Four different local indoor track and field teams were represented when the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships were held last Saturday at Cornell University’s Barton Hall.
West Genesee sent several of its distance runners, including David Leff, who took part in the boys mile and, in a time of four minutes, 26.95 points, made it all the way to eighth place, ahead of Fayetteville-Manlius’ Bryan Geehrer (10th) and Liverpool’s Ty Brownlow (14th) as Corning’s Kevin Mosher took the state title in 4:20.44.
Maria Matkoski, took part in the girls 600-meter run. And Matkoski would make her way to 15th place, posting a time of 1:37.82, with Watson also winning this race in 1:30.59 to give her a state championship double.
Carly Benson was as the sixth-fastest qualifier in the girls 1,000-meter run in 2:55.23.. Here, though, she would finish 22nd in 3:08.20 as Rush-Henrietta’s Sammy Watson won in 2;51.33.
Benson and Matkoski joined by Megan Delia and Kendall Dombroske for WG’s participation in the 4×400 relay. With a preliminary time of 4:03.67, the Wildcats qualified for the finals, where it got all the way to seventh place, though it slowed a bit to 4:04.17 as Suffern prevailed in 3;58.34.
Jordan-Elbridge saw senior Abby Gugel compete in the girls 1,500-meter run, where she easily broke the five-minute mark and finished 20th in 4:56.96. North Shore’s Diana Vizza was victorious in 4:31.67.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden had participants on both sides in field events. On the girls end, Katherine Doherty was in the pole vault, where she cleared 9 feet 9 inches, tying her for 16th place as Erica Ellis (Gates-Chili) won with 12’3” and Central Square’s Bethany Cripps (12 feet) was fourth.
Meanwhile, Bryan King took part in the boys pole vault for the Warriors, with Alex Kiley part of the long jump. King cleared 12’6”, but finished 21st, with Clinton’s Avery Crosley sixth and Saratoga’s Tom Conboy winning with a clearance of 14’6”.
Marcellus sent Patrick McGuane to join Section III’s team of Ethan Craig (Baldwinsville), Donald Frost (Liverpool), Andrew Bearkland (Cicero-North Syracuse) and Patrick Perry (Fayetteville-Manlius) in the distance medley relay. They would finish sixth in 9:01.93, with Section IX (8:55.45) on top.
Individually, the Mustangs’ Sean Raymond took part in the high jump, but was unable to clear the minimum height of 6 feet, while Oswego’s Kyle Crossman topped 6’2” for fifth place and Smithtown East’s Daniel Claxton won by clearing 6’8”.
Just one Section III athlete on either side won an event – F-M’s Kaitlyn Neal, who didn’t quite reach her own sectional record in the girls 3,000-meter run, but still claimed first place in 9:29.85 over Corning’s Jessica Lawson (9:35.50) and the field.
