Among local champions, Wellsville’s Dorrough becomes 2nd thrower to reach State meet in 4 years after placing qualifying distance in discus

ROCHESTER — Emma Kinnicutt was the last Wellsville performer to make the State cut. That was back in 2019, when she became State Champion throwing the discus. Four years later and through some great influence from her former teammate, it’s Alyssa Dorrough’s turn to head there.

This past Friday Friday at Eastridge High in Rochester, the Lady Lions junior thrower grabbed a second place finish in the discus, enough to punch a ticket to the New York State Meet herself, as she now begins preparations to end her season down over to Cicero-North Syracuse next weekend for a chance to capture the biggest prize of them all.

“Alyssa has been part of the program since eighth grade. She has progressed very well over the last few years under the tutelage of George Kinnicutt,” said Lady Lions girls track coach Chris Brown. “She was a first year thrower back in eighth grade when Emma won States. She had some great influence from her, and George has always said that Alyssa was the one to watch in the future. She is just a pleasure to work with, and is a great athletic. You combine that with George’s knowledge and expertise in this field, and this was bound to happen. I am so happy for her. She has put in a lot of work to get there, and I’m looking forward to how she does this upcoming weekend.”

Along with her State-qualifying performance in the discus, Dorrough was able to garner a fourth place finish in the shot put along the way for the Lady Lions. Adding other top finishes for the team were Kaylee Oswald, who finished right behind Dorrough with a third place distance on the discus, while Stephanie Oswald placed eighth in the same event to pair with her fifth place finish in the shot put.

The Lady Lions would also pick up a fourth place finish in the 400 relay.

Aside from Dorrough punching her ticket to States, the other big highlight for the Lady Lions was a school record-breaking performance on the track from Brooklyn Stisser, who placed seventh in the 200 dash with a time of 27.13 — a new record that now stands after having remained untouched since 1997.

On the boys side for Wellsville, JT Mariotti picked up a personal best height in the pole vault, topping out at 11-6 to finish sixth in the event.

Among the other local champions that were able to make their way to Eastridge: Bolivar-Richburg’s Rudy Polk, Ethan Coleman, Hunter Stuck and Lloyd Kinnicutt, as Polk finished third and fourth from the field in the long and triple jumps, while Coleman placed fourth in the pole vault and Stuck finishing fifth in the 800 run. Kinnicutt followed with seventh and ninth place finishes from the throwing division, in the discus and shot put respectively.

Cuba-Rushford’s Noah Siegel nearly qualified for the State meet, as he placed second overall in the 400 hurdles finishing behind Wheatland-Chili’s Aaron Lund. Siegel would also add a fifth place 110 hurdles finish. Genesee Valley/Belfast saw Morgan Torrey place seventh in the high jump, and Sophie Zillgitt place ninth after a long day in the Pentathlon.

Jordan White came up with a sixth place finish in the long jump to lead Friendship/Scio, and Fillmore saw their Sectional Champion-winning 3200 relay team place ninth overall to round off the local finishes.

As for Dorrough, she will be joined by Arkport/Canaseraga’s Pierce Young (Steeplechase), Bath-Haverling’s Keefer Calkins (Pentathlon) and Hornell’s Elaina Flaitz (400 hurdles) as the four lone local competitors who will make their way to Cicero-North Syracuse next weekend to compete for a chance to claim State titles.