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.