Now it was time for the West Genesee track and field teams to test themselves against all of the top large-school talent in Central New York.
The Wildcats did so during last Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championships at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, managing to pick up several top finishes along the way.
WG’s boys claimed three of the top six spots in the 100-meter dash. Esisas Brumfield, in 11.32 seconds, was second to Nottingham’s Jamel Nellons (11.18) as Dan Gill was fifth in 11.43 seconds and Exavier Brumfield (11.68) finished sixth.
Right after that, in the 4×100 relay, Gill, Esisas Brumfield, Jakob Petrocci and Patrick Peris went 43.77 seconds, second only to Utica Proctor’s 43.36 as Peris went on to take ninth place in the 200-meter dash in 23.78 seconds.
Luke Mullane was impressive in the 400 hurdles, roaring to fourth place in 1:01.26. Matt Bartolotta ran the mile in 4:29.98 and earned fifth place. Also, Bartolotta, Justin Malinowski, Peter McMahon and Brendan Scott were sixth in the 4×800 in 9:04.99.
In field events, Hopeton Wellington topped 5’6” in the high jump for seventh place, with Henri Youmans seventh in the discus by throwing it 104’5”.
Overall, WG’s boys had 26 points to finish ninth and the girls Wildcat had 22 points to finish seventh. Liverpool won both sectional Class AA team titles, with Utica Proctor second on the boys side and F-M second in the girls event.
The Wildcats’ Lauren Puchta was participating in the five-event pentathlon for only the second time in her career. With 1,871 points, Puchta gained fourth place as Katie Berge’ (Fayetteville-Manlius) won with 2,150 points.
WG was fifth in the 4×800 relay as Faith Knox, Mia Mitchell, Haylee McCauliffe and Alana Eastman posted 10:17.09, while Caitlin Mills, Sandy Gardino, Natalie Keiling and Olivia Becker were fifth in the 4×100 in 51.75 seconds.
On her own, Gardino got fourth place in the 200 in 27.27 seconds, while Becker finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.94 seconds before Abby Kuppinger got fifth place in the 400 hurdles in 1:11.36.
Mikeayla DeJesus, sixth in the 200 in 27.45 seconds, needed 1:02.42 to finish fourth in the 400-meter dash and joined Mitchell, Kuppinger and Abby Cooper to go 4:15.18 in the 4×400 relay for fourth place.
Mills was ninth in the high jump, clearing 4’8”. Natalie Buckhout finished ninth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:04.90, with Liz Morey 12th and Knox 14th. Eastman finished 10th in the 800 in 2:30.19.
