CENTRAL NEW YORK – Everywhere on a damp Wednesday afternoon, area high school track and field teams were quite busy with head-to-head league meets, setting up one of the busiest stretches of the season.
West Genesee met up with Liverpool, with the boys falling 97-44 to the Warriors despite the Wildcats’ success in sprint races. Dylan Frost, in 23.10 seconds, pulled away from Liverpool’s Antonio Rivera (24.62) in the 200, while Zach Hann was first in the 400 in 55.41.
Elsewhere at this meet, WG’s Landon Derbyshire threw the shot put 40’1 ½”. Frost, Logan Scott, Will Fettig and Will Rufa prevailed in the 4×100 in 45.24.
It was much the same in the girls meet in teams of the margin, Liverpool beating WG 98-43, though the Wildcats did grab some individual honors.
Chloe Feitze won the 1,500 in 4:56.83 and added a 400 hurdles title in 1:10.69. Erin Fortune won the 400 sprint in 1:05.77 as Grace McInerney went 29’9 ¼” in the triple jump and Eliana Freeman had a top discus throw of 72’10”.
WG went from here to nearly taking the boys title in Friday’s Cook-DeStefano Invitational at Utica Proctor, earning 76 points to finish just behind the 76.17 from Watertown.
Frost, in the 100 (11.38 seconds) and 200 (22.60), was second to Watertown’s Camiren Collins in both races, with Nick LaManna second in the 400 hurdles in 1:02.20 to the 1:02.07 of Sauquoit Valley’s Brendan Lee. Hayden Rothenberg won the triple jump with F42’1 ¼” and was third in the long jump as Sean Moser was third in the 3,200 in 1:13.45.
Finishing third in the girls Cook-DeStefano meet with 63.5 points, the Wildcats had Claire Griffin pull away to win the 1,500 in 4:54.48, with Fortune second in the 800 (2:29.09) and Karolina Lota third in the 3,000. Thalia Petrie ran the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:22.82 for another third-place finish.
Skaneateles competed last Thursday in the Fulton Red Dragon Invitational, where in the boys meet Will Feeney put himself near the top of the state rankings in the discus with a winning throw of 144’5”. Feeney was also victorious in the shot put with a throw of 46’1 1/2”
Lakers freshman Tritan Boucher set a new personal mark while winning the 1,600 in 4:45.23, the only time under five minutes, adding a fourth (5’6”) in the high jump, while sophomore Ryan McCrone prevailed in the pole vault, the only athlete to clear 10’6”.
Meanwhile, in the girls meet at Fulton Skaneateles’ Tobi DiRubbo beat the field in the 1,500, edging Central Square’s Ciena Ferguson, 5:31.38 to 5:32.95, and helped the Lakers take second in the 4×400 relay.
Westhill was victorious in both parts of its meet with Mexico, the boys winning by a score of 103-38 and the girls Warriors defeating the Tigers 93-33.
Edward Popp won twice in distance races, going 4:53.2 in the 1,600-meter run and 2:13.8 in the 800 as Anthony Cardoso, in 10:28 flat, edged Alex Dacko (10:28.4) in the 3,200.
Ladaryle Watkins held off Logan Curley, 24.2 seconds to 24.3, in the 200-meter dash before getting a top long jump of 16’3 ½”, a quarter of an inch ahead of the 16’3 ¼” from Mexico’s Blake Horzempa. Watkins also was second in the discus, where Derrick Trotman threw it 115’3” as Riley Sheridan won the 400-meter dash and Teagan Kelly the 110 hurdles.
The Westhill girls had Izzy Young go 31’6” in the triple jump and win the 400 hurdles in 1:13.5, while Emily Balduzzi cleared 7 feet in the pole vault and also was first in the 1,500-meter run.
Other wins went to Emma Murphy (100 hurdles), Abby Rudiger (400 sprint), Eileen Mullen (800), Claire Sansbury (discus) and Jael Hill, who had a top shot put toss of 30’7”.
Jordan-Elbridge got close to winning its boys meet against Homer, falling 68-63 to the Trojans. Despite this, Alex Kunz won two events, topping 5’2” in the high jump and going 2:23.4 in the 800.
David Lawless went 11.4 seconds in the 100 sprint and Peyton Bates claimed the 3,20050 in 11:13.1. Roanan Ross had a shot put toss of 42’8 ¼” as the Eagles swept the 4×100 (47.2), 4×400 (3:51.8) and 4×800 (9:42.6) relays. J-E”s girls lost, 110-24, but still got first-place finishes from Abby Bates in the 1,500 and 3,000 distance runs.
