SIDNEY – Due to the ongoing construction at Norwich High School, the Norwich Purple Tornado track and field team hosted the 17th annual REK invitational at Sidney this year.
The REK invitational is held every year in honor of three Norwich alums; Rachael Nargiso, Emily Collins, and Kate Almeter, who tragically passed away in November of 2000.
Norwich, Oxford/Greene, Bainbridge-Guilford, and Unadilla Valley ran in the meet to represent the local Chenango County teams. The Sidney girls and the Norwich boys won the meet, which next year should be held back at Norwich High School on a new and improved track. Norwich also honored its senior class. Congratulations to Gabe Blenis, Lucas Craddock, Richard Fuller, Spencer Root, and Holden Ryan. The MVPs of the meet are; Lucas Craddock (Norwich), Richard Fuller (Norwich), Dejah Taylor (Sidney), and Alex Neubert (Sidney).
NORWICH
Girls:
The Norwich Purple Tornado girls’ track team finished fifth in the meet with 47 points. The girls’ 4x100 team took third and the 4x800 earned fourth to round out the team events before many girls stood out in their own individual events.
Annie Boland finished second in the 2000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:05.88, just shy of Edmeston/Morris’ leader’s 8:50.86. Boland also finished eighth in the 800 meter run, where teammate Kyra Brunick-Davis took 12th place and Emilia Pepe finished 19th. Pepe set a new personal record in the 1500 meter run with a best time of 6:13.11 for 12th place.
McKenzie Hagenbuch finished seventh in the 400 meter dash as Brynley Ryan came in fifth and Josey Ryan took seventh in the 100 meters. Brynley also finished fifth in the 200 meter dash. Josey finished ninth in the long jump event with a jump of 13 feet, 11 3/4 inches. Emma Urgo took seventh in the same long jump event with a new best jump of 14-11.75 and also achieved a new personal best in the high jump with a jump of four feet, 10 inches for third place. Urgo completed her day with a sixth place finish in the triple jump (30-10.25).
Reagan Decker set a new personal best in both the 100 meter hurdles and in the long jump. Decker came in eighth for both events, where she ran a new best 21.71 seconds for the hurdles and set a new best jump of 14-1.75. She took seventh in the triple jump (29-3.50).
Olivia Palmer took second in the discus with a new best throw of 92 feet, four inches as Lara Tefft finished ninth with a throw of 78 feet, eight inches. Tefft also came in third in the shot put with a throw of 31-.75.
Boys:
The Norwich Purple Tornado boys’ track and field team were victorious for the second straight REK invite, earning 105 points. The boys’ 4x100 team earned the top finish after coming off a solid performance in the Penn Relays. Richard Fuller, Lucas Craddock, and Caden Sutton also achieved victories in their respective events.
Fuller ran a speedy 11.60 seconds to earn the top finish in the 100 meter dash as Caden set a new personal record in the 2000 steeplechase with a time of 7:29.24 and holds the school record. Sutton also took third in the 800 meter run and finished fourth in the 1600 meter run. Nic Sutton ran in the same 1600 and 800 meters, where he took sixth in the 1600 and eighth in the 800. Nic also finished third in the 3200 meter run with a time of 11:53.33 as Pat Mulwane followed in fourth place with his new best time of 12:58.88.
Spencer Root came in second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.92, just behind teammate Fuller. Connor Marshall did well in his three events with a sixth place finish in the 110 meter hurdles, a 10th place finish in the 400 meter hurdles, and earned a new best in the triple jump. His jump of 31-10.50 was good for 14th place. Jonah Adams finished 10th in the long jump with his new best jump of 17-8.25.
Lucas Craddock swept the boards with earning the victories in all the jumps. He set personal records in both the high and long jump. In the high jump, he jumped a new best six feet, six inches and jumped a new best 21 feet, 11 inches in the long jump. For the triple jump, he jumped a top 43-9. Craddock is atop of the records list in both the high and long jumps, but is second for the triple jump.
Jack Barnes set a new best in the discus with a throw of 117 feet, two inches for third place as Gabe Blenis finished fifth with a throw of 110-4. Dean Westervelt took seventh with his best throw of 106-5 as Drew Westervelt finished 11th (91-7). Drew came in seventh in the shot put event with a throw of 36-1.50 as Blenis took 16th with a throw of 33-2.75.
UV:
Girls:
The Unadilla Valley Storm girls’ team took second behind Sidney with 88 team points. Both UV’s 4x100 and 4x800 relay teams earned second to go along with impressive individual events. Gracie Gorrell and Jaiden Schrag continue to excel in their prominent events. Gorrell earned the top finish in the 400 meter dash as Schrag took first in the 100 meter hurdles.
Gorrell finished second to Sidney’s Dejah Taylor in the 200 meter dash. Gorrell came up just short 28.17 compared to Taylor’s 26.92. Schrag took second in the 400 meter hurdles, coming up short against Sidney’s Elaina Neubert. Schrag finished in 1:12.32 behind Neubert’s 1:07.87. Molly Gorrell also competed in both the 200 and 400 meter events, where she took sixth in the 400 and 11th in the 200. Madison Dix followed Gracie in the 400 meter dash with a new best time of 1:02.13. Dix also finished third in the 800 meter run with Natalya Schrag behind her in fourth place. Schrag also finished fourth in the 1500 meter run.
Bella Potter achieved a new personal best in the 200 meter dash with a time of 29.70 seconds for seventh place and finished 12th in the 100 meter dash. Addison Marinelli earned a new personal best in the triple jump with a jump of 24 feet, nine and a half inches for 11th place. Kalie Fernandez-Naughton took fourth in the triple jump and finished sixth in the long jump with a jump of 15 feet exactly. Noelle Fernandez-Naughton finished 10th in the triple jump and 12th in the long jump (13-2).
Boys:
The Unadilla Valley Storm boys’ team finished eighth out of 13 teams in total with 31 points. Haywood Edwards and Jacob Prentice led the boys with strong finishes in their individual events.
Prentice took second in both the 200 meter dash and in the pole vault before earning third in the 100 meter dash. He ran the 200 meter dash in 24.41 seconds behind B-G’s Collin Dicks (24.08) and came short against Newark Valley’s Logan Rhodes in the pole vault as Rhodes marked a 11-0 and Prentice with a 10-6.
Denzel Peter also competed in the 200 meter dash, where he finished 13th with a time of 26.15. Peter set a new personal record in the long jump event with a jump of 17 feet, six inches for 12th place. Tucker Cattanach finished sixth in the high jump with a jump of 5-4.2
Edwards finished third in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.81 and came in eighth place in the 110 meter hurdles (19.87 seconds). Sophomore Ben Kemnah picked up two personal bests in both the 800 and 1600 meter runs. Kemnah finished eighth in the 1600 meter run with a new best time of 5:23.79 and came in 11th in the 800 meters with a new best time of 2:29.20.
B-G:
Girls:
The Bainbridge-Guilford Bobcats girls’ track team finished third behind Sidney and UV with 86.50 points. The Bobcats’ 4x800 earned a first place finish with a team of Lalaenia Baldwin, Vanessa Brazee, Maddie Ingham, and Laila Williams, while the 4x100 relay team finished fifth. Ethne Degan continues to excel through her senior season with a first place finish in the 800 meter run, coming in fast with a time of 2:22.88.
Maddie Ingham finished second with a time of 2:32.06 as Laila Williams finished sixth and Lalaenia Baldwin achieved a new best time of 2:51.71 for ninth place. Baldwin also picked up a new best in the 1500 meter run, running a new best 5:52.40 for eighth place. Vanessa Brazee came in 10th in the same 1500 meters event.
Ruth Wilson earned a new best time of 14:56.74 in the 3000 meter run, where she finished fourth. Carly Finch took sixth in the 100 meter hurdles with her new best time of 21.09 seconds as Keelan Ammon ran the 100 meter dash in a new 13.90 seconds for third place. Ammon also finished fourth in the 200 meter dash and achieved a new best mark in pole vault with a 6-6 for second place. Sage Pruskowski finished eighth in the same 400 meters event.
Emily Sprow came away with the top finish in the long jump, setting a new personal best with a jump of 15 feet, nine inches. She also finished third in the triple jump with a jump of 31-4.25. Elanor Sprow finished ninth in the triple jump (27-9.75) as Olivia Nichols took sixth in the high jump (4-4.1).
Tori Suda earned two new personal bests in both the shot put and discus events. She finished fourth in the shot put with a new best throw of 30-2.75 and threw for a best 69 feet, seven inches for 12th place in discus.
Boys:
The Bainbridge-Guilford boys’ team finished third behind Norwich and Oxford-Greene with 77 team points. Collin Dicks paved the way with three top finishes, including a first place finish in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.08. Dicks finished third in both the long and triple jumps. Harpo Hardt finished slighly ahead of Dicks in the triple jump with a second place finish and set a new best jump of 39-1. Hardt also finished ninth in the 400 meter dash with a new best time of 59.81 seconds.
Kevin Lang picked up two fourth place finishes in the 200 and 400 meter dashes as Easton Porter took fourth in the 800 meter run (2:53.36). Porter achieved a new personal best in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:55.64 for third place. Brock Porter earned a new best in the 800 meter run, where he finished fifth with a time of 2:16.08. Rowan Beasinger took fifth in the 3200 meter run with a time of 12:59.37.
Matthew Wombacker came in sixth in the 2000 meter steeplechase, where he currently holds the school record with a new best time of 9:40.18. Wombacker also achieved a new best mark of 9-0 in the pole vault, where he finished fifth, with teammate Kyle Patton in third with his new best 9-0.02. Ryan Larsen finished sixth in the discus throw with a new best 108 feet.
OX/GR:
Girls:
The Oxford/Greene girls’ team tied for eighth place with Morrisville-Eaton with 20 points. Lyla Biefeldt led the team with earning two new personal bests in both the discus and shot put events. Biefeldt took first in the discus with a new best throw of 112 feet, seven inches as she came just short of Sidney’s Camille Bagley in the shotput. Biefeldt threw a new best 32-6.75 as Bagley finished with a leading 34-10.50.
Kayla Knapp led the 4x100 team with Kayla Swift, Maddy Wise, and Justina Parsons to a sixth place finish before competing in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Knapp finished eighth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 14.07 and finished the 200 meter dash in 30.21 for ninth place.
Parsons earned a new best time of 6:24.48 in the 1500 meter run for 14th place and finished 15th in the long jump with a new best jump of 12-11.75. Ellie Beadle achieved a new best jump of 20 feet, three inches in the triple jump for 13th place.
Boys:
The Oxford/Greene boys’ came second to Norwich with 79 points. The Blackhawks’ 4x800 team took second behind DeRuyter with a team of Aiden Amin, Anthony Bourn, Eddie Golden, and Gordon Smith. The 4x100 team came in third behind Norwich and B-G.
After breaking both school records, eighth grader Gordon Smith finished strong in both the 1600 and 800 meter runs. He set a new personal best in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:09.98. He came just short in second place against Newark Valley’s Jackson Hoover’s 2:07.82. Eddie Golden set a new best time of 5:20.80 in the 1600 meter run for seventh place, and is second on the all-time record list behind Smith. Aiden Amin finished ninth in the same 800 meters event and achieved a new personal best in the 400 meter dash, where he finished fifth with a new best time of 56.71 seconds.
Aside from Smith, Anthony Bourn currently holds the record in the 2000 meter steeplechase, where he set a new personal best time of 7:42.23 for second place. Bourn also finished second in the 3200 meter run with a time of 11:40.61.
Lazarus Ludolph, Sherman Ludolph, Liam Philppone, and Victor Richette also earned new personal bests in the same 400 meter dash. Lazarus finished third with a time of 55.62 as Sherman finished 11th with a time of 1:02.63. Philppone came in 13th with a new best time of 1:03.72 as Richette finished 16th with a time of 1:04.30.
Lazarus Ludolph also achieved a new best time in the 200 meter dash, where he finished 11th with a time of 26.04 seconds. Keegan Waltz came in fifth place in the 200 meters as Braeden Goerlich finished seventh and Jacob Eroshevich in ninth. Goerlich also took fourth in the 100 meter dash. Eroshevich picked up a new personal best time of 12.19 seconds in the 100 meter dash for seventh place.
Waltz also competed in the long jump, where he finished fourth with a jump of 19-8.75 and finished fifth in the high jump with a jump of five feet, six inches. Urijah Dibble took sixth in the shot put with a throw of 36-3.75 and came in eighth place in the discus with a throw of 97 feet, three inches.
All teams will resume regular season action before invitationals this weekend. For full results, visit ny.milesplit.com.