Whether on an individual basis, or as a group, members of the West Genesee indoor track and field teams would make some history during last Saturday’s Section III state qualifying meet at Utica College’s Hutton Dome.
They had moved to Utica after the meet, originally scheduled for last Wednesday at SRC Arena, was postponed. The wait did not keep WG’s Carly Benson from taking part in two victories that set school records.
First, Benson paired with Kendall Dombroske, Megan Delia and Emily Young as the Wildcats, in four minutes, 1.97 seconds, set the school mark in the 4×400 relay and won that event by more than five seconds over runner-up Liverpool (4:07.01).
Then, in the 600-meter run, Benson broke her second school record of the night when she posted a winning time of 1:36.52, more than a second ahead of Liverpool’s Windsor Ardner (1:37.66) as Dombroske finished fifth in 1:41.53 and Amanda Lowther was 10th in 1:44.84.
Young also qualified for next Saturday’s state meet at Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex by taking second place in the 1,000-meter run in 2:58.71, well below the 3:02.24 qualifying standard, though Fayetteville-Manlius’ Phoebe White won the race in 2:55.11. Delia finished second in the 300-meter dash in 42.70 seconds, trailing only Liverpool’s Kierra Richardson (41.96 seconds) at the line.
David Leff, competing for the Wildcats in the boys mile, earned a time of 4:25.24 that beat the state qualifying standard by more than three seconds and nearly won the race, too, Leff finishing just behind Liverpool’s Josh Hickmott, who won in 4:24.95.
In the boys 4×400, WG’s quartet of Ryan Dunning, Paul Stannard, Griffin Dombroske and Joe Francisco had a season-best time of 3:36.76 and finished second behind Baldwinsville, who set a Section III record with 3:24.81 to break the mark Liverpool (3:26.40) set in 2012.
Solvay got its big moment from Ashley Bosco, who not only broke more school marks in the shot put, but her throw of 38 feet 3 ¼” inches easily beat the state qualifying meet standard of 37’7” as Kara Schindler (South Lewis) was second, throwing it 34’10 ¼”. Bosco also had a seventh-place weight throw of 32’2”.
Also, Katie Harrington contended in the high jump, clearing 5’1” to tie Clinton’s Sarah Owens for second place, trailing only Baldwinsville’s Adrianna Straughter, who won by topping 5’2”.
Moving back to the boys side, the Bearcats’ Jordan Devereaux proved a surprise contender in the 300-meter dash, his time of 37.32 seconds putting Devereaux in sixth place, an inch behind Cazenovia’s Alec Boone in fifth (37.31 seconds) as Jamesville-DeWitt’s David Fikhman won in 35.80 seconds.
Westhill-Bishop Ludden had Noelle Coolican qualify for the state meet in the girls pole vault, clearing 10 feet, the state standard, to finish second behind Liverpool’s Kelley Townley (11’6”).
The Warriors’ Sean Corbett threw the shot put 48’1 ½”, second to Nottingham’s Jaleel Barry (56’9 ½”). Evan Watt finished fifth in the boys pole vault, clearing 11 feet, while Corbett was sixth in the weight throw (46’9 ½”).
In the boys 4×200 relay, Tom Howard, Evan Watt, Cal Niezabytowski and Connor Schwartz took sixth place in 1:37.90. Allysa Holstein take eighth place in the girls 55-meter hurdles in 9.71 seconds, while Owen Hoyne was 12th in the boys 55 hurdles and Howard was 13th in the 300.
Marcellus nearly put Sean Raymond in the state meet. During the high jump, Raymond cleared 6 feet, and no one topped it, but Central Square’s Erich Metz matched it and, with fewer misses, took the title and the state meet berth. Mike Provvidenti took sixth place in the 600 in 1:38.82.
