As April ended and May started, area high school track and field teams knew that the most crowded and decisive stretch of the season lay straight ahead.
West Genesee went up against powerful Cicero-North Syracuse Wednesday and lost both sides of that meet to the Northstars, but did sweep Nottingham to gain a split of the three-team event.
WG’s girls beat Nottingham 116-2 to make up for the 90-51 defeat to C-NS, and the Wildcats did quite well in the sprints.
Caitlin Mills was first in the 100-meter dash in 13.36 seconds, with Sandy Gardino taking the 200-meter dash in 27.61 seconds. Mills, Gardino, Olivia Becker and Natalie Keiling were victorious in the 4×100 relay in 51.92 seconds.
Elsewhere, Natalie Buckhout won the 3,000-meter run in 11:19.61, with Vivian Youmans throwing the discus 80’4”. Becker finished second in both the 100 hurdles and triple jump.
In the boys meet, West Genesee beat Nottingham 92-48, but fell 102-39 to C-NS. John Henri Youmas was second in the shot put (39 feet) and discus (103’3”), with Esisas Brumfield second in the 100 in 12 seconds flat, but helping Jakob Petrocci, Patrick Peris and Hunter Wellington win the 4×100 in 45.86 seconds.
Westhill saw its undefeated boys track team toppled by Chittenango, the Bears prevailing 73-68 despite two wins apiece from Tom Howard, Dan Washburn and Elliot Rouse.
Howard was first in the 100 (11.7 seconds) and 200 (23.7 seconds), with Washburn taking the mile in 4:41 flat and the 3,200 in 10:17.7 as Rouse went 19’3” in the long jump and cleared 6 feet in the high jump.
Evan Ballard, with a discus throw of 110’6”, edged Charlie Doebert (106 feet) as Ben Helfeld won the shot put with 43’5”. Will Remillard tied for first in the pole vault, clearing 7’6”.
The Westhill girls remained perfect, beating Chittenango 90-51 with two wins from three separate athletes, including Ashley Heffernan, who claimed the 100 hurdles in 16.1 seconds and the pole vault by clearing 9 feet as Ella Markham topped 8 feet.
Lennah Abraham threw the discus 95’10 ½” and the shot put 30’4”, with Angie Mesa-Espinosa going 14’9 ¼” in the long jump and 12.7 seconds to win the 100 sprint.
Other wins went to Lauren Bendall in the 400 hurdles, and Ashley Bolesh in the triple jump as Madison Schierer cleared 4’6” in the high jump. The Warriors were also victorious in the 4×100 (52.6 seconds) and 4×400 (4:19.2) relays.
Jordan-Elbridge had its boys team fall to Hannibal 75-65, though Marion Quigley won the long jump by going 20’4” and the 100 in 11.4 seconds, with second-place efforts in the 110 and 400 hurdles.
Derek Quigley won the pole vault, clearing 10’6”, while Logan Kinney claimed the 200 in 24.4 seconds. And the Eagles managed to sweep the 4×100 (46.9), 4×400 (3:48.0) and 4×800 (9:00.0) relays.
