JOHNSON CITY – Last Thursday, May 19, the Norwich Purple Tornado boys and girls track and field team traveled to Johnson City High School for the annual Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) Championship. This championship is a showcase of the best talent in the track and field arena in the conference.
As a team, Norwich's boys and girls team did not fair as well as they did at an individual level. Binghamton high school boys cruised to a crushing win over all of their opponents scoring 131-points as a team; while the Corning girls did the same to their opponents, claiming the team win with 126-points. Despite not cracking the top five in points as a team in either boys or girls, the Tornado boys claimed a respectable seventh place finish out of seventeen with 34-points. The Tornado girls claimed a fifteenth place finish with 8-points.
The individual level of the sport saw a slew of personal bests for athletes all across the board with a numerous amount of personal season records going to the Norwich athletes.
Boys Track and Field
Norwich left the STAC meet on Thursday with two champions. David Bernstein won his second straight STAC championship when he claimed the crown in discus. Bernstein launched his winning throw to an impressive distance of 149'10”. Bernstein would beat the second place finisher from Johnson City by nine feet when they threw 140'10”. 7. Trevor McCarthy also of Norwich would throw a seasons best for seventh place with a 121'01”.
Norwich's second STAC champion in the meet was Bernstein's fellow senior teammate Thomas Reilly who claimed the top spot in shot put with his monster personal best throw of 53'04". Just like Bernstein, Reilly would crush his opponents when the second place finisher from Elmira would only manage a throw of 44'9”. Bernstein would sneak his way into the top-five at shot put as well when he placed fifth with a throw of 42'7.25”.
However, the Steeplechase would get the meet underway for the boys. The Tornado failed to have an athlete place in the top five. Brian Bates of Corning would win the event with a time of 9:49.25.
The 4x100 relay teams took the track at the STAC meet with Norwich's extremely young team hoping to stay competitive. Ultimately the relay team from Binghamton High School would run a stunning 43.45, edging Johnson City by tenths of a second for the win. The Norwich team of David Berger, Zack Race, Drew Walsh and Eric Conant would run a respectable 46.60, but would fall short of a top five finish, placing eighth.
The 4x800 meter relay win would go to the Owego Free Academy team with a time of 8:35.70, Norwich would not place in the event.
It was Sincere Williamson of Binghamton High School who blew away the competition in the 100 meter dash. Williamson cracked the 11 second mark with his time of 10.98 for the win, beating his teammate who posted an 11.25. Norwich would not place in the event.
The 110 meter hurdles would go to Union-Endicott's Tyler Hubeny with a time of 15.63, beating Kashawn Stroman of Susquehanna Valley, who ran a 16.19. Norwich would not place in the event.
The 1600 meter run ultimately would be claimed by Maine-Endwell's Dan Schaffer with a blazing fast time of 4:13.51, as he blew away his competition for the win. Norwich would fail to place in the top-five in this event.
Binghamton would claim another event as their own when Antonio Daniels would win the 400 meter dash with a time of 51.06 edging Noah Bosket of Horseheads who ran a 51.66. Norwich's Scott Tomanocy would claim a fifteenth place spot with a 55.57 run.
Binghamton saw more points go their way when Jesus Caballero ran a stellar 56.41 second 400 meter hurdles for the win in the event. However, Norwich's Connor Nial would see continued improvement when he posted a personal record time of 1:01.76 for a sixth place finish.
Sincere Williamson of Binghamton would once again fly past his competition in the 200 meter dash for the win with a time of 22.43. However, sophomore Zack Race of Norwich wouldn’t trail by much, claiming a third place finish with a personal record time of 23.05.
Gabe Gawronski of Norwich would also post a personal record time in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:00.80, for a respectable sixth place finish. However, the 800 meter run would be won by Grayson Hoteling of Maine-Endwell with a time of 1:57.63. Gawronski's teammate Noah Bufalini would run a solid race in the event as well, with a ninth place finish with a time of 2:06.29.
Rasheen Pettiford of Binghamton High School claimed the top spot in the long jump when he jumped a 20'06", however, Norwich would see freshman Eric Conant stay competitive when he managed a fourth place finish in the event jumping 19'04.25".
The 4x400 meter relay race would come down to the finish as Johnson City's team would run a winning time of 3:27.25 beating Binghamton who ran a 3:27.98. Norwich's team would fall to eleventh with a time of 3:46.36.
Maine-Endwell would see Nicolas Taylor win the 3200 meter run with a time of 9:30.30, while Norwich would not place in the event.
Kyhil Pinkney of Binghamton High School claimed the top spot in the high jump when he cleared the height of 6'04" for the win.
