A long-time rivalry highlighted the opening week of high school track and field as Westhill took on Marcellus, with the Warriors claiming both sides of Thursday afternoon’s meet.
Westhill’s girls prevailed 83-57, using its depth to amass second and third-place finishes to overcome the Mustangs claiming several individual titles.
Lennah Abraham led the Warriors, throwing the shot put 27 feet 9 inches and the discus 97 feet 8 inches, while Angie Messa had a tip long jump of 13’11”. Haylei Coolican took the 1,500-meter run in 5:32.4 and Liz Kessler went 2:40.3 in the 800-meter run to prevail.
Ashley Bolesh had a top time of 1:13.2 in the 400-meter hurdles, with Erica Gangemi first in the 200-meter dash in 28.7 seconds and Ashley Heffernan was first in the 100 hurdles in 16.8 seconds. Heffernan, Bolesh, Gangemi and Mesa won the 4×100 relay in 52.5 seconds.
Marcellus had its share of standouts, too, including Sophia Shaw, who cleared 4’8″ in the high jump and went 28’9″ in the triple jump. Delaney Manahan was victorious in the 100-meter dash in 13.4 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 1:04.7.
Also for the Mustangs, Julianna Szczech cleared 8 feet to win the pole vault, with Meaghan Strempel finishing first in the 3,000-meter run in 12:52.6. Manahan helped Marcellus win the 4×400 relay in 4:39.2.
Moving to the boys meet, Westhill handled Marcellus 90-51, with two wins apiece from Tom Howard and Luke Kelly, Howard prevailing in the 100 in 11.9 seconds to edge the Mustangs’ David White (12.0) and then taking the 200 in 23.8 seconds.
Kelly held off Marcellus’ Ryan McCormick, 18.6 seconds to 18.7, in the 110 hurdles, and went 17’9″ in the long jump to hold off the Mustangs’ Jonah Kwasnowski (17’8″). He also topped 5’4″ in the high jump, second to teammate Elliot Rouse, who won with 5’8″.
Will Thornton was first in the 800 in 2:16.1 and Brendan Rewakowski took the mile in 4:59.9 as Andrew Centore had a top triple jump of 35’6 1/2″ and Evan Ballard threw the shot put 44’2 1/2″. Brian Kenny was first in the 400 sprint in 58.4 seconds.
For Marcellus, Mason Grieb was first in the 400 hurdles in 1:05.8 and Nick Roseboom won the 3,200-meter run in 11:10.3. Dan Balman threw the discus 100’2″ to edge Westhill’s Ben Helfeld (99’3″) as Matt Stearns and Kevin Kuss both cleared 8 feet in the pole vault.
