Back on Nov. 15, Jack Morse, the long-time local sportscaster on radio and television, passed away at age 84. One of his great loves was covering the area high school sports scene.
As such, a few years back area indoor track and field officials named one of their meets in Morse’s honor, and it evolved into the season opener.
So it was again last week when the Jack Morse Kickoff meet took place Wednesday and Thursday at SRC Arena, with most of the area’s teams taking part in the Wednesday session.
West Genesee finished fourth out of 17 girls teams with 50 points, just ahead of Westhill (46 points) in fifth place. Skaneateles was seventh with 33.33 points and Marcellus got eighth place with 25.33 points.
The Wildcats won the 4×200 relay, having Abby Kuppinger, Mikeayla DeJesus, Sandy Gardino and Caitlin Mills go one minute, 54.97 seconds to edge Westhill’s second-place 1:55.15 as Skaneateles was fourth in 1:56.54.
Individually, the Lakers’ Emme Conan was victorious in the 55-meter dash in 7.49 seconds over Mills (7.68), with Conan and Eva Vitsaxaki going 15.58 seconds to top Mills and Gardino (16.64) for team honors as Westhill finished fourth and Skaneateles took fourth in the long jump.
Sarah Tallerico was second in the individual 1,500-meter run in 5:13.79, Marcellus getting third in the team portion, but tying for second with the Lakers in the high jump, each clearing 9 feet 4 inches as the Mustangs’ Sophia Shaw did best among individuals, clearing 4’10”.
And in the girls weight throw, Skaneateles had Reagan Evans throw it 31’2” for second place in the individual event, joining Lily Buchholz for fourth place in the team portion as Westhill got fifth place.
WG also had Faith Knox, Natalie Buckhout, Mia Mitchell and Alana Eastman finish second in the 4×800 relay in 11:13.55, just ahead of Westhill (11.32.98) in third place as Marcellus took fourth.
In the 4×400, the Wildcats had Mitchell, Eastman, Kuppinger and DeJesus get second place in 4:37.76, while Marcellus was fifth in 4:46.34. WG took fifth place in the sprint medley relay and triple jump.
Westhill had Ashley Heffernan clear 9’6” to win the individual pole vault andpair with Lauren Bendall for team honors as they topped 17 feet together. Heffernan and Lauren Holstein finish third in the 55 hurdles in 20.02 seconds, with WG fifth. The Warriors were fifth in the shot put.
Moving to the boys portion of the Morse meet, it was Marcellus, fifth with 34 points, doing best among local sides as Westhill was eighth, Skaneateles ninth and West Genesee 11th.
The Mustangs’ Jonah Kwasnowski and Mason Grieb teamed to finish second (18.34 seconds) to C-NS (16.57) in the 55 hurdles relay.
Kwasnowski and Peter McCaffrey both cleared 5 feet in the high jump, teaming for third place. Ryan White was third in the individual 55 sprint in 7.01 seconds and helped Marcellus finish fourth in the 4×200, the Mustangs also taking fourth in the triple jump.
Joe Norris and Matt Persampieri helped Skaneateles to second place in the 1,600 relay in 20:38.05 to C-NS’s 19:19.55. Emil Sander and Thomas Smith had Sknaeateles third in the 55 sprint in 14.33 seconds, with Smith, Connor Gell, Tony DiRubbo and Josh Reed third in the sprint medley in 4:11.45 as WG got fourth place.
Westhill won the 4×800 as Jacob Fricano, Scott MacBain, Josiah Miggiani and Mike Ferrara finished in 9:19.17, edging Homer (9:19.48) for that top spot.
Ben Helfeld, throwing the shot put 38′ 9 1/2”, teamed with Geoffrey Cundall for second place on the team side with 68′ 4 3/4” between them. Helfeld went 43’9” in the weight throw as he and Shawn Patrie were fourth on the team side.
WG featured a third-place time of 3:56.79 in the 4×400, ahead of Marcellus (fifth) and Westhill (sixth).
