WHITESBORO – Norwich’s star-studded boys and girls varsity track team continues to excel, taking home second place finishes for both sides this past weekend.
Norwich brought home multiple top-podium finishes on either side, posting a multitude of personal best marks in the process. Winning the Ed Wadas Invitational for the boys in 2017 was New Hartford with 106 points – while Norwich would finish second with 83 team points, besting Henninger at 61 points for third place.
The Tornado girls would finish second behind their 2017 champion Rome Free Academy at 145 points. The Norwich girls slid to second with 69 points, edging out Central Valley Academy at 59 points for third.
“The big highlight was that we placed second as a team for boys and girls, at a meet with some really good teams from section III,” said Norwich head coach Shaun Horan.
The boys side got started with some fireworks, as Norwich’s speedster Zack Race was bested in the 100m dash during the preliminary round, by Nasir Jones of Henninger at 11.34 compared to Race’s 11.49. Race would avenge the first round defeat in the finals with a first place finish, running an 11.17 second race – defeats Jones, who ran an 11.18 second time. Norwich’s Eric Conant would pull up a solid fourth place finish in the event, running an 11.72 second race.
Race and Conant would return to the track, to again finish first and fourth. Both Norwich sprinters dashed their way to personal best times in the 200m race – Race finishing in first with a 22.30 and Conant finishing in fourth with a 23.62 second time.
But wait, there is more.
The Tornado boys not only continued their stellar performances in the sprinting races – but extended their success into the mid-distance and distance races as well.
Scott Tomanocy hit a personal best time in the 400 meter dash, running a 53.69 second race, placing him sixth overall.
Impressively, Norwich’s Gabe Gawronski continued the trend into the 800 meter run – finally edging his way under the two minute mark – a longtime goal of Gawronski’s. Not only did Gawronski hit a seasons-best time, he earned a first-place finish in the 800m, running a 1:59.21, and officially was the only runner out of 28 to run under the two minute mark.
Noah Bufalini smashed some goals in the 1600m race, placing fifth overall in the event, with once again, a personal best time of 4:54.70.
Although, not a personal best time, Ky’sawn Veale pushed himself to a fourth place finish in the 110m hurdles – running a 17.30 second time. Connor Nial would run his first official race of the season in ‘his’ event, racing to a seventh place spot in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.88 – Nial suffered an early season injury delaying his 2017 debut.
Perhaps one of the most impressive feats of the day, Norwich senior Ben Ericksen fought his way to a second place finish in the 3000m steeplechase. Not only did Ericksen claim eight team points in doing so, he bettered his own Norwich High School record in doing so, running a 10:09 in the process.
In pursuit of claiming a spot on the wall, Norwich’s 4x100 meter relay team – David Berger, Zack Race, Ky’sawn Veale and Eric Conant – hit a PR time, snagging a second place finish. The Tornado sprinters took one step closer in closing in on the school record, running a 45.04.
Horan elected to point out, that although not all personal best times, all three of the boys relays placed second in the Section III Invitational – with the 4x400 meter team of Scott Tomanocy, James Heath, Zack Race, and Ben Ericksen running a 3:43.73, and the 4x800m team of Connor Nial, Noah Bufalini, Michael Cardoza, and Gabe Gawronski running a 8:42.49.
The field events, notably were not Norwich’s strongpoint on the weekend – that however, doesn’t mean personal best marks were not met.
Norwich’s Conant returned to his 2016 form with a massive jump of 19’8” landing him in fourth place overall – trailed by teammate Ky’sawn Veale who placed fifth with a jump of 19’3”. Veale would also claim an eighth place finish in the triple jump, jumping a 38’6” jump.
Tornado high jumper, Zack Clipston managed to round out the evening for the boys, climbing inside the top-ten in the high jump. Clipston managed to place seventh on the weekend, clearing 5’4”.
Boys Team Results:
