Norwich’s Holden Ryan way ahead of competitors to win the 100 meter dash. The Norwich boys track team won the Quinney Invite. (Submitted Photo)

Local track teams compete at Quinney Invite

SIDNEY - On Saturday, Norwich, Oxford, Greene, Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton, and Unadilla Valley track teams competed at the Doug Quinney Invite held at Sidney High School. The Norwich Purple Tornado boys and the Sidney girls finished in first place overall. This was the first major track meet of the season for all teams, where many trackletes earned new best times and set new school records as well.

NORWICH

The Norwich Purple Tornado boys track team collected a meet-high 100 points in their first place finish. Norwich’s Holden Ryan and Jerell Stokes picked up two top finishes in their respective events while the Boys 4x100 team earned the victory for the top performances of the day. Holden Ryan outran BGA’s Collin Dicks (12.49) for the 100 meter dash victory in 12.13 seconds. Ryan, along with Stokes, Spencer Root, and Gage Titsworth achieved the first place finish in the 4x100 relay race with a time of 46.20.

Titsworth also participated individually in the 400 meter dash and came in third place as Stokes earned first place in the long jump and triple jump events.

Stokes also set new personal records in each event. In the long jump, he jumped a new-best of 19 feet, eight ¾ inches while jumping 40-7 in the triple jump. Teammate Anthony Ragonese finished second in the triple jump (38-11.25) behind Stokes and came in fifth in the long jump (19-3.50).

Aleks Smietana picked up two second place finishes in the shot put and discus throw events. He threw his best of 44 feet, 4 2/4 inches in the shot put as teammate Harrison Matlack-Grey came in sixth with a new best throw of his own at 39-2. Smietana threw the discus for a personal-best of 133-4 with Gabe Blenis behind him with 127-6, which was also a new best.

The Norwich girls came in 12th place with 17 points scored in the meet. Paving the way for the Purple Tornado was Emma Urgo in the field events with the top finish for the girls, earning second in the triple jump. She jumped a new best of 33 feet, 5 2/4 inches and tied for fifth in the high jump with a new best of 4-6.

The best sprinting performance on the day came from Annie Boland in the 2000 meter steeplechase. She came in fourth place with a time of 9:50.20.

Continuing on with the field events, Hayley Slack came in 11th place in the triple jump (28-11.25) while Brinley Beckwith tied for 11th in the high jump with a jump of four feet. Beckwith also finished 13th in the 400 meter hurdles. Layla Root earned a new best in the long jump with a jump of 13 feet, 7 2/4 inches for 11th place.

Rounding out the meet for Norwich was Eva Blenis in the discus where she came in seventh with a new personal best of 78-6 while Lara Tefft set a new personal best throw of 75 feet, six inches for 10th place. Tefft also finished fifth in the shot put event (27-11.50).

UV

The Unadilla Valley Storm track teams were another great contender at the Quinney Invite. The girls finished third with 56 points and the boys came in 11th place with 22 points.

Jaiden Schrag led the Storm and was named the Quinney Invite’s outstanding Female field performer. Schrag earned this accomplishment as she won the long jump and both the 100 and the 400 meter hurdles.

Gracie Gorell also had a big day as she broke and set a new school record in the 400 meter dash. She ran the event in a new best time of 58.62 seconds for second place. She also achieved second in the 200 meter dash with a time of 26.61, not far behind the leader’s 26.51.

Haywood Edwards, Jacob Prentice, Owen Hill, and Trason Murray led the Storm boys team. Edwards earned the top finish in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.19 and finished second in the 110 meter hurdles (18.27 seconds).

Hill and Prentice both competed in the pole vault, where they tied each other for a new school record of 9 feet., and earned fifth place. Senior Trason Murray set a new personal-record in discus with a throw of 104 feet, 10 inches and finished 10th as everyone was on top of their game in the event.

OX

Aside from Norwich and UV, the Oxford Blackhawks track teams had a good outing themselves as the boys tied for fifth place with Delhi and the girls finished seventh with 43 points.

Victor Richette and David Tucker had a great meet for the boys. Richette picked up a first place finish in the 200 meter dash, which he ran in 23.66 seconds. He also finished fourth in the 100 meter dash, behind Tucker (12.52), with a time of 12.59.

Richette and Tucker, along with Jerry Hornbeck and Donovan Rickard, led the boys 4x100 relay team to a second place finish, behind Norwich, with a time of 47.59. Jared Sheridan, Gordon Smith, Aiden Ives, and Anthony Bourn competed in the 4 x 800 and came in fifth place.

Ives and Bourn both competed in their own individual events. Bourn finished eighth in the 3000 meter steeplechase event and set a new best time of 12:12.37 while Ives came in 10th with a new personal best of 12:39.62. Bourn also achieved 10th place in the 3200 meter run, which he ran in 12:07.88.

For the field events, David Tucker led the Blackhawks with a second place finish in the long jump, achieving a new best jump of 19 feet, 6 2/4 inches. He also took seventh place in the triple jump (37-2.50).

The Blackhawks girls were led by several outstanding ladies, including Hailey Fleury, Kayla Figary, Abby Denz, Taylor Smith, and Jayne Fleury.

Hailey Fleury kicked things off with a second place finish in the 100 meter dash, where she fell just short with a time of 13.67 seconds compared to the leader’s 13.66. Teammate Kayla Figary came in fifth place in the same event with a time of 14.01. Figary also finished seventh in the 200 meters dash, where she accomplished a new personal best time of 28.85 seconds.

Hailey Fleury also competed in the long jump event, where she took second to UV’s Schrag with a jump of 15-5.25. Abby Denz finished in fourth place in the long jump (15-1.50) while coming away with a third place finish for the triple jump with a jump of 33 feet, 2 2/4 inches.

Denz, Hailey and Jayne Fleury, and Figary competed as a team for the 4 x 100 relay event and finished third with a time of 53.20 seconds.

Senior Taylor Smith participated in the 800 meter run and in the triple jump. In the 800 meter run, she finished fourth and set a new best time of 2:36.49. She achieved a new best jump of 32 feet, 6 2/4 inches in the triple jump that was good enough for fifth place. Jayne Fleury finished behind in seventh place with a jump of 31-9.75.

Greene

The Greene Trojans track teams did not place in the meet, but had a few stand out athletes compete. For the girls, Madison Wise finished 18th in the 200 meter dash while teammate Lyla Biefeldt came in 15th for the shot put event (24-1) and threw 66 feet, eight inches in the discus for 18th place.

Liam Griffin and Arie King were the only two male athletes to compete for Greene. Griffin finished 28th in the 800 meter run and 38th in discus (63-2). King came in 38th place for the 200 meter dash with a time of 34.49 seconds and finished 45th in the discus with a throw of 41 feet, five inches.

BGA

The Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton Bobcats track teams finished strongly in the invite as the girls came in fourth place and the boys tied with Gilbertsville-Mount Upton for 13th place. The girls continue to be led by Junior Ethne Degan who excelled and broke two records at the meet. She broke the record in the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:50.34 and broke the record in the 3000 meter run in 10:51.76. Vanessa Brazee came in fourth place in the same 3000 event with a time of 13:40.06.

The Bobcats also had its 4 x 800 relay team finish in third place on the day. The relay team consisted of Brazee, Laila Williams, Maddie Ingham, and Kaydence Brimmer, who completed the event in 11:13.00. Ingham competed individually in the 800 meter run and finished third with a time of 2:34.74.

Williams finished in 15th in the same event while also coming in 14th for the 400 meter dash.

Williams also participated in the high jump, where she earned eighth (4-4) behind teammate Olivia Nichols, who came in fifth with a jump of four feet, six inches.

Emily Sprow led all BGA girls in the field events. She picked up the top finish in the triple jump with her new best of 33 feet, eight inches before earning fifth in the long jump with a best of 14-10. Elanor Sprow finished 13th in the triple jump with a jump of 27-10.25.

Collin Dicks and Julian Pruskowski led the BGA boys. Dicks earned a second place finish in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.49 seconds. He also finished fifth in the triple jump with a jump of 38 feet, two inches and came in ninth for the long jump (17-10).

Pruskowski achieved eighth place in the 400 meter dash, which he ran in a new best of 55.49 seconds. Teammate Kevin Lang came in 14th place with his new best of 57.95. Lang also finished eighth in the 200 meter dash and set a new personal best time of 25.65.

Sophomore Corbin Germond came away with eighth place in the 110 meter hurdles with a new best time of 19.78 seconds as Garrett O’Hara finished 12th in the 400 meter hurdles, achieving a new personal time of 1:12.66 to round out the sprinters.

Connor Vredenburgh competed with a tough group of discus throwers, where he came in fourth place and set a new best throw of 119 feet, nine inches. He also finished 13th in the shot put event (36-1) with teammate Elliot Briggs ahead of him in 12th (36-4). Briggs’ throw of 36 feet, four inches was a new personal best.

All teams will be competing in smaller meets to start the weeks before the MAC teams (BGA, Oxford, Greene, UV) will be at Walton on May 2 . Norwich will host Oneonta on Tuesday before likely competing in the Penn Relays event in Philadelphia on Thursday. For more results, please visit ny.milesplit.com.