WINDSOR – In what was a wet and rainy Tuesday afternoon, the Tornado boys and girls track and field team traveled south to the Black Knights domain – battering down the gates of Windsor for a double-win on the day.
Norwich has yet to lose a dual meet this season – as the boys side cruised to a win at 108-30, while the Norwich girls fought to a 76-60 win on Tuesday, May 2.
“It went well today, boys and girls both won,” said Norwich head coach Shaun Horan. “Girls was a tough matchup, they gave us a run for our money.”
The Norwich boys were headlined once again by their junior standout sprinter – Zack Race has now officially bested local-legend sprinters Barry Benjamin and Jason Morris in the 100m dash.
Race is now regarded as fastest sprinter to compete for the Norwich Purple Tornado thus far, running a first-place time of 10.7 against Windsor. Previously, the NHS record had been held by Barry Benjamin in 1983 at 10.9, and Jason Morris in 1992 at 10.8 seconds.
The 100m saw Norwich finish in first-place and fourth place, as sophomore Eric Conant hit a solid hand-timed 11.3 to pull up in fourth.
“The big highlight is Zack Race getting the record. FAT he ran an 11.01, which is faster, but it’s debatable. So now technically his true official (hand-timed) fastest is a 10.7. The good thing is I think his start was pretty good this time,” said coach Horan. “Eric (Conant) ran an 11.3 and that’s real good. He (Conant) knows, and he told me, ‘their start is better than mine.’ So that is something we have struggled with recently for Eric and Zack. We didn’t think our starts were bad because we do so well, but when we compared them to Windsor...”
Currently, Norwich has two athletes who have qualified for the NYS meet – Zack Race and Caroline Stewart – while Windsor’s Dante Kimbrough and Hozempa have also qualified as sprinters.
“You’re looking at this race (100m dash) and thinking, ‘wow potentially this could be a heat at the state meet with these four guys,” said Horan of Race, Kimbrough, Hozempa and Conant.
Although there were very few personal best times and performances for the Tornado boys, impressively, they dominated the field of events – ripping off first place finishes in every single event.
“Boys won every single event. I think we might have done that against Oneonta last year, but to win every single event is pretty huge,” said coach Horan.
Norwich’s 3200m relay team – Gabe Gawronski, Ben Ericksen, Connor Nial and Noah Bufalini – earned the top-spot in the event, running a 9:25.8.
Ky’sawn Veale hit a personal best time in the 110m hurdles, running a 16.7 for the first-place finish.
“He (Veale) actually had some competition, so maybe that is what pushed him,” said Horan.
The Norwich 4x100m relay – Race, Veale, Conant and David Berger – were staring down some solid competition with Windsor, however, the Black Knights would fumble a handoff and drop the baton – resulting in a Norwich win by default, despite a solid time at 45.1.
Norwich would finish first and second and third in the 400m run, as Scott Tomancy, James Heath, and Nick Barber finished solid races at 55.6, 1:00.9, and 1:01.9, respectively. Notably, this was Barber’s first time running the 400 in a competition.
Ben Ericksen ripped off a win in the 1600m run with a time of 4:50.9, followed by teammate James Heath at 4:53. 5, in second place. Ericksen would also claim the top-spot in the 3200m run, with a time of 11:17.9.
“Ben (Ericksen) doesn’t get much competition in dual meets. If Ben is ready to go for the REK I am hoping that he can run a sub 10 minute for 3200m,” said coach Horan
Norwich followed these events up by sweeping the 400m hurdles – Connor Nial first-place at 1:03.8, Graham Rudy second-place at 1:22.0, and Ryan Sanford third-place at 1:23.8.
Gabe Gawronski would earn the top-place finish in the 800m, running a 2:16 – followed by teammate Chris Barton in second at 2:20.1.
Race and Conant returned to the track for the 200m dash – an event Race holds the NHS record in already – to finish first and third respectively. Race would top Windsor’s Hozempa with a winning time of 22.4 seconds – with Conant trailing in third-place at 24.3 seconds.
Norwich completed the sweep of the the relays for the boys when the 4x400m relay team – Tomanocy, Nial, Bufalini, and Gawronski sped to a 3:46.7 for first-place.
Norwich’s Robert Shepard earned his first win in an event dominating the shot put event with a throw of 37’11”. With a first and second-place finish in the discus, Norwich looked to be on in the throwing events. Zack Clipston earned a top-place finish in the discus with a season-best throw of 106’0”, followed by Norwich’s Wes Mills at 96’4” for second-place.
Clipston followed up that performance with a first-place finish in the high jump at 5’4”, and a second-place finish in the triple jump at 33’2.5”.
Following Clipston in the high jump, Nick Barber finished second clearing 4’10” and Gabe Gawronski snagged a third-place when he cleared 4’8”. Winning the long jump and triple jump – Ky’sawn Veale leaped to a 17’10” in the long and a 34’11” in the triple. Conant would land in third for long jump with a 17’2” jump, while Jacob Russel took home a third place in the triple at 31’8.75” behind Veale and Clipston.
Freshman, David Berger completed the sweep of first-place events for the Tornado boys when he earned the win in the pole vault, clearing 8’6”.
The girls found themselves locked into a dogfight – exchanging first and second-place finishes throughout the meet.
Norwich saw eight first-place finishes on the day, sweeping the relays as well.
Norwich’s 3200m relay – Nicole Jeffrey, Katie Gawronski, Meghan Komendarek, and Haley Colabelli – earned a solid time of 10:27.4 for their top-spot to begin the meet.
Impressively, Emily Shattuck hit a season-best time in the 100m dash, running a first-place time of 13.2 seconds. Delilah Geislinger would trail Shattuck for a third-place spot with her time of 14.8 seconds. Shattuck would later conquer the competition in the 200m dash, coming in first with a time of 28.2 seconds.
Nicole Jeffrey and Meghan Komendarek would be edged out for the win in the 1500m run, earning a Norwich second and third place with times of 5:38.9 and 5:56.5, respectively.
A 53.1 second 4x100m relay is what Norwich’s first-team ran – Geislinger, Stewart, Colabelli, and Shattuck – as they dusted the competition for a first-place spot. Impressively, the lady Tornado’s second-team – Riley Marsh, Halea Eaton, Samantha Binelli, and Destiny Gladney – would finish ahead of Windsor’s top team.
Gawronski and Gladney would pull up a second and third respectively in the 400m dash, earning times of 1:16.8 and 1:25.3.
Nicole Jeffrey snagged some solid team points for the Tornado, when she battled for a second-place finish in the 3000m run. Jeffrey ran a 12:07.7, being edged out by Windsor’s Kaylee Stone at 11:39.1.
Norwich’s final relay team – Geislinger, Colabelli, Komendarek, and Gawronski – completed the sweep for Norwich in the relays running a 4:34.1 time in the 4x400m relay.
Senior Kara Evans finished first and second on the day in the discus and shot put, respectively. Evans suffered a loss in the shot put, throwing a second-place throw of 29’4.5” – all before nailing a first-place in the discus with a launch of 94’9”. Elizabeth Karlson found herself in third place for the discus with a throw of 72’.5”
Windsor swept the high jump, however, Norwich would reclaim their footing in the long and triple jump. Norwich snagged a second and third-place finish in the long with Stewart at 15’7.5” and Shattuck at 15’5”.
Triple jump saw Stewart claim the top-spot with a winning jump of 32’10.5”, followed by Taylor Hansen in second-place at 28’9”.
Hansen would take that momentum into her final event, the pole vault, earning herself a personal best height and a first-place finish, clearing a height of 6’6”. Liz Eddy would finish off the sweep of the event, with a second-place finish and a height of 6’.
“We did well, but I don’t think we ran our best on either side. We are better than any team in our division, but this was a wake up call,” said coach Horan.
Next up for Norwich, they will be hosting the 12th annual REK Track and Field Invitational.
Attending this year’s event, which will be held on Friday, May 5, at 4 p.m., will be the following teams – Norwich, Greene, Unadilla Valley, Sidney, Cincinnatus, Bainbridge-Guilford, Oxford, Sherburne-Earlville, Cherry Valley Springfield, Waterville, DeRuyter, Morrisville-Eaton, Edmeston.
“It is always good competition, I love being a part of the REK,” said coach Horan.