson won the 3,000-meter run in 10 minutes, 31.45, well clear of Westhill-Ludden teammates Alaina Kenny (11:03.36) and Haylei Coolican (11:03.75), who ran together to the next two spots. Megan Delia won the 300-meter dash, pulling away in 43.37 seconds as J-E’s Madi Hatt was second in 45.79 seconds.
Then, working together, Benson, Kendall Dombroske, Kelsey Fox and Mia Mitchell won in 4:24.91, easily clear of a field that included Solvay (4:40.91) in sixth place. Maria Matkoski, Sarah Schahczenski, Shelby Kiteveles and Alicia Sakran were fourth in 2:01.80.
On her own, Dombroske was second (1:48.29) to Baldwinsville’s Katie Wicks (1:46.81) in the 600-meter run, with Sakran sixth in 1:52.42. Matkoski got second (3:12.06) to Liverpool’s Juliana Basla (3:11.29) in the 1,000-meter run, where Westhill-Ludden’s Annibel Coolican (3:22.35) edged J-E’s Theresa Dristle (3:23.96) for fifth place. Fox was third in the 55-meter dash in 8.02 seconds
J-E’s big win came in the girls 4×800 relay, where Madison Daly, Theresa Dristle, Mary Elizabeth Dristle and Abby Gugel finished in 10:37.73, well clear of runner-up Liverpool (10:46.34) and the rest of the field.
Then Gugel went out on her own and, in 5:02.75, took the 1,500-meter run over the Warriors’ Genny Corcoran (5:09.63), with WG’s Mia Mitchell fourth (5:28.23) and Sara Ferranti (5:28.45) taking the fourth and fifth spots.
Solvay went 1-2 in the shot put, where Ashley Bosco won with a toss of 32’7 ¼” and Samantha Waters was second, heaving it 31’ ½” as WG’s J’Nazia Anderson (29’11 ½”) settled for third place. The Bearcats’ Katie Harrington was third in the long jump, going 15 feet 1 inch.
In boys afternoon action, Westhill-Ludden earned 52 points, third behind Liverpool (79 points) and Baldwinsville (69 points), while West Genesee was fifth with 40 points.
Westhill-Ludden had Garnet Remillard win the mile, pulling away for a time of 4:41.38 to hold off WG’s Ryan Dunning (4:56.79) in second place as Dunning’s teammate, Sean Byrnes, was fourth in 5:04.45.
Remillard, paired with Cody Badman, Matt McAnaney and Wynton Hughes, got third place in the 4×400 relay in 3:55.19, with Solvay’s Jordan Devereaux, Tony Matsyuk, nate Kosecki and Max Melnyk fourth in 3:56.98 and J-E sixth in 4:00.18.
Tom Howard finished third, edging out teammate Chris Coates, 39.36 seconds to 39.37, in the 300 sprint, with J-E’s Pat Fordyce sixth in 40.69 seconds as Howard helped the Warriors take fourth in the 4×200 relay in 1:42.82. Alex Kiley get third place in the 55 spring in 6.98 seconds, with WG’s Andrew Barry fourth in 6.92 seconds. Bryan King finished fourth in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.91 seconds, while Solvay’s Josh Chrysler sixth (9.26 seconds).
WG’s David Leff was victorious in the 1,000 in 2:47.11, chased by, among others, teammate Hunter Buza (2:52.90), who beat out Westhill-Ludden’s Jake Suddaby (2:54.44) for third place. Sean O’Brien was fourth in the 3,200-meter run in 11:00.14, while Russell Gaziano was fifth in the 600 in 1:31.20.
J-E’s Brad Marshall rose to second place in the shot put with a throw of 41’6 ½”, a number only Central Square’s Tyler Stassi (42’9 ¼”) could top. Westhill-Ludden’s Ben Eassa cleared 9’6” in the pole vault, second to Central Square’s Joe Weaver, who topped 12 feet.
Before that, Marcellus did well on the girls and boys sides during the morning portion of the Morse Meet. The girls Mustangs picked up 27 points, putting them in sixth place, while the Marcellus boys earned 21 points and tied for ninth place as Cicero-North Syracuse won each division by comfortable margins.
Mary-Catherine Coon got second place in the high jump, clearing 4’10”, a total only Jamesville-DeWitt’s Alexandria Payne (5’2”) topped as Grace Coon finished fourth, clearing 4’8”.
Hannah Ryan was third in the pole vault, topping 6 feet, while Mary-Catherine Coon also rose to fourth place in the 55 sprint in 7.70 seconds, where CBA’s Anna Schug won in 7.58 seconds. Meg Blystone had a fourth-place shot put throw of exactly 28 feet, with teammate Gabby Shaffer eighth.
Haley Randall notched sixth place in the 55 hurdles in 9.76 seconds, while Grace Coon was seventh in the 300 and Schuyler Stuart was eighth in the 3,000. Olivia Bird and Morgan Gould were eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 1,500. The Mustangs were eighth in the 4×400 relay.
Marcellus earned a full 10 points from Mike Provvidenti’s victory in the 300 sprint. In a time of 38.60 seconds, won the fourth heat and watched that time hold up through one more heat for the top spot as C-NS’s Allen Garnes was second in 38.69 seconds. Provvidenti also was seventh (19 feet ¼ inch) in the long jump.
Sean Raymond got third place in the high jump, clearing 5’6”, and Raymond helped the Mustangs 4×800 relay team, also composed of Joe Riccardi, Ethan Mosure and Patrick McGuane, which put up a time of 8:48.94, leaving them in third place behind Tully (8:45.14) and Hannibal (8:47.23). Matt Strempel was seventh in the 1,000 in 2:55.73.