On Saturday, eight teams from Chenango County were of the 19 schools that participated in the Quinney Invitational hosted by the Sidney Warriors Track and Field team.

The boys of the Purple Tornado team were edged out by Oneonta by a single point to grab second place with 91 points as a team.

Also scoring points on the boys side of the meet were Unadilla Valley with 27, Greene with 18.5, Harpursville-Afton with 8, and Oxford scored two points. Bainbridge-Guilford, Gilbertsville-Mount Upton and Sherburne-Earlville all had athletes who took part in events but were unable to score team points.

For the girls side of the invite, eight teams from the county scored points with Norwich scoring the most as the snagged the fourth spot in team totals with 51.

Zack Race and Nicole Jeffrey, both of the Tornado team, were honored as the Outstanding Track Performer.

Race captured first in all of the events on the track and broke the meet record with his time of 10.75 in the finals of the 100 meter dash.

Jeffrey placed first in the 1500 meter and the 800 meter runs. In both events, Jeffrey dominated by finishing at least four seconds a head of the second place athlete. She was also a part of Norwich’s first place relay teams.

Amberlynn Robertson of Sherburne-Earlville now holds the Quinney Invitational record in the 200 meter dash. Robertson’s time 26.66 seconds was good enough for first in a photo finish with Emily Brown of Downsville. The two were separated by .01 seconds.

Norwich’s Gabe Gawronski took home the 800 meter event with a time of 2:10.97, finishing ahead of Matthew Johnson by seven tenths of a second.

Gawronski also grabbed first place with his teammates Nik Barber, Noah Bufalini and Eric Conant in the 4x400 meter relay, with a time of 3:42.56. The four runners now hold the Quinney Invitational record for the event.

Conant and Race were joined by David Berger and James Heath in the 4x100 meter relay, which also set a new meet record with a time of 44.65.

In both the 100 and 200 meter events, Conant crossed the finish line right behind Race, giving the Purple Tornado duo their usual 1-2 finish.

The 100 meter dash final race was nearly an all Chenango County event as all by three of the eight spots were filled by members representing the area schools. Berger finished in fourth, followed by Coy Austin of Greene in fifth, and the Blackhawks’ Xavier Cruz grabbed seventh place.

Unadilla Valley Storm sprinter Ben Avolio took home first prize in the 400 meter dash. His time for one lap around the track came in at 54.14, three tenths of a second faster then the runner trailing him for second.

Avolio’s teammate Josh Nogaret had a strong day on the track as he finished in the third in the 1600 meter run. Nogaret kicked the event off participating in the steeplechase. He finished fourth in the event.

In boys 400 meter hurdles, the final was nearly an all county top eight as Norwich’s Barber finished fourth. Coming in just after him was Greene Trojan Greg Wynter. Shortly after Wynter was Sherburne-Earlville’s Adam Aldrich.

Greene’s Austin jumped out to a second place finish in the long jump with a distance of 20-feet. Grabbing the first place spot was Jacob Haqq, out jumping Austin by nearly eight inches. Haqq of Unatego was awarded the Outstanding Field Performer of the invitational.

Norwich’s Griffin Mills landed in the pit for a fifth place finished and Oxford’s Cruz was just five inches away from Mills distance.

Mujuni Mutabiilwa of the Purple finished in the third for the triple jump with a distance of 39-feet-8.5 inches. Teammate Elijah Craddock jumped up to fourth place in the high jump. His ending height of 5-feet-6-inches secured his points spot in the event.

Norwich’s Zach Lowe threw for fourth place in the Shot Put and sixth place in the Discus throw.

Two Chenango County athletes finished in points positions for the girls steeplechase. Norwich’s Jada Reynolds raced to third in the event while Sadie Dibbell of UV ended up fifth.

The 100 meter hurdles race saw four county runners in the finals with the Lady Storm’s Kyleigh George finishing in the highest spot at third. Kristen Chambers of Bainbridge-Guilford finished right behind George for fifth and Tornado Katie Gawronski behind her for sixth. Norwich’s Riley Marsh wrapped up the final points spot in the event.

Julia Oglesby of UV finished in first for the second invite in a row, winning with a time of 12.75 seconds in the finals. Sherburne-Earlville’s Robertson came in at second with a time of 13.06 seconds.

Coming in two spots behind Jeffrey, the winner of the 1500 meter run, was B-G’s Kate Roefs. Jeffrey’s time was 5:18.58 in the event.

Places six through nine in the 400 meter dash were snagged by Chenango County runners. Madison Rice of Greene finished sixth with Isabel Mendoza of UV (seventh), Greene’s Haley DeJager (eighth) and Oxford’s Katelynn Ingraham (ninth) coming in right after her.

The 800 meter run also saw Jeffrey stand on top of the podium with a time of 2:32.96.

In the field events for the girls invitational, Oglesby was barely out-jumped in the long jump pit by Delhi’s Logan Bruce. Bruce edged out Oglesby by three-quarters of a foot to win the event. Bruce was also awarded the Outstanding Field Performer for the meet.

Norwich’s Caroline Stewart and Emily Shattuck finished fourth and sixth in the event with Oxford’s Jaydn Munson jumping to eighth.

Molly Avolio of the UV Storm took home first place in the Shot Put field event with a throw of 31feet-11.5 inches.

Many of the these county track and field teams are scheduled to be in action this week. Norwich competed Tuesday afternoon. The Purple Tornado cruised to a meet win over Chenango Valley. A full recap of Tuesday’s meet will appear in a later edition of The Evening Sun.