WINDSOR – In what was a wet and rainy Tuesday afternoon, the Tornado boys and girls track and field team traveled south to the Black Knights domain – battering down the gates of Windsor for a double-win on the day.

Norwich has yet to lose a dual meet this season – as the boys side cruised to a win at 108-30, while the Norwich girls fought to a 76-60 win on Tuesday, May 2.

“It went well today, boys and girls both won,” said Norwich head coach Shaun Horan. “Girls was a tough matchup, they gave us a run for our money.”

The Norwich boys were headlined once again by their junior standout sprinter – Zack Race has now officially bested local-legend sprinters Barry Benjamin and Jason Morris in the 100m dash.

Race is now regarded as fastest sprinter to compete for the Norwich Purple Tornado thus far, running a first-place time of 10.7 against Windsor. Previously, the NHS record had been held by Barry Benjamin in 1983 at 10.9, and Jason Morris in 1992 at 10.8 seconds.

The 100m saw Norwich finish in first-place and fourth place, as sophomore Eric Conant hit a solid hand-timed 11.3 to pull up in fourth.

“The big highlight is Zack Race getting the record. FAT he ran an 11.01, which is faster, but it’s debatable. So now technically his true official (hand-timed) fastest is a 10.7. The good thing is I think his start was pretty good this time,” said coach Horan. “Eric (Conant) ran an 11.3 and that’s real good. He (Conant) knows, and he told me, ‘their start is better than mine.’ So that is something we have struggled with recently for Eric and Zack. We didn’t think our starts were bad because we do so well, but when we compared them to Windsor...”

Currently, Norwich has two athletes who have qualified for the NYS meet – Zack Race and Caroline Stewart – while Windsor’s Dante Kimbrough and Hozempa have also qualified as sprinters.

“You’re looking at this race (100m dash) and thinking, ‘wow potentially this could be a heat at the state meet with these four guys,” said Horan of Race, Kimbrough, Hozempa and Conant.

Although there were very few personal best times and performances for the Tornado boys, impressively, they dominated the field of events – ripping off first place finishes in every single event.

“Boys won every single event. I think we might have done that against Oneonta last year, but to win every single event is pretty huge,” said coach Horan.

Norwich’s 3200m relay team – Gabe Gawronski, Ben Ericksen, Connor Nial and Noah Bufalini – earned the top-spot in the event, running a 9:25.8.

Ky’sawn Veale hit a personal best time in the 110m hurdles, running a 16.7 for the first-place finish.

“He (Veale) actually had some competition, so maybe that is what pushed him,” said Horan.

The Norwich 4x100m relay – Race, Veale, Conant and David Berger – were staring down some solid competition with Windsor, however, the Black Knights would fumble a handoff and drop the baton – resulting in a Norwich win by default, despite a solid time at 45.1.

Norwich would finish first and second and third in the 400m run, as Scott Tomancy, James Heath, and Nick Barber finished solid races at 55.6, 1:00.9, and 1:01.9, respectively. Notably, this was Barber’s first time running the 400 in a competition.

Ben Ericksen ripped off a win in the 1600m run with a time of 4:50.9, followed by teammate James Heath at 4:53. 5, in second place. Ericksen would also claim the top-spot in the 3200m run, with a time of 11:17.9.

“Ben (Ericksen) doesn’t get much competition in dual meets. If Ben is ready to go for the REK I am hoping that he can run a sub 10 minute for 3200m,” said coach Horan

Norwich followed these events up by sweeping the 400m hurdles – Connor Nial first-place at 1:03.8, Graham Rudy second-place at 1:22.0, and Ryan Sanford third-place at 1:23.8.

Gabe Gawronski would earn the top-place finish in the 800m, running a 2:16 – followed by teammate Chris Barton in second at 2:20.1.

Race and Conant returned to the track for the 200m dash – an event Race holds the NHS record in already – to finish first and third respectively. Race would top Windsor’s Hozempa with a winning time of 22.4 seconds – with Conant trailing in third-place at 24.3 seconds.