Meagan Schulz Photo
12 schools compete an invitational
NORWICH – The 14th Annual REK Friends Forever Invitational still happened Friday night with heavy rain drops beating on all athletes and spectators. Despite the rainfall that fell for the first half of the meet, the participants of 12 local schools still gathered in the infield to have fun in between events.
Both the Norwich boys and girls teams were crowned the invitational team champions which Sherburne-Earlville, Oxford, Bainbridge-Guilford and Unadilla Valley placed high in the standings. The Purple Tornado boys ended the meet with 189 team points while the Lady Tornado finished with 166 points.
Starting off the invitational was the memorial walk. This event is the first of the night is to honor the three girls – Rachel Nargiso, Emily Collins and Katie Almeter – with a walk of the 100 meter straightaway and is led by the families of the ladies. This year, the Collins and Colosi Family members were there to lead all athletes and coaches down the track while the rain held off.
The action on the track started the 4x100 meter race, which Norwich’s Eric Conant, David Berger, Nik Barber and Griffin Mills raced to a time 44.30 seconds to win the event. Conant took the hand off from Berger for the second leg and was almost 50 meters ahead of the rest of the field by the time he handed the baton off to Barber. Mills finished the race for the back straightaway.
Bainbridge-Guilford placed second and Oxford’s 4x100 meter team came in sixth in the event. Norwich’s second relay team in the event came in across the line at the fourth place spot.
The Norwich girls also claimed first place in the event as Katie Gawronski, Hailey Colabelli, Angela Carlson and Riley Marsh finished with a time of 51.31 seconds.
The Storm’s foursome in the 4x800 meter event took first place in the event, an event that they have won at several invitationals and regular season meets this season, with a time of 11:06.74. The group beat their seeding time by 21 seconds and were 20 seconds faster than the second place finishers.
The Purple Tornado came across the finish line in the 4x800 meter boys race, finishing with a time of 9:05.99.
Miranda Cole of the Norwich girls team captured a first place medal in both the 100 and 200 meter races of the invitational. Cole ran a 13.2 second 100 meter race, just topping teammate Riley Marsh by .39 of a second.
In the same race, Oxford’s Milla Gonzalez and Emma Barbosa raced in the finals and placed three and fifth respectively for a chance to stand on the podium by the end of the night.
The 200 meter race saw Cole sprint both the final turn and straightaway in 26.54 seconds to win the event. Sherburne-Earlville’s Amberlyn Robertson was right on her heels the entire length of the race, coming in second seventh-hundredths of a second after Cole.
Once again, Marsh of Norwich and the Blackhawks’ Gonzalez and Barbosa filled the podium, all placing in the top six of the event. Morrisville-Eaton’s Grace Mbaga also claimed a spot in both events.
The boys 100 and 200 meter events were taken by Conant, helping him earn the Male Track MVP Athlete of the invitational. Conant ran a 23.3 in the 200 and sprinted to a time of 11.43 in the finals of the 100 dash.
Lincoln Owen of the Marauders finished right behind the Norwich senior in both events. Owen, who returned to the track the season following a knee injury in the fall, showed no signs of a setback with his times. In the 100 meter dash, Owen finished with a time of 11.56 seconds and ran across the finish line in the 200 at 23.7 seconds.
In the 100 meter dash, Norwich’s Griffin Mills and David Berger joined their teammate on the podium while Oxford’s Xavier Cruz finished sixth in the event of 22 runners.
The 200 meter saw a total of 34 sprinters on the boys side and Ben Avolio of Unadilla Valley placed third with a time of 24.33 seconds.
Aiding in her Female Track Athlete MVP honors, Katie Gawronski placed first in both the hurdling events of the night. She cruised over the hurdles in the 100 meter event, finishing with a time of 17.10. As the raced around the track for the full lap with hurdles, Gawronski came across the line with a time of 1:08.2.
