STATEN ISLAND – Five different area high schools sent top indoor track and field athletes to Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex for last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
And it included West Genesee putting its 4×200 relay team on the awards podium with a fourth-place overall finish and third among public-school teams.
Dom Burris, Bryce Bort, Payton Manipole and Chris Moser, all of whom are juniors except for Bort, a senior, went one minute, 31.68 seconds in the qualifying round, setting a school record and third to University-Prep Rochester (1:30.35) and Cornwall (1:30.49).
Then, in the finals, WG was nearly as fast, going 1:31.77, which put it fourth as Cornwall prevailed in a meet-record 1:29.33 and Shenendehowa went 1:29.86 for second in the NYSPHSAA standings.
Another medal went to Skaneateles junior Kyla Palmer, who again dazzled in the girls 300-meter dash. She broke her own school record in the qualifying round by going 40.69 seconds, and then went 40.85 in the final to take fourth place overall, third among NYSPHSAA runners as Mohonasen’s Zionna Perez-Tucker won in 39.04.
As for Jordan-Elbridge senior Vassianna Klock, she was a standout in the girls 1,000-meter run, going 2:56.74 to better her previous time by nearly four seconds and taking sixth place in NYPSHSAA, eighth overall.
Westhill had Ashley Bolesh get to the awards podium in the 600-meter run, her time of 1:36.86 not far from her season-best 1:36.68 as she was seventh in the NYSPHSAA standings and eighth overall.
West Genesee also had its 4×800 relay team on hand as Peter McMahon, Kevin Moser, Aidan Walsh and Casey Comny made it to 14th place in 8:29.25. Burris finished 21st in the 55-meter dash in 6.72 seconds as Chris Moser was 27th in the 300-meter dash in 37.86 seconds.
McMahon had gone 9:30.32 in the 3,200-meter run during the winter, McMahon improved by more than nine seconds, to 9:21.25, which put him 12th overall and seventh among NYSPHSAA runners.
Elsewhere, Westhill’s Angie Mesa-Espinosa competing in three different sprints, including her work with Bolesh, Kate Bendall and Elle Herrera in the 4×200 relay, where they were seeded fifth with a time of 1:45.69. Here, the Warriors’ 1:46.60 left it in ninth place, missing the final by just 0.15 seconds.
Having gone 7.41 seconds in the 55-meter dash this winter, Mesa-Espinosa put up a 7.55 here to take 22nd place. She also finished 18th in the 300 in 42.20 seconds.
Marcellus had Peter McCaffrey aim for a top-10 finish in the boys triple jump. Seeded 10th with 43’2 3/4”, McCaffrey only managed 39’10” here, which put him in 19th place.
