SYRACUSE – Whether it was a close call against its neighbors or a runaway performance, each of the Westhill indoor track and teams proudly earned their respective Section III Class B-1 championships.
In Saturday’s sectional meet at SRC Arena, the Warriors, on the boys side, needed 99 points to hold off Marcellus, who got 93 points.
Not until the final race, the 4×200 relay, did Westhill clinch the top spot, making its way to second place in one minute, 39.25 seconds to finish ahead of the Mustangs’ third-place 1:40.33.
But Weshtill had already won the 4×800, seeing Brian Allen, Brian Kenny, Drew O’Reilly and Bohdan Centore go 9:02.20 as Marcellus (9:17.87) settled for third place.
Carter Buckman added a pole vault victory by clearing 11 feet as teammate Patrick Mahoney topped 10’6” for second place.
More points for the Warriors came from the 3,200-meter run, where O’Reilly was second in 9:58.23 and Brandon Mulholland (10:18.58) got third place.
Kenny got second in the 1,000-meter run in 2:43.10 as Allen (2:46.50) took third to match Mulholland’s finish in the 600 in 1:29.92. Kenny went on to get second in the 1,600-meter run in 4:41.91, with O’Reilly fourth in 4:52.37.
Marcellus had Tyler Herr prevail in the 55-meter dash, his time of 6.77 seconds ahead of the third-place 6.88 from Westhill’s Evan Frost. In the 300-meter dash, Herr got second in 38.28 seconds, with Frost sixth.
Peter McCaffrey also gained points, winning the triple jump with 40’8 ½: as Joe Striffler was second with 38’8 1/4”. McCaffrey had a second-place long jump of 20′ 1/4” and, in the high jump, got third place, topping 5’6” as Mahoney settled for fifth place.
Mason Grieb had a third-place time of 8.69 seconds in the 55 hurdles. Nate Alexander finish fourth in the 3,200, with Colin Gerbsch fourth in the 600 and Scott Hall fifth in the shot put to go with a sixth in the weight throw.
Andrew McCaffrey was fourth in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet. Gerbsch, Grieb, Ryan Constable and Xander Szalach were second in the 4×400 relay in 3:48.77, while Westhill (3:52.22) was third.
On the other side, Westhill’s girls got 150.33 points, more than double anyone else’s total as Marcellus, with 42.33 points, finished third.
Angie Mesa-Espinosa rolled to victory in the 55 sprint in 7.54 seconds, going 1-2 with Elle Herrera (7.65), who in the 55-meter hurdles saw her time of 9.33 topped by Kate Bendall’s winning 9.16.
In the 300, Mesa-Espinosa won again, her 43.47 seconds topping a field that had Herrera get third place in 45.81, and Bendall added a second title with a winning long jump of 17’2 3/4”, with Ava Baty (15’1 1/2”) third.
Ashley Bolesh went 1:41.39 in the 600 to prevail there and won the triple jump with 35’3 1/2” to Bendall’s second-place 34’2”. Bolesh joined Mesa-Espinosa, Kennedy Rose and Emma DeSanto to go 1:51.94 and take the 4×200 relay.
Mary Kate Rewakowski was second in the pole vault topping 8 feet as Corine Allen was third (7’6”) and Kaelin Feliu fifth. Colleen Patrie had a third-place shot put toss of 27’10 1/2” as Solvay’s Jessica Mann was sixth.
Ellie Thornton was fourth in the 3,000-meter run and Rose fifth in the 600 as the Warriors took third in the 4×400 relay in 4:33.95.
Marcellus had a win from Heidi Steigerwald, who cleared 4’10” to take the high jump as teammate Angelina Coleman was fourth with 4’6”, tied with Westhill’s Madison Scheirer.
In the 4×800, Virginia Lucchetti, Alyssa McShane, Brielle McShane and Heidi Steigerwald rise to second place in 10:48 flat as Westhill (11:22.83) was third.
Alyssa McShane finished third in the 1,000 in 3:26.94, with Lucchetti fourth and Sophia Maum fifth in the 1,500-meter run and Sophia Bianchi fourth in the 55 hurdles. Olivia Smolen finished fourth in the weight throw.
