ONEONTA – This past weekend on May 14, five Chenango County boys and girls track and field teams headed to Oneonta to compete in the annual Oneonta Yellowjacket Invitational.
This invitational saw the Sidney boys win the crown as a team wit 87-points, however, the Norwich's boys side pulled away from its other county rivals as a team when they placed third in the whole meet with 65-points. This was followed by Unadilla Valley in thirteenth place with 9-points, Greene in fifteenth place with 8-points, Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton in nineteenth place with 4-points and Bainbridge-Guilford in twenty-fifth place with 0-points.
On the girls side of the invitational, it was Cobleskill who blew away the competition, claiming first with 102-points. Norwich did crack into the top 10 when they placed sixth with 30-points, followed by Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton in eleventh with 18-points, Unadilla Valley in thirteenth with 12-points, Greene in sixteenth with 8-points, and Bainbridge-Guilford in twentieth with 2-points.
Boys Track and Field
The Distance Medley Relay had two Chenango County teams finish in the top ten, following the New Hartford teams winning time of 11:04.30. The Norwich team of Noah Bufalini, Scott Tomanocy, Chris Brown, and Gabe Gawronski managed a sixth place finish with a time of 11:47.57; followed in ninth place by the UV team of Alex Taylor, Ben Avolio, Andy Grace, and Tyler Simmons who ran a 12:27.03.
The 110 meter hurdle win would go to Holland Patent with a time of 15.80, while only one local athlete Norwich athlete posted a top-ten time, Norwich's Connor Nial placed eighth with a run of 18.33.
The 100 meter dash final came down to mere tenths of a second, as New Hartford's Justin Alpert ran a 11.53, and edged Norwich's Zach Race for the win. Race ran an 11.67 for second place, followed closing by his teammate Eric Conant, who placed fourth with a time of 12.15.
The GMU boys would get on the board in the 1600 meter run, with a fourth place finish from Brandon Richards. Richards ran a 4:55.27 mile time, only slightly behind the winner from new Hartford who ran a 4:41.86 for the win.
The 400 meter dash would go to Sidney's Dean Howard with a blazing fast time of 51.39. However, Ben Avolio of UV would manage a sixth place finish with his time of 54.43, followed by Norwich's Scott Tomanocy in ninth with a time of 55.64.
Connor Nial of Norwich would appear again in the 400 meter hurdles when he notched out a sixth place finish with a time of 1:02.95. The winner from New Hartford ran a sub minute race, with a time of 57.74.
The 800 meter was special for Norwich, as they finished in first place in the event, and claimed the only top-ten finish from a local team as well. Gabe Gawronski earned the first place in the event when he edged out his opponent from Tully by just under a second, running a winning time of 2:02.75.
Norwich's Zach Race earned his second second-place finish in the invitational in the 200 meter dash, falling just short to Marathon's Daniel Harden who ran a 22.72 for the win. Race claimed second with his time of 23.45, followed by Ben Avolio who rounded out the top runners, claiming tenth with a time of 24.81.
New Hartford would claim another event with their performance in the Steeplechase, winning the event with a time of 10:26.60. GMU saw Tanner Sutliff ran a race worthy of ninth place, when he posted a time of 11:44.79.
The Sprint Medley relay team of Norwich impressed when they managed to get on the scoring podium, finishing fourth overall. The Norwich team consisting of Zach Race, Drew Walsh, Eric Conant, and Gabe Gawronski, ran a solid time of 1:41.43. UV saw their team of Marcus Granger, Mike Patrick, Chris Stirone, and Ben Avolio place eighth with a time of 1:44.88. The Sidney relay team ultimately would win the event with a tome of 1:39.71.
Eric Conant of Norwich would see a nice outing come his way in the long jump when he placed fourth overall, following his jump of 18'11.5”. Conant's teammate Jordan Vinal would round out the placers in tenth place when he jumped a solid 18'00.5”. The event winner with a jump of 21'07.5” came from Marathon.
Triple jump would only see one local athlete finish in the top-ten, Jordan Vinal once again from Norwich, placed seventh with a launch of 38'05”. Tyson Mccarroll of Sidney would crack into the 40' range with his winning jump of 42'03”.
UV would score some solid points off the high jump, when Marcus Granger cleared 6' for a second place finish, behind Mccarroll of Sidney. Drew Walsh would clear a spot at eighth in the event for Norwich, when he clear 5'2”.
All-star shot-putter from Norwich, Thomas Reilly, would take down his opponents at this invitational with ease, nearly out-throwing the second-place finisher by ten feet. Reilly would earn the first place win with a throw of 51'05.75”, a seasons best thus far. Reilly's teammate, David Bernstein would finish in seventh place with his throw of 41'11”.
