NORWICH – The Norwich varsity indoor track and field team has been busy as of late, competing in a invitational this past weekend and two prior invitational's the weekend before.

Among some phenomenal times from the Norwich runners – Ben Ericksen stood above the crowd when he successfully broke the Norwich High School record in the 1500 meter run. This record was previously held by Steven Spittler who ran a solid 4:32 for the record time.

Ericksen broke the record when the Norwich team traveled to Colgate on Dec. 9, for the John DeMao track meet, where he successfully shattered Spittler's record with his invitational winning time of 4:20.34.

Ericksen is coming off a highly successful season as a senior for the Tornado in Cross Country where he was recently named fourth team All-State in Class C.

Ericksen was one of many other Tornado runners who saw success at the John DiMao track meet where the Norwich boys finished in eighth place and the girls finished in 14th – Norwich competed in the Division I side of the meet, while Sherburne-Earlville competed in the DII side.

Norwich's James Heath took home a seventh place finish in the boys 300 meter dash for DI with his time of 41.75.

Justin Bates climbed his way to a sixth place finish in the 500 meter dash for DI with a time of 1:20.54.

Bates also took home a solid finish in the 800 meter run when he claimed third with his time of 2:27.71

The Norwich relay team of the 4x200 – David Berger, James Heath, Luca Kamps and Garret Thorton – took home a second place finish. Losing to Cazenovia who posted a winning time of 1:40.06 compared to Norwich's 1:43.93.

James Heath continued his fine performance on the day with a seventh place finish in Long Jump when he managed to reach a best jump of 16'5.5”.

Carter Hubbard a Norwich senior competed in the Shot Put for the Tornado where he took home a seventh place finish for Norwich with his best throw of 35'2”.

For the Sherburne-Earlville boys in the DII competition they would see some success as well – Thad Karaman ran a 44.06 for a seventh place finish in the 300 meter dash. Sherburne-Earlville finished sixth in DII standings and 15th overall.

On the girls side for Norwich, Hannah Klockowski impressed with her third place finish in the 55 meter hurdles, with a time of 9.98.

Klockowski also would take home a fourth place finish in the DI Triple Jump where she bounded her way to a 29'.5” jump.

On the DII side for the S-E girls it was Kaley Judge in the 55 meter hurdles who finished in seventh with a time of 8.46.

S-E's 4x200 girls relay – Kiana Marshall, Ashly Palmer, Katelynn Palmer, and Kaley Judge – raced to a fourth place finish in the event with their time of 2:08.77.

S-E would enjoy success in the girls field events, as Miranda Niles claimed a fifth place finish in High Jump when she cleared 4'03”.