OTEGO – Facing a strong amount of head wind, all runners at the Oneonta Yellowjacket Invitational saw some slower times Friday than they are used to this season. That still didn’t stop the team members from Unadilla Valley, Bainbridge-Guilford and Norwich from doing what they do best – winning.
Since the meet was at Unatego High School because of construction at the track at Oneonta, no facility records were broken at the meet.
Sweeping the events she participated in was Unadilla Valley’s Julia Oglesby. Winning the high jump at 4 feet-10 inches, Oglesby decided to keep jumping to see the highest height she could reach.
Oglesby finished at a height of 5 feet-2 inches, tying her height at the REK Invite.
On the track, the speedster placed at the top of the podium in both the 100 and 200 meter dash. Oglesby’s times in the events were a 12.87 seconds in the 100 meter and a 27.19 in the 200. She has qualified for the state championship meet in June for all of her events.
Norwich’s Riley Marsh finished behind Oglesby in second place for the 100 meter event. Marsh also competed against her as part of the field in 200 meter dash. With Marsh’s time of 28.41, she nabbed the fourth place spot, grabbing team points for the Purple Tornado.
Zamira Caldwell of Bainbridge-Guilford also competed in both events. She crossed the finish line in 14.18 seconds in the 100 meter dash, snagging a point for her team points total and the final spot on the podium.
The Tornado’s Hailey Colabelli continued her winning streak in the 400 meter dash, placing first with a time of 1:02.26. Colabelli’s time was over a second faster than any other racer in the girls field.
Greene’s Madison Rice crossed the finish line at the sixth racer, picking up a team point for the Trojans. She was part of the Greene team that placed fourth in the sprint medley relay. Rice teamed up with Haley DeJager, Brooke Austin, and Chloe Parks for the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 400 meter legs of the event and displayed a time of 2:05.88.
The team of Katie Gawronski, Caroline Stewart, Marsh and Colabelli took the top prize in the sprinters medley relay with a time of 1:57.11.
In the hurdling events, Gawronski placed third in the 100 meter hurdles and first in the 400 meter hurdles. Gawronski’s time of 17.43 nearly beat out her personal best she set for herself at the REK meet one week prior.
Also in the field for the 100 meter hurdles was the UV Storm’s Kyleigh George. George placed sixth in the event but with a time of 17.96. All top six girls who placed on the podium in the event were separated by less than a second.
Nicole Jeffrey yet again took home first place finishes in the 800 and the 1500 meter races. Jeffrey has been dominating the distance races all season long at all dual meets and most of the invitational events this season. Running a 2:29.10 in the 800 and a 5:31 in the 1500, she finished at least four seconds fast than second place in both races.
Kate Roefs of the B-G Bobcats scooped up the last point for the 1500 meter event, placing sixth in the event with a time of 6:19.12.
The distance medley event saw the Lady Storm of Unadilla Valley place fifth. The distance legs were run by Rebecca Ruffino, Sierra Schrag, Sadie Dibbell and Paige Catena. The team finished in 14:43.10.
Their UV teammate Molly Avolio took home the blue ribbon in shot put, beating out the second place finisher by 1.25 inches. Avolio’s best throw was for a distance of 33 feet-5.25 inches.
The triple jump saw Norwich’s Angela Carlson place sixth in the event as she landed in the jumping pit at 31 feet-5 inches.
On the boys side, Norwich’s Zack Race, Eric Conant, and David Berger battled it out along with the rest of the field in the 100 and 200 meter races.
Race, Conant and Berger raced in the finals heat of the 100 meter dash. The three placed Race as first, Conant third, and Berger fifth in the event, giving the Norwich boys a cluster of team points.
In the 200 meter dash, the results were nearly the same as Race posted a 22.38 for the top finisher. Conant again came in third, placing a time of 23.58 seconds. Berger moved up one place to finish fourth with a time of 23.95.
The three then joined forces with Gabe Gawronski for the sprinter’s medley relay. Race started in the 200 meter leg with Conant and Berger taking the 100 meter splits and Gawronski finished with the 400 meter portion of the event. The four combined for a time of 1:35.92, nearly beating the other teams in the field by five seconds.
Gawronski raced two laps around the track earlier in the meet for the 800 meter run to come in first place with a time of 1:58.84.
The Tornado teammate Scott Tomanocy dashed to a 400 meter time of 53:94, placing fourth in the event.
Greene’s Spencer Klumpp came in shortly behind Tomanocy for a sixth place finish. The 55.22 was enough to stand on the podium for the Trojan sprinter.
Josh Nogaret of the Unadilla Valley Storm crossed the finished line in second in the 1600 meter run, which is four laps around the track and equivalent to a mile in distance. Nogaret finished in a time of 4:55.37.
Norwich’s Stanton Baker and Julian Roque claimed the final two spots in the event, finishing less than a second a part.
The Trojans’ Greg Wynter placed fourth in both of the hurdling events of the invitational. Wynter placed fourth in the short of the two races with a time of 18.04 seconds. Coming in a at time of 1:04.65 for the 400 meter hurdles, Wynter crossed the finish line just behind Nik Barber of the Purple Tornado. Barber came in at 1:04 even for third place.
The Norwich boys track and field team finished at the top once the team points were calculated. The girls team came in second overall.
All teams are in action next at the their conference championships on Wednesday afternoon. Norwich will be at Southern Tier Athletic Conference while Unadilla Valley and Bainbridge-Guilford head to the Midstate Athletic Conference championships. Both will take place at 4 p.m. Locations will be at Sidney High School for the MAC and Vestal for the STAC Championships.