Robert Jeffrey
Sun Sports Contributor

ONEONTA – With the track and field season in full swing, for four of Chenango County’s teams the season came at a crossroads at the competitive Oneonta Yellowjacket invitational on Friday May 12.
The boys from Norwich took second place with 59 points, Unadilla Valley placed 11th with 14 points, Bainbridge-Guilford placed 13th with 8 points and Greene scored 2 points for 16th place.
The Purple Tornado recorded top performances in the distance medley relay with the quartet of Gabe Gawronski, Scott Tomanocy, Noah Bufalini and Ben Erickson clocking in at 11:04.47 minutes, pacing a slim lead over the second place DMR squad in New Hartford who race an 11:07.83.
In the 100m dash, Eric Conant placed second at 11.58, getting edged out by Laurens Milford’s Taylor Murch by .01 seconds.
The ever improving Gabe Gawronski continued the tear he’s been on, as he placed second in the 400m dash running a speedy time of 52.45 seconds.
In the 200m dash, Zack Race continued his dominance timing a 22.30 second race, blowing his competition away by nearly a full second. Eric Conant placed fifth in the 200m as well running a time of 23.55 seconds.
Ben Ericksen aided the distance crew’s performance at the meet with a second place finish in the steeplechase, crossing the tape with a time of 10:08.28.
In the sprint medley relay, the squadron of Eric Conant, Kysawn Veale, Scott Tomanocy and Zack Race broke a Norwich High School record in the event putting up an impressive time of 1:37.74 minutes adding to the impressive total of records that have fallen thus far this season.
Veale placed sixth in the long jump and triple jumps with distances of 18’10.5” and 38’11”, respectively.
For the Bobcat boys of B-G, Nick Petrutoni recorded a second place finish in the long jump, finishing with a distance of 19’8”.
Unadilla Valley’s Ben Avolio placed fifth in the 400m timing 53.30 seconds. Teammate Than Garry placed fifth in the 400m hurdles running a time of 1:01.30 minutes in the event. In the high jump, Geoff Keach cleared a height of 5’05” to place fifth.
Greene’s Coy Austin placed fifth in the 100m dash running a time of 11.86 seconds, giving the Trojans their only two points at the Invitational.
• For the girls teams from Chenango County, the women from Norwich recorded 89 points on their way to the first place team finish. Unadilla Valley placed 10th recording 22 points on the evening, Greene scored seven points in their 15th place finish and B-G did not record a point in the highly competitive event, placing 22nd.
The NHS girls started off the night in grand fashion placing first in the distance medley relay as well as breaking the Purple Tornado record in the event as the quartet of Hailey Colabelli, Katie Gawronski, Meghan Komendarek and Nicole Jeffrey crossed the finish line in a time of 13:09.76 minutes.
Norwich’s Hannah Klockowski placed seventh in the 100m hurdles timing 17.84 seconds.
Norwich’s Emily Shattuck placed second in the 100m dash in a time of 13.40 seconds.
Nicole Jeffrey added to another victory on the night as she took the mile race in stride with a time of 5:45.22 minutes. The mile for any female high school runner to compete is distinctly different, both strategically and physically as the 1500 meter race is the usual substitute for the mile race.
The Purple Tornado gained another victory in the 400m dash as Hailey Colabelli added another ‘W’ to her belt on the afternoon, timing a 62.29 second race.
In the 800m Meghan Komendarek and Katie Gawronski finished third and fourth, respectively. Komendarek timed a 2:28.23 minute race, while Gawronski followed in close pursuit crossing the finish line in a time of 2:29.52 minutes.
In the 200m dash, Emily Shattuck placed first with a time of 27.37 seconds.
NHS claimed another victory in the sprint medley relay as they finished in a time of 1:57.25 minutes.
Emily Shattuck placed first in the long jump with a leap of 17’00.25”.
Kara Evans placed sixth in the shot put with a throw of 29’05.50”. Evans would bounce back in the discus throw however, grabbing a first place finish with a throw of 102’01”.
Lizzy Eddy would round out the scoring for the Purple Tornado in the pole vault, clearing a height of 6’6”.
Greene’s Madison Rice placed third in the 400m dash, timing a 63.40 second finish. Greene’s SMR team of Haley Dejager, Mary Klecha, Nicole Flohr and Madison Rice finished sixth in the event, with a time of 2:01.66 minutes.
UV’s Cearah Dacostefaro placed eighth in the 100m hurdles crossing the tape in a time of 18.09 seconds.
Maggie Merlo recorded a sixth place spot in the 100m dash with a time of 13.70 seconds as well as a fourth place finish in the long jump with a distance of 15’6.50”.
The UV storm’s quartet of Julia Oglesby, Kyleigh George, Maggie Merlo and Isabel Mendoza placed second in the sprint medley relay as they nipped at the heels of the Purple Tornado SMR squad with a speedy finish of 1:58.34 minutes. Oglesby placed second in the high jump, clearing 4’11.02”.
The Tornado go back to the track today Monday, May 15, to compete at the Three Bald Guy’s Pentathlon with a start time of 4 p.m.
The B-G Bobcats return to the oval on Thursday, May 18, when they’re set to compete at the MAC league Championship in Greene with a start time of 4:15 p.m.
The Greene Trojan’s return to action as they compete in the MAC league Pentathlon this afternoon Monday, May 15, with a start time of 4:15 p.m.
The UV Storm are scheduled to return to league competition when they compete in the MAC league championship meet in Greene on Thursday, May 18, with the first race slated for 4:15 p.m.