Frank Speziale Photo

NORWICH – The Norwich Purple Tornado hosted their 11th annual REK 'Friends Forever' Track Invitational this past Friday, May 6.

The REK Invitational, in remembrance of the three Norwich Track and Field girls who lost their lives in a tragic drunk driving accident many years ago, began as it always has, with the moment of silence and the annual 100 meter remembrance walk.

Following the walk, the meet was underway in full force. About midway through the nights events, Norwich recognized all the seniors present for the evening, but especially recognized its own graduating seniors and asked that their parents accompany them to midfield.

After all the ceremonies were completed, Norwich proceeded to walk away as the winners on both the boys and girls side of the meet, with the Tornado boys earning 175-points and the girls earning 149-points.

Norwich also claimed both of the awards for Most Outstanding Athlete, with Zach Race taking the award on the boys side and senior Katelyn Shaver walking away with it on the girls side.

“They both exceeded what was expected of them. The REK always seems to have great competition for a small invitational. But the spirit that the Norwich kids have during the meet is unmatched,” said Norwich head coach Shaun Horan.

Scoring for the boys side would see Sidney trail in second place with 94-points, followed by Morrisville-Eaton with 70, Cherry Valley-Springfield with 64, Edmeston with 38, Sherburne-Earlville with 28, Unadilla Valley with 23, Greene with 20, Cincinnatus with 18, Bainbridge-Guilford with 13, DeRuyter with 8, Waterville with 7, and Oxford with 0.

While the scoring on the girls side saw Sidney once again trail in second place with 84-points, followed by Unadilla Valley at 63, Greene at 54, Bainbridge-Guilford at 50, Cherry Valley-Springfield at 42, Morrisville-Eaton at 31, DeRuyter at 23, Sherburne-Earlville at 20, Cincinnatus at 16, Edmeston at 8, Oxford at 1, and Waterville at 0.

The Norwich boys saw first place finishes in 10 of the possible 18 events in the meet, with various other top place finishes, en route to their impressive showing at home.

Most Outstanding Athlete, Zach Race, managed to land three events with first place fishes starting with the 4x100 meter relay team consisting of David Berger, Zach Race, Connor Nial and Eric Conant. The Norwich 4x100 team edged out Morrisville-Eaton for the win, when they ran a 46.07 to best ME who ran a 46.92. The 4x100 teams from S-E and B-G would come in third and fourth in a close race, with times of 49.58 and 49.91.

Race also finished the top runner in the 100 and 200 meter dash with blazing fast times of 23.04, and 11.41 respectively.

Dan. Norris of B-G trailed Race in the 100 to take second with a time of 11.66, while S-E's Lincoln Owen placed third with a time of 11.88, ultimately edging Norwich's Eric Conant, who broke under 12 seconds to place fourth with a time of 11.90.

Unadilla Valley's Ben Avolio attempted to keep pace with Race in the 200, running a 24.74 to place fourth, while David Berger of Norwich ran a solid 25.01 to grab a sixth place finish. Avolio also nabbed a second place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 54.42.

The 4x800 meter relay team of Norwich, consisting of Ben Ericksen, Noah Bufalini, Gabe Gawronski, and Chris Brown grabbed a first place finish with their time of 8:43.75.

Ericksen would go on to grab first place finishes in the 1600 meter run, and 3200 meter run with times of 4:49.82 and 10:40.36 respectively.

Gawronski would follow up Ericksen in the 1600 with a second place finish with a time of 4:53.42.

Gawronski would then go on to claim a first place finish of his own in the 800 meter, with a time of 2:09.94 followed by Bufalini in third at 2:11.40. Gawronski edged out Tyler Rodriguez of S-E, for third, dropping Rodriguez to fourth with his time of 2:13.27.

Connor Nial would carve out a spot for the Tornado boys in the infamous 400 meter hurdles, placing third with a time of 1:04.21. Nial would edge Greg. Wynter of Greene for the spot, forcing Wynter into fourth with a time of 1:05.78.

The Sprint Medley relay, consisting of two 100 meter dashes, a 200 meter dash and a 400 meter dash, saw the team of David Berger, Eric Conant, Zach Race, and Gabe Gawronski claim a second place finish, running 1:41.94.

Conant would appear in the scoring once again when he took to the long jump pit, earning a third place finish with his best jump of 18'09.25", a jumped that edged his teammate Jordan Vinal into fourth with a jump of 18'05.00". Vinal would go on to claim the third place spot in the triple jump when he bounded his way to a solid 39'00.25".