2021-05-23T12:29:01+00:00

The Westlake High girls track and field team finished runner-up at the District Championships at Amherst last weekend, with the meet once again coming down to the final event, in a display that saw them qualify to next week’s Regional competition in 10 of the 17 events. Along the way, the girls set several season PR’s as well as two new school records.

As they have all season long, the field event team started the day for the team, with Caitlyn Coulter earning a new personal best in the Long Jump. In the Discus, Julia Houser and Macy Brennan continued their fantastic seasons, both making the finals in their event before finishing 5th and 4th, respectively, and with her top four finish, Macy earned a qualifying spot to Regionals. Making their results all the more impressive is that both were throwing injured, in particular Julia, who continued to compete and despite a potentially season ending injury.

On the track, Sophia Kontak also finished 5th in the 100 in an extremely close race, but would immediately come back and, joined by Madison Shami, Sarah Colman, and Sydney Peer, finish 2nd in the 4×200, not only qualifying to Regionals but also setting the new WHS record in the event by nearly half a second (Hood, Khawam, Bauer, Hurst, 2014). Sophia would later add to her District scoring with an impressive 3rd place, Regional qualifying finish in the 200. Teammate Sarah Colman would later join her with a strategic 400, running conservatively the first 300 meters before ensuring her runner-up place with a great surge the final 100 meters.

In the distance events, Sarah Peer continued her fantastic season, not only winning the 800 but doing so in record-breaking fashion, breaking a 30+ year old record (Ponstingle, 1988) by over half a second. Sister Sydney Peer joined her in the 800, setting a new PR while also scoring for the team with her 8th place finish. In the 1600, Ellie Irwin ran with two of the best runners in the area, setting a fast pace and distancing herself from the pack early before hanging on and surging the last 50 meters to ensure her 3rd place, Regional qualifying, spot. Stephanie Nivellini ran a similar race in the 3200, running shoulder-to-shoulder with two of the best distance runners in the state the first six laps, thus distancing herself from the main pack, and finished with a 3rd place result as well, narrowly missing a new personal best in the event.

In the hurdles, Emma Hennessey continued her late season surge, enjoying another great finish in the 300hurdles and another runner-up result, ensuring she’ll be competing at Regionals next week as well. Emma then came back to join the 4×400 team in a winner-take-all situation, with the team once again in a tight finish with Avon. Ellie, Madison, Emma, and Sarah Peer all ran strong, with Ellie stepping in for an injured teammate, Madison running a strong finish, Emma running a particularly impressive split, and Sarah nearly coming from three spots down to secure the team’s fourth team title in as many weeks. Finishing third in their relay, however, ensured that the team would advance to Regionals next week.

The team’s runner-up finish at Districts, their best finish in recent memory, was highlighted by the team qualifying to Regionals in 10 of the 17 events, including nine individuals, while setting two new school records. Congratulations to the team and good luck next week!