Norwich wins 11th annual REK Invitational in commanding fashion
Frank Speziale Photo
NORWICH – The Norwich Purple Tornado hosted their 11th annual REK 'Friends Forever' Track Invitational this past Friday, May 6.
The REK Invitational, in remembrance of the three Norwich Track and Field girls who lost their lives in a tragic drunk driving accident many years ago, began as it always has, with the moment of silence and the annual 100 meter remembrance walk.
Following the walk, the meet was underway in full force. About midway through the nights events, Norwich recognized all the seniors present for the evening, but especially recognized its own graduating seniors and asked that their parents accompany them to midfield.
After all the ceremonies were completed, Norwich proceeded to walk away as the winners on both the boys and girls side of the meet, with the Tornado boys earning 175-points and the girls earning 149-points.
Norwich also claimed both of the awards for Most Outstanding Athlete, with Zach Race taking the award on the boys side and senior Katelyn Shaver walking away with it on the girls side.
“They both exceeded what was expected of them. The REK always seems to have great competition for a small invitational. But the spirit that the Norwich kids have during the meet is unmatched,” said Norwich head coach Shaun Horan.
Scoring for the boys side would see Sidney trail in second place with 94-points, followed by Morrisville-Eaton with 70, Cherry Valley-Springfield with 64, Edmeston with 38, Sherburne-Earlville with 28, Unadilla Valley with 23, Greene with 20, Cincinnatus with 18, Bainbridge-Guilford with 13, DeRuyter with 8, Waterville with 7, and Oxford with 0.
While the scoring on the girls side saw Sidney once again trail in second place with 84-points, followed by Unadilla Valley at 63, Greene at 54, Bainbridge-Guilford at 50, Cherry Valley-Springfield at 42, Morrisville-Eaton at 31, DeRuyter at 23, Sherburne-Earlville at 20, Cincinnatus at 16, Edmeston at 8, Oxford at 1, and Waterville at 0.
The Norwich boys saw first place finishes in 10 of the possible 18 events in the meet, with various other top place finishes, en route to their impressive showing at home.
Most Outstanding Athlete, Zach Race, managed to land three events with first place fishes starting with the 4x100 meter relay team consisting of David Berger, Zach Race, Connor Nial and Eric Conant. The Norwich 4x100 team edged out Morrisville-Eaton for the win, when they ran a 46.07 to best ME who ran a 46.92. The 4x100 teams from S-E and B-G would come in third and fourth in a close race, with times of 49.58 and 49.91.
Race also finished the top runner in the 100 and 200 meter dash with blazing fast times of 23.04, and 11.41 respectively.
Dan. Norris of B-G trailed Race in the 100 to take second with a time of 11.66, while S-E's Lincoln Owen placed third with a time of 11.88, ultimately edging Norwich's Eric Conant, who broke under 12 seconds to place fourth with a time of 11.90.
Unadilla Valley's Ben Avolio attempted to keep pace with Race in the 200, running a 24.74 to place fourth, while David Berger of Norwich ran a solid 25.01 to grab a sixth place finish. Avolio also nabbed a second place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 54.42.
The 4x800 meter relay team of Norwich, consisting of Ben Ericksen, Noah Bufalini, Gabe Gawronski, and Chris Brown grabbed a first place finish with their time of 8:43.75.
Ericksen would go on to grab first place finishes in the 1600 meter run, and 3200 meter run with times of 4:49.82 and 10:40.36 respectively.
Gawronski would follow up Ericksen in the 1600 with a second place finish with a time of 4:53.42.
Gawronski would then go on to claim a first place finish of his own in the 800 meter, with a time of 2:09.94 followed by Bufalini in third at 2:11.40. Gawronski edged out Tyler Rodriguez of S-E, for third, dropping Rodriguez to fourth with his time of 2:13.27.
Connor Nial would carve out a spot for the Tornado boys in the infamous 400 meter hurdles, placing third with a time of 1:04.21. Nial would edge Greg. Wynter of Greene for the spot, forcing Wynter into fourth with a time of 1:05.78.
The Sprint Medley relay, consisting of two 100 meter dashes, a 200 meter dash and a 400 meter dash, saw the team of David Berger, Eric Conant, Zach Race, and Gabe Gawronski claim a second place finish, running 1:41.94.
Conant would appear in the scoring once again when he took to the long jump pit, earning a third place finish with his best jump of 18'09.25", a jumped that edged his teammate Jordan Vinal into fourth with a jump of 18'05.00". Vinal would go on to claim the third place spot in the triple jump when he bounded his way to a solid 39'00.25".
Unadilla Valley would dominate the high jump pit with a second place finish from Marcus Granger, clearing 5'08.01", and a fifth place finish fromTyler Simmons, who cleared the height of 5'06”.
While Greene would in turn control the pole vault with a second place spot claimed by Chris Klecha clearing the monster height of 12', and Kevin Gao making 9'6” to get the fifth place finish.
Norwich would nearly sweep the throwing events, taking first, third, fourth and fifth in the shot put; and going first, second and fourth in the discus.
It was Thomas Reilly who broke the fifty foot mark in the shot put, throwing 50'08.75", to claim the top spot, followed by David Bernstein in third with 44', Carter Hubbard in fourth with 37'01.50", and Trevor McCarthy in fifth with a throw of 36'08.
Much like the trend has gone all season, Bernstein claimed the top spot from Reilly in the discus with a throw of 149'02”, followed by Reilly at 136'11” for second place, and Trevor McCarthy in fourth place with a throw of 118'08”.
The throwers even managed to get in on the action on the track in the throwers 4x100 meter relay, with the Norwich team of David Bernstein, Zack Clipston, Trevor McCarthy, and Thomas Reilly running a 51.94 for the win. Greene would pull up a third place finish with a time of 54.09, followed by S-E at fourth with a time of 54.58.
The girls side, although suffering through a depleted and injured roster, dominated the competition nonetheless. While only claiming three first place finishes, Norwich's depth on the roster helped propel them to the top team on the women's side.
Most Outstanding Athlete on the girls side, Katelyn Shaver won both the shot put and discus events for the Tornado when she punched a solid 35'09", and threw a 101'10” respectively. Shaver's teammate Kara Evans backed her up by claiming a third and second place finish in the shot put and discus with throws of 30'9”, and 97'03”.
The top two spots in the pole vault went B-G, with Lindsey Castle clearing 8'6” for first and Kristen Chambers clearing 6'6” for a tie with Norwich's Liz Eddy. Norwich's Kylie Marvin and Trinity Myers rounded out at fourth and fifth in the event clearing 6' and 5'6”.
At high jump, Norwich's Savannah Williams battled with Julia Oglesby for the second place finish, ultimately coming up short as Oglesby placed second with a height of 5' and Williams would slide to third with a height of 4'8”.
Norwich and B-G watched each of their star long jumpers go at it for first place in the event. BG's Abbi Selfridge would edge Norwich's Emily Shattuck, jumping 16'03” to Shattuck's 15'8”. While Nicole Jeffrey of Norwich would round out the event, placing fourth with a jump of 14'8.75”.
Jeffrey also nabbed two first place spots in the 3000 meter with a time of 11:48.69, and in the 1500 meter run with a time of 5:21.87. Jeffrey managed to just barely edge Greene's Katie Anderson for the win in the 1500, as Anderson ran a 5:21.89. Sady Dibbell of UV would claim a fourth place finish at 5:49.37, while Colleen Bradley of S-E would finish in fifth with a time of 5:51.49.
Although Norwich did not win the event, the triple jump was dominated by the Tornado who finished in third, fourth and fifth place. Savannah Williams claimed third with a 30'10.5”, Vanessa Salerno managed a fourth place with 30'01.5”, and Hannah Klockowski knocked out a fifth place spot with 29'01”.
Klockowski managed a second place spot for Norwich in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 19.08, beating Cearah DeCostaFaro of UV, who placed third with a time of 19.21.
Greene's Nicole Flohr would lose a close race for the top spot in the 200 meter dash to Morrisveille-Eatons Hirsch, who ran a 28.51 to Flohr's 28.73. Abbi Selfridge would work her way into a third place finish at 28.81.
Norwich would play top dog in the sprint medley relay for the girls with the team of Delilah Geislinger, Michaela Fazio, Emily Shattuck, and Hailey Colabelli running a 2:03.04. This was followed up by BG at second and Greene in third place with times of 2:05.71 and 2:07.34.
The same Norwich relay team would fall victim to UV in the 4x100 meter relay, when Abby Avolio, Hannah Lazarus, Maggie Merlo, and Julia Oglesby, nudged them from second with a 52.87 compared to Norwich's 53.44.
UV would also claim the 4x800 meter relay, consisting of Sady Dibbell, Hunter Lakin, Rebbecca Ruffino, and Hannah Lazarus. As they would call the top spot theirs with a time of 11:27.61. Greene would manage a third in the event with a 11:36.62, followed by Norwich at fourth with a 12:08.40.
The UV throwers got in the action of the relay domination when the team of Abby Avolio, Hunter Lakin, Jasmynne Scarboro, and Molly Avolio won the throwers 4x100 relay with a time of 1:01.31.
Greene would round out the meet with first place finish in the 400 meter dash, as Mary Klecha ran a 1:16.30 to defeat Norwich's Destiny Gladney who placed fourth with a 1:21.63 and Adeline Trass of S-E who ran a 1:22.34 for fifth place.
Greene also saw their Chloe Parks earn a second place spot on the podium for the 800 meter run, after just barely falling short to Kyleigh Baker of Cincinnatus. Parks ran a 2:45.66 to Bakers 2:45.08. UV's Hannah Lazarus would end in third with a 2:47.04 after narrowly defeating Kaitlyn Furner of S-E earning a fourth place spot with a 2:47.93.
Next up for this coming weeks track meets, Norwich will be home against Chenango Forks on May 10; Greene will be heading to Sidney on May 10; Unadilla Valley will be heading to Delhi on May 11; S-E will be home against Frankfurt-Schuyler on May 11; BG will be heading to the Oneonta Invitational on May 13; and Oxford will be heading to Downsville on May 13.
NORWICH – The Norwich Purple Tornado hosted their 11th annual REK 'Friends Forever' Track Invitational this past Friday, May 6.
The REK Invitational, in remembrance of the three Norwich Track and Field girls who lost their lives in a tragic drunk driving accident many years ago, began as it always has, with the moment of silence and the annual 100 meter remembrance walk.
Following the walk, the meet was underway in full force. About midway through the nights events, Norwich recognized all the seniors present for the evening, but especially recognized its own graduating seniors and asked that their parents accompany them to midfield.
After all the ceremonies were completed, Norwich proceeded to walk away as the winners on both the boys and girls side of the meet, with the Tornado boys earning 175-points and the girls earning 149-points.
Norwich also claimed both of the awards for Most Outstanding Athlete, with Zach Race taking the award on the boys side and senior Katelyn Shaver walking away with it on the girls side.
“They both exceeded what was expected of them. The REK always seems to have great competition for a small invitational. But the spirit that the Norwich kids have during the meet is unmatched,” said Norwich head coach Shaun Horan.
Scoring for the boys side would see Sidney trail in second place with 94-points, followed by Morrisville-Eaton with 70, Cherry Valley-Springfield with 64, Edmeston with 38, Sherburne-Earlville with 28, Unadilla Valley with 23, Greene with 20, Cincinnatus with 18, Bainbridge-Guilford with 13, DeRuyter with 8, Waterville with 7, and Oxford with 0.
While the scoring on the girls side saw Sidney once again trail in second place with 84-points, followed by Unadilla Valley at 63, Greene at 54, Bainbridge-Guilford at 50, Cherry Valley-Springfield at 42, Morrisville-Eaton at 31, DeRuyter at 23, Sherburne-Earlville at 20, Cincinnatus at 16, Edmeston at 8, Oxford at 1, and Waterville at 0.
The Norwich boys saw first place finishes in 10 of the possible 18 events in the meet, with various other top place finishes, en route to their impressive showing at home.
Most Outstanding Athlete, Zach Race, managed to land three events with first place fishes starting with the 4x100 meter relay team consisting of David Berger, Zach Race, Connor Nial and Eric Conant. The Norwich 4x100 team edged out Morrisville-Eaton for the win, when they ran a 46.07 to best ME who ran a 46.92. The 4x100 teams from S-E and B-G would come in third and fourth in a close race, with times of 49.58 and 49.91.
Race also finished the top runner in the 100 and 200 meter dash with blazing fast times of 23.04, and 11.41 respectively.
Dan. Norris of B-G trailed Race in the 100 to take second with a time of 11.66, while S-E's Lincoln Owen placed third with a time of 11.88, ultimately edging Norwich's Eric Conant, who broke under 12 seconds to place fourth with a time of 11.90.
Unadilla Valley's Ben Avolio attempted to keep pace with Race in the 200, running a 24.74 to place fourth, while David Berger of Norwich ran a solid 25.01 to grab a sixth place finish. Avolio also nabbed a second place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 54.42.
The 4x800 meter relay team of Norwich, consisting of Ben Ericksen, Noah Bufalini, Gabe Gawronski, and Chris Brown grabbed a first place finish with their time of 8:43.75.
Ericksen would go on to grab first place finishes in the 1600 meter run, and 3200 meter run with times of 4:49.82 and 10:40.36 respectively.
Gawronski would follow up Ericksen in the 1600 with a second place finish with a time of 4:53.42.
Gawronski would then go on to claim a first place finish of his own in the 800 meter, with a time of 2:09.94 followed by Bufalini in third at 2:11.40. Gawronski edged out Tyler Rodriguez of S-E, for third, dropping Rodriguez to fourth with his time of 2:13.27.
Connor Nial would carve out a spot for the Tornado boys in the infamous 400 meter hurdles, placing third with a time of 1:04.21. Nial would edge Greg. Wynter of Greene for the spot, forcing Wynter into fourth with a time of 1:05.78.
The Sprint Medley relay, consisting of two 100 meter dashes, a 200 meter dash and a 400 meter dash, saw the team of David Berger, Eric Conant, Zach Race, and Gabe Gawronski claim a second place finish, running 1:41.94.
Conant would appear in the scoring once again when he took to the long jump pit, earning a third place finish with his best jump of 18'09.25", a jumped that edged his teammate Jordan Vinal into fourth with a jump of 18'05.00". Vinal would go on to claim the third place spot in the triple jump when he bounded his way to a solid 39'00.25".
Unadilla Valley would dominate the high jump pit with a second place finish from Marcus Granger, clearing 5'08.01", and a fifth place finish fromTyler Simmons, who cleared the height of 5'06”.
While Greene would in turn control the pole vault with a second place spot claimed by Chris Klecha clearing the monster height of 12', and Kevin Gao making 9'6” to get the fifth place finish.
Norwich would nearly sweep the throwing events, taking first, third, fourth and fifth in the shot put; and going first, second and fourth in the discus.
It was Thomas Reilly who broke the fifty foot mark in the shot put, throwing 50'08.75", to claim the top spot, followed by David Bernstein in third with 44', Carter Hubbard in fourth with 37'01.50", and Trevor McCarthy in fifth with a throw of 36'08.
Much like the trend has gone all season, Bernstein claimed the top spot from Reilly in the discus with a throw of 149'02”, followed by Reilly at 136'11” for second place, and Trevor McCarthy in fourth place with a throw of 118'08”.
The throwers even managed to get in on the action on the track in the throwers 4x100 meter relay, with the Norwich team of David Bernstein, Zack Clipston, Trevor McCarthy, and Thomas Reilly running a 51.94 for the win. Greene would pull up a third place finish with a time of 54.09, followed by S-E at fourth with a time of 54.58.
The girls side, although suffering through a depleted and injured roster, dominated the competition nonetheless. While only claiming three first place finishes, Norwich's depth on the roster helped propel them to the top team on the women's side.
Most Outstanding Athlete on the girls side, Katelyn Shaver won both the shot put and discus events for the Tornado when she punched a solid 35'09", and threw a 101'10” respectively. Shaver's teammate Kara Evans backed her up by claiming a third and second place finish in the shot put and discus with throws of 30'9”, and 97'03”.
The top two spots in the pole vault went B-G, with Lindsey Castle clearing 8'6” for first and Kristen Chambers clearing 6'6” for a tie with Norwich's Liz Eddy. Norwich's Kylie Marvin and Trinity Myers rounded out at fourth and fifth in the event clearing 6' and 5'6”.
At high jump, Norwich's Savannah Williams battled with Julia Oglesby for the second place finish, ultimately coming up short as Oglesby placed second with a height of 5' and Williams would slide to third with a height of 4'8”.
Norwich and B-G watched each of their star long jumpers go at it for first place in the event. BG's Abbi Selfridge would edge Norwich's Emily Shattuck, jumping 16'03” to Shattuck's 15'8”. While Nicole Jeffrey of Norwich would round out the event, placing fourth with a jump of 14'8.75”.
Jeffrey also nabbed two first place spots in the 3000 meter with a time of 11:48.69, and in the 1500 meter run with a time of 5:21.87. Jeffrey managed to just barely edge Greene's Katie Anderson for the win in the 1500, as Anderson ran a 5:21.89. Sady Dibbell of UV would claim a fourth place finish at 5:49.37, while Colleen Bradley of S-E would finish in fifth with a time of 5:51.49.
Although Norwich did not win the event, the triple jump was dominated by the Tornado who finished in third, fourth and fifth place. Savannah Williams claimed third with a 30'10.5”, Vanessa Salerno managed a fourth place with 30'01.5”, and Hannah Klockowski knocked out a fifth place spot with 29'01”.
Klockowski managed a second place spot for Norwich in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 19.08, beating Cearah DeCostaFaro of UV, who placed third with a time of 19.21.
Greene's Nicole Flohr would lose a close race for the top spot in the 200 meter dash to Morrisveille-Eatons Hirsch, who ran a 28.51 to Flohr's 28.73. Abbi Selfridge would work her way into a third place finish at 28.81.
Norwich would play top dog in the sprint medley relay for the girls with the team of Delilah Geislinger, Michaela Fazio, Emily Shattuck, and Hailey Colabelli running a 2:03.04. This was followed up by BG at second and Greene in third place with times of 2:05.71 and 2:07.34.
The same Norwich relay team would fall victim to UV in the 4x100 meter relay, when Abby Avolio, Hannah Lazarus, Maggie Merlo, and Julia Oglesby, nudged them from second with a 52.87 compared to Norwich's 53.44.
UV would also claim the 4x800 meter relay, consisting of Sady Dibbell, Hunter Lakin, Rebbecca Ruffino, and Hannah Lazarus. As they would call the top spot theirs with a time of 11:27.61. Greene would manage a third in the event with a 11:36.62, followed by Norwich at fourth with a 12:08.40.
The UV throwers got in the action of the relay domination when the team of Abby Avolio, Hunter Lakin, Jasmynne Scarboro, and Molly Avolio won the throwers 4x100 relay with a time of 1:01.31.
Greene would round out the meet with first place finish in the 400 meter dash, as Mary Klecha ran a 1:16.30 to defeat Norwich's Destiny Gladney who placed fourth with a 1:21.63 and Adeline Trass of S-E who ran a 1:22.34 for fifth place.
Greene also saw their Chloe Parks earn a second place spot on the podium for the 800 meter run, after just barely falling short to Kyleigh Baker of Cincinnatus. Parks ran a 2:45.66 to Bakers 2:45.08. UV's Hannah Lazarus would end in third with a 2:47.04 after narrowly defeating Kaitlyn Furner of S-E earning a fourth place spot with a 2:47.93.
Next up for this coming weeks track meets, Norwich will be home against Chenango Forks on May 10; Greene will be heading to Sidney on May 10; Unadilla Valley will be heading to Delhi on May 11; S-E will be home against Frankfurt-Schuyler on May 11; BG will be heading to the Oneonta Invitational on May 13; and Oxford will be heading to Downsville on May 13.
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