CENTRAL NEW YORK – Track and field teams from Westhill and Marcellus both emerged victorious when the Onondaga High School League Liberty Large School championships were contested Friday at Chittenango.
On the girls side, Westhill amassed 205.5 points to beat the Mustangs’ total of 112, while on the boys side it was Marcellus in front, getting 126 points to hold off the Warriors’ second-place 103.
Dominant in the girls sprints, Westhill’s Angie Mesa-Espinosa took the 100-meter dash in 12.40 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 25.67 seconds.
Jules Bleskoski won three distance races, needing 5:17.52 to prevail at 1,500 meters and adding an 800-meter title in 2:31.03 before she beat the field in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:21.3.
Kate Bendall was victorious in the 100 hurdles in 16.44 seconds, with Elle Herrera third, and in the triple jump Bendall added a second title, going 33 feet ¼ inch as Ava Baty (31’10”) was third.
Riley Grooms and Mary Kate Rewakowski each topped 8’3” in the pole vault, with Grooms winning. Mallie Alt and Morgan Heise went 1-2 as the only competitors in the pentathlon, Alt winning with 1,616 points. Rewakowski also was third in the long jump.
Isabella Cardosa took the discus by throwing it 81 feet as Colleen Patrie was second with 79’11”. Kennedy Rose went 1:02.35 in the 400-meter dash for second place, with Isabel Young second in the 400 hurdles in 1:10.73.
Marcellus saw Brielle McShane, Heidi Steigerwald, Sophia Maum and Alyssa McShane take the 4×800 relay in 10:52.15, Steigerwald, Emma Roseboom, Gabby Voss and Corrine Aldrich won the 4×400 in 4:20.43. Steigerwald won on her own in the high jump, clearing 4’8” as Westhill’s Corinne Allen (4’6”) was third.
Virginia Lucchetti was second in the 1,500 in 5:28.85 as Maum took fourth, improving to a third in the 3,000 ahead of Alyssa McShane in fourth and then taking second in the steeplechase (8:40.6) behind Bleskoski. Steigerwald was third in the 400 sprint, with Bailey Ellis third in the shot put and Anella Bolster fourth in the long jump and triple jump.
It wasn’t as lopsided in the boys meet, where Marcellus pulled through helped by its big efforts in field events, including the discus, where Tyler Brown won throwing it 115’7” and Scott Hall was second with 114’5”.
Peter McCaffrey had a winning long jump of 20’1 3/4” as Andrew McCaffrey was fourth. Then, in the triple jump, Peter McCaffrey won again, his leap of 42’3” easily topping a field where Evan Fullagar was fourth.
McCaffrey also was second in the high jump, clearing 5’8”. Mason Grieb won the 400 hurdles in a swift 58.83 seconds. Nate Alexander went 3,200 meters in 10:59.82 for second place as Keiran Capozzi was fourth.
Gabe Hoag was third in the pentathlon with 1,885 points, Tyler Herr taking third in the 200 and fifth in the 100. Colin Gerbsch earned fourth place in the 400 sprint.
Westhill had Brandon Mulholland, Drew O’Reilly, Brian Kenny and Julian Curtis go 8:54.60 to win the 4×800, where Marcellus was third. O’Reilly later won the 3,200-meter run in 10:50.48 and the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:52.1.
Mulholland added a 1,600-meter victory in 4:43.45 as O’Reilly finished third, with Mulholland, Kenny, Curtis and Andrew Sondej going 3:43.09 to win the 4×400. Patrick Mahoney cleared 10’6” to win the pole vault, with Carter Buckman second by topping 10 feet as Marcellus’ Andrew McCaffrey was third.
Evan Frost was second in the 200 (23.22 seconds) and fourth in the 100 and helped the Warriors take third in the 4×100, beating the Mustangs in fourth place. Buckman was third in the 400 hurdles and Kenny fourth in the 800.
A day earlier, at Liverpool West Genesee had modest success at the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division meet, finishing fourth on the boys side and fifth on the girls side.
Dom Burris led the boys Wildcats, winning the long jump with 20’11” and taking third in the 100 in 11.26 seconds to go with a third in the 200 in 23.41.
Burris, Chris Moser, Bryce Bort and Payton Manipole were second (43.96 seconds) to B’ville (43.53) in the 4×100, with Bort third in the high jump, clearing 5’10”.
Peter McMahon claimed second place in the 1,600 in 4:20.37, while Kevin Moser was third in the 3,200 in 10:07.41. Francisco Cross was third in the pentathlon with 2,034 points
For WG’s girls, lexcis Rydelek recorded the lone victory, in the discus, where her top throw of 88 feet was more than six feet ahead of the field as she also took fourth in the shot putl.
Claire Griffin got third in the steeplechase in 8:18.01, with Karli Clark topping 7’6” for third place in the pole vault.
Eighth-grader Chloe Feitze was fourth in the 1,500 in 5:02.88 and fifth in the 3,000, with Peyton Long fifth in the 800 in 2:35.27. Grace McInerney cleared 4’8” for fourth place in the high jump. WG was third in the 4×100 in 53.17 seconds.
