ITHACA – On Friday, the Section IV Indoor Track championships were held at Glazer Arena in Ithaca. Norwich was the only local team in the division I session while Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville, Oxford, and Unadilla Valley took over division II. Corning boys and girls earned the Division I win while Trumansburg boys and Sidney girls won division II.

All athletes who finished in the top six have automatically earned a spot in the State Qualifiers.

NORWICH

The Norwich boys came in fourth place with 50 points. Leading the way was junior Richard Fuller who accomplished a new personal-best time of 36.78 seconds in the 300 meter dash for the top finish. Teammate Gabe Decker earned sixth place in the same event with his new best time of 38.61.

Fuller was also a member of the 4x400 relay team along with Decker, Caden Sutton and Zander Sutton who came in third with a time of 3:36.28.

Individually, Zander Sutton took sixth place in the boys 600 meter run where he ran his best of 1:30.67. Caden Sutton earned seventh while Nic Sutton achieved his best time of 5:12.65 for 10th place in the 1600 meter run.

For the fielding events, Gabe Blenis continues to dominate in the weight throw event as he came in second place with a throw of 47 feet, 4 2/4 inches. Harrison Matlock-Grey took ninth (35-5.25) while coming in seventh in the shot-put event (34-8.50). Drew Westervelt finished fifth in the shot-put ahead of his teammate with a mark of 35-1.50.

Lucas Craddock achieved two first place finishes in the high jump and the triple jump while coming in fifth in the long jump. His jump of 44 feet, 9 1/4 inches in the triple event earned a spot on the NY top 10 while his mark of 6-3 in the long jump was good for the top 25.

The Norwich girls came away with a 10th place finish as a team. Not many girls made the sixth place cut for points, but still had several achieve new best times.

Lara Tefft, Lena Neisler, and Ava Cirigliano helped contribute to the nine team points. Tefft picked up two fifth place finishes in the her respective fielding events. She earned a new personal-best throw of 32 feet, 1/4 inches in the weight throw event while finishing fifth in the shot-put (26-11.25).

Neisler picked up a fourth place finish in the girls high jump with a jump of four feet, six inches as Cirigliano sprinted her best time of 45.73 seconds for sixth in the 300 meter dash.

Sophomore Annie Boland missed the sixth place spot by finishing seventh in the girls 1500 meter run, achieving a best time of 5:46.98.

BGAH

For the Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton/Harpursville Bears girls team, they came away with a second place victory with 66 points behind Sidney’s 73. Paving the way throughout the season has been Ethne Degan.

Degan, a junior, earned two top finishes on the day in both the 3000 meter run and in the 1500 meter run. In the 3000 meter run, teammate Vanessa Brazee came in fourth place and ran a new best time of 12:29.19. She also finished eighth in the high jump event.

Maddie Ingham and Riley Lindsay also had an impressive outing for BGAH. Ingham took third in the 1000 meter run with a time of 3:20.44 and finished fourth in the 600 meter run with her best time of 1:49.25. In the 300 meter dash, Ingham ran her best of 46.68 seconds for a seventh place finish.

On the other hand, Lindsay did her best work in the fielding events. She came away with the top finish in the division II weight-throw event with a throw of 33 feet, two inches while coming in third for the shot-put with a scoring of 29-1.

The BGAH boys came in sixth place as a team with 37 points. The Bears saw impressive performances by Collin Dicks, Julian Pruskowski, and Brock Porter while Elijah Baciuska and Anthony Pfaff just missed points in seventh place.

Dicks earned the top spot in the division II long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 5 3/4 inches. He also came in third place for the triple jump (37-1.50) while teammate Julian Pruskowski took first (39-4.75). Dicks finished in fourth place in the 55 meter dash, which he finished in his best time of 6.99 seconds.

Sophomore Brock Porter came in fifth place in the 1000 meter run with a time of 2:56.59 and picked up two team points. Elijah Baciuska achieved his best time of 4:57.21 in the 1600 meter run for a seventh place finish. Anthony Pfaff accomplished a new personal-best throw of 33 feet, 2 3/4 inches in the weight throw for seventh place.

UV

Jaiden Schrag, Gracie Gorrell, Allison Allen, and the strong 4 x 200 relay team helped the Storm girls achieve a 10th place finish on the day.

Schrag finished fourth in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 9.37. She also helped the 4 x 200 relay team along with Isabella Potter, Kalie Naughton, and Gracie Gorrell achieve a first place finish. Schrag just missed the cut with a seventh place finish in the long jump (14-11).

Gracie Gorrell came out on top of the 300 meter dash with a time of 42.68 while senior Allison Allen came in fifth in the weight throw with a throw of 26 feet, 8 3/4 inches.

For the UV boys, they pushed through with a 15th place finish with nine points. Haywood Edwards finished strong in his respective events, coming through with fourth place finishes in the 55 meter hurdles and in the 300 meter dash. He finished the 55 meter hurdles with his best time of 9.32 seconds and ran the 300 meter dash in a best 38.99 seconds. He also picked up one point in a sixth place finish in the triple jump with a jump of 34 feet, 10 2/4 inches.

OXFORD

The Oxford Blackhawks boys indoor team finished in 12th place with 17 points. They found success with their two relay teams.

In the 4x400, a team of Killian Pohl, Nicholas Richette, Gordon Smith, and Victor Richette came away with a second place finish in a time of 4:27.17 behind Waverley’s 4:18.43.

Their 4x200 team came in fifth place with the same crew minus Smith and with an addition of Jerry Hornbeck.

Individually, Victor Richette continues to have a strong junior year. He made the state qualifiers in his respective events of the 300 meter dash and in the 55 meter dash. In the 300 meter dash, he came in third place with a time of 38.46 while finishing the 55 meter dash in 7.09 seconds for sixth place.

The Lady Blackhawks didn’t fair well in the team results with a 17th place finish and earned just 4.50 points on the day.

Kayla Figary has been an asset on the team as only an eighth grader. She picked up a fifth place finish in the 55 meter dash with teammate Hailey Fleury achieving a best 7.93 seconds, which tied for sixth place in her final season. Figary also made the cut in sixth place for the 300 meter dash, which she ran in her new best time of 46.53 seconds.

Fleury picked up another sixth place finish in the long jump with a jump of 15 feet, 2 1/4 inches.

Good luck to the all the athletes who advanced to the State Qualifiers. The State Qualifiers will be held on February 25 at Cornell University.