Norwich wins the 14th Annual REK Friends Forever 12 schools compete an invitational
Meagan Schulz Photo
12 schools compete an invitational
NORWICH – The 14th Annual REK Friends Forever Invitational still happened Friday night with heavy rain drops beating on all athletes and spectators. Despite the rainfall that fell for the first half of the meet, the participants of 12 local schools still gathered in the infield to have fun in between events.
Both the Norwich boys and girls teams were crowned the invitational team champions which Sherburne-Earlville, Oxford, Bainbridge-Guilford and Unadilla Valley placed high in the standings. The Purple Tornado boys ended the meet with 189 team points while the Lady Tornado finished with 166 points.
Starting off the invitational was the memorial walk. This event is the first of the night is to honor the three girls – Rachel Nargiso, Emily Collins and Katie Almeter – with a walk of the 100 meter straightaway and is led by the families of the ladies. This year, the Collins and Colosi Family members were there to lead all athletes and coaches down the track while the rain held off.
The action on the track started the 4x100 meter race, which Norwich’s Eric Conant, David Berger, Nik Barber and Griffin Mills raced to a time 44.30 seconds to win the event. Conant took the hand off from Berger for the second leg and was almost 50 meters ahead of the rest of the field by the time he handed the baton off to Barber. Mills finished the race for the back straightaway.
Bainbridge-Guilford placed second and Oxford’s 4x100 meter team came in sixth in the event. Norwich’s second relay team in the event came in across the line at the fourth place spot.
The Norwich girls also claimed first place in the event as Katie Gawronski, Hailey Colabelli, Angela Carlson and Riley Marsh finished with a time of 51.31 seconds.
The Storm’s foursome in the 4x800 meter event took first place in the event, an event that they have won at several invitationals and regular season meets this season, with a time of 11:06.74. The group beat their seeding time by 21 seconds and were 20 seconds faster than the second place finishers.
The Purple Tornado came across the finish line in the 4x800 meter boys race, finishing with a time of 9:05.99.
Miranda Cole of the Norwich girls team captured a first place medal in both the 100 and 200 meter races of the invitational. Cole ran a 13.2 second 100 meter race, just topping teammate Riley Marsh by .39 of a second.
In the same race, Oxford’s Milla Gonzalez and Emma Barbosa raced in the finals and placed three and fifth respectively for a chance to stand on the podium by the end of the night.
The 200 meter race saw Cole sprint both the final turn and straightaway in 26.54 seconds to win the event. Sherburne-Earlville’s Amberlyn Robertson was right on her heels the entire length of the race, coming in second seventh-hundredths of a second after Cole.
Once again, Marsh of Norwich and the Blackhawks’ Gonzalez and Barbosa filled the podium, all placing in the top six of the event. Morrisville-Eaton’s Grace Mbaga also claimed a spot in both events.
The boys 100 and 200 meter events were taken by Conant, helping him earn the Male Track MVP Athlete of the invitational. Conant ran a 23.3 in the 200 and sprinted to a time of 11.43 in the finals of the 100 dash.
Lincoln Owen of the Marauders finished right behind the Norwich senior in both events. Owen, who returned to the track the season following a knee injury in the fall, showed no signs of a setback with his times. In the 100 meter dash, Owen finished with a time of 11.56 seconds and ran across the finish line in the 200 at 23.7 seconds.
In the 100 meter dash, Norwich’s Griffin Mills and David Berger joined their teammate on the podium while Oxford’s Xavier Cruz finished sixth in the event of 22 runners.
The 200 meter saw a total of 34 sprinters on the boys side and Ben Avolio of Unadilla Valley placed third with a time of 24.33 seconds.
Aiding in her Female Track Athlete MVP honors, Katie Gawronski placed first in both the hurdling events of the night. She cruised over the hurdles in the 100 meter event, finishing with a time of 17.10. As the raced around the track for the full lap with hurdles, Gawronski came across the line with a time of 1:08.2.
Oxford’s Katelyn Ingraham placed third in the 400 meter hurdle event while Unadilla Valley’s Kyleigh George and Norwich’s Marsh all placed in the top six of the 100 meters. George claimed fifth while Marsh took third.
Owen Rodriguez of the Marauders track team took home second in the 110 meter hurdles and found his way over the hurdles cleanly in 400 meter even for a first place time. Also placing in the 400 hurdles were Norwich’s Nik Barber and Noah Bufalini, coming in at second and third. UV’s Ben Gorrell placed sixth.
Nicole Jeffrey, Norwich’s girls distance runner, placed second in the 800, 1500, and 3000 meter races. In the 1500 meter event, Bainbridge-Guilford’s Ethne Degan captured first with her time of 5:03.28. Norwich’s Jada Reynolds also placed in the top five, finishing fifth in the event.
Lucie Martin just edged out Jeffrey in the 800 meter race for first placed. The two were together for most of the race, pushing each other’s pace throughout but Martin turned it on at the end, crossing two seconds ahead of her teammate.
Degan – the Bobcats’ seventh-grader – placed third in the 800, coming in less than a second behind Jeffrey. Unadilla Valley’s Sierra Schrag and Paige Catena closed out the top six runners as they also finished within a second of each other.
The Storms’ Josh Nogaret won the 1600 meter event, finishing four seconds ahead of the the rest of the field. His time in the event – which is equivalent to a mile in distance – was 4:43.07. The 800 saw Nogaret stand on a podium spot as she finished second in the event with a time of 2:04.51.
Julian Roque of the Tornado placed third in in the 1600 meter race and teammate Makaio Sutton placed sixth. Nogaret’s teammate Andy Grace finished fifth with a time of 5:00.46.
Gabe Gawronski’s time of 1:59.38 was the first place time for the 800 meter run, giving Norwich another win for their team. Gabe turned on the jets as he took the second lap the race, pacing himself during the first with Nogaret running nearly the same strides in the first 400 meters.
Roque also placed third in the 800 giving him two third placed finishes individually for the night. Sherburne-Earlville’s Ryan Asma came in fourth for the same event.
For the 3200, Sutton ran a time of 11:15.81 for first place while Stephen Kman – his Norwich teammate – placed third in the event. Crossing the finish line in between the two Tornado runners was the Maraduers’ Caleb Larcher.
Robertson of S-E took the top spot of the podium in the 400 meter, running the only time under a minute in the event for the girls side. Her time of 59.47 was almost two seconds ahead of Norwich’s Hailey Colabelli, who finished second in the event. Colabelli’s colleague Shaylee Horton placed fourth in the event.
Avolio captured first placed in the 400 meter boys race, finishing with a time of 53.71. Oxford’s Paul Baker came in second with a time of 57.03 for the event.
The Blackhawks took first place in the 4x100 throwers relay in both the girls and boys races. Oxford’s girls team ran a time of 1:01.87 while the boys raced to a time of 54.86.
Norwich wrapped up the running events on the track with first place finishes in both the girls and boys 4x400 meter relays. The boys team nearly broke the meet record, finishing with a time of 3:33.11 while the girls came across the finish line at 4:17.01.
The field events saw the Tornado win all but the girls shot put, discus, high jump and long jump. Zach Lowe, the male MVP for the meet for field competitors, won both the shot put and discus throw for yet another meet this season. Lowe’s throw of 47 feet-4 inches took the muddy shot put event while he launched the discus 125 feet-11 inches.
For the girls, Lindsey Fredrick of Sidney took the shot put with a distance of 34 feet-4.5 inches and S-E’s Lily Stoddard won the discus throw with a distance of 93 feet-1 inch.
Oxford’s Katelyn Ingraham won the long jump, landing in the pit at 15 feet-1.5 inches and Norwich’s Taylor Hansen’s jump of 33 feet-6 inches gave her the medal in the triple jump.
Hansen’s jumping counterparts of the Tornado boys team took home first in both the long and triple jumps. Eli Craddock won the triple jump with a best of three attempts landing at 41 feet-9.25 inches while Mills won with a jump of 20 feet-1 inch.
Norwich’s final win of the night was in the high jump as Gabe Gawronski added another win to his resume. His final high of 5 feet-8 inches was two inches better than the second placed finisher. On the girls side of the event, Sherburne-Earlville’s Rebecca Karaman and Bainbridge-Guilford’s Kira Davison tied for second at 4 feet-4 inches.
The 15th Annual REK event is already scheduled for the first Friday night of May 2020.
NORWICH – The 14th Annual REK Friends Forever Invitational still happened Friday night with heavy rain drops beating on all athletes and spectators. Despite the rainfall that fell for the first half of the meet, the participants of 12 local schools still gathered in the infield to have fun in between events.
Both the Norwich boys and girls teams were crowned the invitational team champions which Sherburne-Earlville, Oxford, Bainbridge-Guilford and Unadilla Valley placed high in the standings. The Purple Tornado boys ended the meet with 189 team points while the Lady Tornado finished with 166 points.
Starting off the invitational was the memorial walk. This event is the first of the night is to honor the three girls – Rachel Nargiso, Emily Collins and Katie Almeter – with a walk of the 100 meter straightaway and is led by the families of the ladies. This year, the Collins and Colosi Family members were there to lead all athletes and coaches down the track while the rain held off.
The action on the track started the 4x100 meter race, which Norwich’s Eric Conant, David Berger, Nik Barber and Griffin Mills raced to a time 44.30 seconds to win the event. Conant took the hand off from Berger for the second leg and was almost 50 meters ahead of the rest of the field by the time he handed the baton off to Barber. Mills finished the race for the back straightaway.
Bainbridge-Guilford placed second and Oxford’s 4x100 meter team came in sixth in the event. Norwich’s second relay team in the event came in across the line at the fourth place spot.
The Norwich girls also claimed first place in the event as Katie Gawronski, Hailey Colabelli, Angela Carlson and Riley Marsh finished with a time of 51.31 seconds.
The Storm’s foursome in the 4x800 meter event took first place in the event, an event that they have won at several invitationals and regular season meets this season, with a time of 11:06.74. The group beat their seeding time by 21 seconds and were 20 seconds faster than the second place finishers.
The Purple Tornado came across the finish line in the 4x800 meter boys race, finishing with a time of 9:05.99.
Miranda Cole of the Norwich girls team captured a first place medal in both the 100 and 200 meter races of the invitational. Cole ran a 13.2 second 100 meter race, just topping teammate Riley Marsh by .39 of a second.
In the same race, Oxford’s Milla Gonzalez and Emma Barbosa raced in the finals and placed three and fifth respectively for a chance to stand on the podium by the end of the night.
The 200 meter race saw Cole sprint both the final turn and straightaway in 26.54 seconds to win the event. Sherburne-Earlville’s Amberlyn Robertson was right on her heels the entire length of the race, coming in second seventh-hundredths of a second after Cole.
Once again, Marsh of Norwich and the Blackhawks’ Gonzalez and Barbosa filled the podium, all placing in the top six of the event. Morrisville-Eaton’s Grace Mbaga also claimed a spot in both events.
The boys 100 and 200 meter events were taken by Conant, helping him earn the Male Track MVP Athlete of the invitational. Conant ran a 23.3 in the 200 and sprinted to a time of 11.43 in the finals of the 100 dash.
Lincoln Owen of the Marauders finished right behind the Norwich senior in both events. Owen, who returned to the track the season following a knee injury in the fall, showed no signs of a setback with his times. In the 100 meter dash, Owen finished with a time of 11.56 seconds and ran across the finish line in the 200 at 23.7 seconds.
In the 100 meter dash, Norwich’s Griffin Mills and David Berger joined their teammate on the podium while Oxford’s Xavier Cruz finished sixth in the event of 22 runners.
The 200 meter saw a total of 34 sprinters on the boys side and Ben Avolio of Unadilla Valley placed third with a time of 24.33 seconds.
Aiding in her Female Track Athlete MVP honors, Katie Gawronski placed first in both the hurdling events of the night. She cruised over the hurdles in the 100 meter event, finishing with a time of 17.10. As the raced around the track for the full lap with hurdles, Gawronski came across the line with a time of 1:08.2.
Oxford’s Katelyn Ingraham placed third in the 400 meter hurdle event while Unadilla Valley’s Kyleigh George and Norwich’s Marsh all placed in the top six of the 100 meters. George claimed fifth while Marsh took third.
Owen Rodriguez of the Marauders track team took home second in the 110 meter hurdles and found his way over the hurdles cleanly in 400 meter even for a first place time. Also placing in the 400 hurdles were Norwich’s Nik Barber and Noah Bufalini, coming in at second and third. UV’s Ben Gorrell placed sixth.
Nicole Jeffrey, Norwich’s girls distance runner, placed second in the 800, 1500, and 3000 meter races. In the 1500 meter event, Bainbridge-Guilford’s Ethne Degan captured first with her time of 5:03.28. Norwich’s Jada Reynolds also placed in the top five, finishing fifth in the event.
Lucie Martin just edged out Jeffrey in the 800 meter race for first placed. The two were together for most of the race, pushing each other’s pace throughout but Martin turned it on at the end, crossing two seconds ahead of her teammate.
Degan – the Bobcats’ seventh-grader – placed third in the 800, coming in less than a second behind Jeffrey. Unadilla Valley’s Sierra Schrag and Paige Catena closed out the top six runners as they also finished within a second of each other.
The Storms’ Josh Nogaret won the 1600 meter event, finishing four seconds ahead of the the rest of the field. His time in the event – which is equivalent to a mile in distance – was 4:43.07. The 800 saw Nogaret stand on a podium spot as she finished second in the event with a time of 2:04.51.
Julian Roque of the Tornado placed third in in the 1600 meter race and teammate Makaio Sutton placed sixth. Nogaret’s teammate Andy Grace finished fifth with a time of 5:00.46.
Gabe Gawronski’s time of 1:59.38 was the first place time for the 800 meter run, giving Norwich another win for their team. Gabe turned on the jets as he took the second lap the race, pacing himself during the first with Nogaret running nearly the same strides in the first 400 meters.
Roque also placed third in the 800 giving him two third placed finishes individually for the night. Sherburne-Earlville’s Ryan Asma came in fourth for the same event.
For the 3200, Sutton ran a time of 11:15.81 for first place while Stephen Kman – his Norwich teammate – placed third in the event. Crossing the finish line in between the two Tornado runners was the Maraduers’ Caleb Larcher.
Robertson of S-E took the top spot of the podium in the 400 meter, running the only time under a minute in the event for the girls side. Her time of 59.47 was almost two seconds ahead of Norwich’s Hailey Colabelli, who finished second in the event. Colabelli’s colleague Shaylee Horton placed fourth in the event.
Avolio captured first placed in the 400 meter boys race, finishing with a time of 53.71. Oxford’s Paul Baker came in second with a time of 57.03 for the event.
The Blackhawks took first place in the 4x100 throwers relay in both the girls and boys races. Oxford’s girls team ran a time of 1:01.87 while the boys raced to a time of 54.86.
Norwich wrapped up the running events on the track with first place finishes in both the girls and boys 4x400 meter relays. The boys team nearly broke the meet record, finishing with a time of 3:33.11 while the girls came across the finish line at 4:17.01.
The field events saw the Tornado win all but the girls shot put, discus, high jump and long jump. Zach Lowe, the male MVP for the meet for field competitors, won both the shot put and discus throw for yet another meet this season. Lowe’s throw of 47 feet-4 inches took the muddy shot put event while he launched the discus 125 feet-11 inches.
For the girls, Lindsey Fredrick of Sidney took the shot put with a distance of 34 feet-4.5 inches and S-E’s Lily Stoddard won the discus throw with a distance of 93 feet-1 inch.
Oxford’s Katelyn Ingraham won the long jump, landing in the pit at 15 feet-1.5 inches and Norwich’s Taylor Hansen’s jump of 33 feet-6 inches gave her the medal in the triple jump.
Hansen’s jumping counterparts of the Tornado boys team took home first in both the long and triple jumps. Eli Craddock won the triple jump with a best of three attempts landing at 41 feet-9.25 inches while Mills won with a jump of 20 feet-1 inch.
Norwich’s final win of the night was in the high jump as Gabe Gawronski added another win to his resume. His final high of 5 feet-8 inches was two inches better than the second placed finisher. On the girls side of the event, Sherburne-Earlville’s Rebecca Karaman and Bainbridge-Guilford’s Kira Davison tied for second at 4 feet-4 inches.
The 15th Annual REK event is already scheduled for the first Friday night of May 2020.
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