VERONA – Claiming a Section III championship is always special. Especially when it’s done twice.
That’s what the Westhill track and field teams accomplished Thursday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, sweeping both sides of the sectional Class B-1 meet.
The girls Warriors had 165 points, nearly double the total of runner-up South Jefferson (86.5) as, on the boys side, Westhill got 103 points, enough to fend off a strong challenge from Christian Brothers Academy, who had 89.
By herself, Ashley Bolesh earned 38 points for Westhill’s girls, including a victory in the triple jump where her best attempt of 34 feet 3 3/4 inches foretold other success.
Bolesh went to the front in the 400-meter dash, her time of 58.64 seconds more than four seconds ahead of Kennedy Rose’s second-place 1:03.04. And showing her versatility, Bolesh rolled to first in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:00.37.
Angie Mesa-Espinosa again ruled the sprints for Westhill, going 12.32 seconds to take the 100-meter dash and 25.69 seconds to keep Bolesh (26.43) from a fourth title in the 200-meter dash. Mesa-Espinosa also helped Elle Herrera, Emma Murphy and Ileanna Hopkins win the 4×100 relay in 52.19 seconds, nearly a full second ahead of the field.
Jules Bleskoski went 5:13.79 to edge VVS’s Lacey Simmons (5:14.27) and win the 1,500-meter run, also finishing second at 800 meters in 2:32.21 as Elle Thornton was fifth, plus a sixth in the 3,000.
Riley Grooms added a pole vault title for the Warriors when she cleared 9 feet as Allen (8 feet) finished fourth and Mary Kate Rewakowski was fifth. Collen Patrie threw the discus 85’3″ and won there as Bella Cardosa was third with 83’1″.
Herrera took second place in the 100 hurdles in 17.23 seconds, with Ava Baty fifth. Isabel Young was second in the 400 hurdles in 1:10.95 as Mallie Alt finished third in the pentathlon, earning 1,419 points, and Kate Bendall was fifth in the long jump ahead of Rewakowski in sixth.
Westhill’s boys did well in distance races, starting with Brian Kenny taking the 1,600-meter event in 4:43.86 as Brandon Mulholland (4:45.51) finished third.
In the 3,200-meter run, Drew O’Reilly prevailed in 10:00.44, with Edward Popp fifth. Kenny added a second in the 800 in 2:05.32, edging Mulholland (2:05.88), who again was third, but moved up to second in the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:29.64, with O’Reilly (11:31.30) third.
Carter Buckman was victorious in the pole vault, topping 11 feet with fewer misses than teammate Patrick Mahoney, who was third.
Also, the Warriors were second (9:01.80) to host VVS (8:48.68) in the 4×800 relay and third in the 4×400 in 3:43.20. Evan Frost took second in the 200 in 23.17 seconds and fifth in the 100.
Marcellus finished fourth in both sectional B-1 meets. Leading the boys Mustangs, Peter McCaffrey won the triple jump, going 41’11 1/4″ to go with a second-place long jump of 19’6 1/4″. He also tied for third in in the high jump, clearing 5’6″ as Solvay had its best finish here, Ikeem Vaughn sixth by clearing 5’4″.
Mason Grieb went 59.79 seconds in the 400 hurdles to grab second place, also finishing fifth in the 110 hurdles. Scott Hall rose to third in the discus, tossing it 108’4″ as Tyler Brown (106’7″) was fifth to go with a sixth in the shot put.
Tyler Herr had a fourth-place time of 11.44 seconds in the 100 to go with his fifth in the 200 as Andrew McCaffrey was fifth in the pole vault. Gabe Hoag had 1,957 points for fifth place in the pentathlon. Nate Alexander was sixth in the 3,200 as the Mustangs were also fifth in the 4×800 and 4×100.
On the girls side for Marcellus, Heidi Steigerwald was victorious in the high jump, clearing 4’10” with fewer misses than Mexico’s Adria Ariola as Hopkins was third for Westhill, clearing 4’8″. Bailey Ellis had a second-place shot put toss of 28’8 1/2″ to go with a sixth in the discus.
Brielle McShane, Sophia Maum, Heidi Steigerwald and Alyssa McShane took second in the 4×800 in 10:22.36, with Steigerwald joining Emma Roseboom, Corrine Aldrich and Gabby Voss for second in the 4×400 in 4:25.63.
Maum was third in the 1,500 in 5:29.39 and Debbie Lucchetti sixth, while Steigerwald was fourth in the 400 sprint and Aldrich sixth. Roseboom was fourth in the 200 as Sophia Bianchi got sixth place in the 100 hurdles.
