Spartans claim Section VII crown

Feb. 12—PLATTSBURGH — There was cheering and clapping. There were spectators surrounding the events urging teammates and competitors along.

It was an action packed day in the PSUC Fieldhouse as the Section VII Indoor Track & Field Championships were taking place.

When it was all said and done, Saranac stood atop the leaderboard as champions on both the boys and girls side.

On the boys side it boiled down to a two-team race between the Spartans and Nighthawks of Peru. In fact the final score shows a separation of nine points between the two teams, 166-157.

Dropping a few events early, Saranac's coach Chris Verkey knew his team would step up when needed.

"Our guys did what they needed to do down the stretch to pull out the win for the team," he said. I am extremely proud of this group of boys who support each other, their team first mentality, and adaptability

"Anything they lack in ability, they make up for it through hard work and dedication. This was a special win for this team and program."

The day was packed with excitement as records just weren't broken, they were shattered.

It all started with Peru's Sawyer Schlitt. He continued his dominance of the sprints with wins in the 55m and 300m dashes. His time of 6.48 in the 55m, broke the Section VII record of 6.54 set by Peru's Chris Henderson in 2002.

Liam Nobles of Saranac Lake showed why he continues to be the jump king as he won both the long and triple jumps. His distance in the triple jump of 44"8.75 broke a 12 year record of 44'8" set in 2012 by Peru's Sean Hendrix.

"I know today was a day to celebrate our teams' championships, but I wanted to take the time to recognize the incredible performances of Peru's Sawyer Schlitt and Saranac Lake's Liam Nobles in breaking the Section 7 records in their respective events," Verkey said. "Congratulations gentleman!"

The second place finisher in the jumps behind Noblies, Peru's Oliver Lancto, found himself in a high jump battle with Landon Powers of Saranac. As it was near the end of the meet, competitors lined the jump area and cheered on their respective teammates.

Powers started the clapping of Saranac players, coaches and parents before he jumped to set a school record of 6'4". Lancto just surpassed Powers with a leap of 6'6", but it was an intense battle as the two went back and forth as the lone jumpers starting at 6'.

It wasn't just the sprints and jumps that saw action as the distance events saw a back-and-forth between Andrew Denial of Saranac and Garrett Beebe of Ticonderoga.

Denial took home wins in the 600 and 3200, but Beebe bettered him in the 1600 winning with a time of 4:35.38. Beebe also won the 1000m with a time of 2:47.55.

Maxime Page of Beekmantown took home the crown in the 55m hurdles at 8.05.

The relays were a back-and-forth between the Nighthawks and Spartans.

Schlitt got his third win of the day when he teamed with Blake Porter, Matt McMillan and Preston Daniels to win the 4x200 at 1:37.67.

Gavin Hamel, Austin Hulkow, Josh Gaboriault and Landon Arel claimed the 4x400 relay for Saranac with a time of 3:51.07.

Peru returned the favor, winning the 4x800 at 8:52.07. The team was comprised of Ryan Squire, Alex Watts, Michael Welc and Brennan Peters.

Seton Catholic's Gavin Bobbie and Saranac's Nate Webber claimed the top spots in the throws.

Bobbie's throw of 50'3.5" in the shot put was five feet further than second place.

Webber won the weight throw on his first throw of 54'7.5".

The girls made sure to join in the fun, as Saranac rolled to a 63 point win over second place Beekmantown at 209-146.

Verkey said the entire season had been set up for the day.

"We have a great group of girls who are very talented, unselfish, and willing to do any event needed to maximize our team total," he said. "We had several girls in events today that have only done them once or twice this season but were willing to step out of their comfort zone, adapt and overcome in order to help the team the best they could.

"We displayed a very well-balanced attack on the girl's side. We are very proud of the girls' team, their performance today, and all of their accomplishments this season."

Saranac's Desiree Jean-Pierre made sure records were continuing to be broken as she broke her own school record in the shot put at 40'3.5".

Her teammate Macey Heuer won the weight throw on her final throw of the day at 35'6.5".

One of the more intense events of the day turned out to be the girls 4x400, as Saranac edged out Plattsburgh, 4:23.48 — 4:24.83. It was a race in where the team of Eden LaPlante, Sarah Lavigne, Eve Liberty and Elizabeth Wynnik paced themselves early before taking the top spot midway through the race.

The Spartans also had a win in the 4x200 as Emma Ranger, LaPlante, Sydney Liberty and Kaitlynn Rabideau won with a time of 1:55.99.

Beekmantown made sure they didn't sweep the relays as they won the 4x800. Sophie Yost, Olivia Drowne, Addison Jewell and Lexie Rostak crossed the line ahead of the Spartans.

Saranac's Grace Damiani continued her reign as queen of the high jump, winning with a height of 5'. Teammate Madalyn Wynnik came in first in the long jump with a 16'5" leap.

Lexi Clark of Beekmantown kept Wynnik from doubling down in both jumps with a 32'6.5" jump in the triple jump.

Clark got her second win of the day, winning the 55m hurdles as well.

Like her brother Andrew, Laura Denial took home the wins in the 1000 and 1500 runs. Her teammate Sienna Boulds claimed the top spot in the 600.

Peru's Maddy Welc continued to show her strength in the distance runs as placed first in the 3000.

Ava McAuliffe of Beekmantown topped the sprinters winning the 55m at 7.40.

Winisha Michael Steele of Plattsburgh took home the 300m dash title at 43.34.

All of Section VII will come together one final time for the indoor season, Saturday, as they take part in NYSPHSAA Qualifiers. Events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the PSUC Fieldhouse.

Verkey explained that while this meet was more team oriented, Saturday's events will be more individual based.

—

BOYS

Saranac 166, Peru 157, Beekmantown 91, Plattsburgh 47, Saranac Lake 42, Ticonderoga 27, Seton Catholic 16, AuSable Valley 2, Moriah/Boquet Valley 1.

GIRLS

Saranac 209, Beekmantown 146, Peru 58, Plattsburgh 45, AuSable Valley 33, Ticonderoga 26.5, Saranac Lake 24.5, Moriah/Boquet Valley 4, Seton Catholic 3.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

BOYS

55M Dash- 1) Schlitt, PCS, 6.48. 2) Frennier, BCS, 6.75. 3) Porter, PCS, 6.82. 4) Daniels, SCS, 6.82. 5) Wolford, SLCS, 7.00.

300M- 1) Schlitt, PCS, 37.68. 2) Squire, PCS, 37.83. 3) Gaboriault, SCS, 39.34. 4) Porter, PCS, 39.44. 5) Caraballo, PHS, 40.04.

600M- 1) Denial A., SCS, 1:30.42. 2) Strickland, BCS, 1:31.68. 3) Tedesco, PCS, 1:33.47. 4) Page M., BCS, 1:37.7. 5) Hamel G., SCS, 1:35.38

1000M- 1) Beebe, TCS, 2:47.55. 2) Thayer, SCS, 2:48.32. 3) Watts, PCS, 2:55.43. 4) Prial, SCS, 2:57.26. 5) Slick, BCS, 3:02.54

1600M- 1) Beebe, TCS, 4:35.58. 2) Denial A., SCS, 4:43.95. 3) Watts, PCS, 4:45.24. 4) Welc Mi., 4:49.04. 5) Dormann SCS, 4:49.97.

3200M- 1) Denial A., SCS, SCS, 10:17.36. 2) Laidman, BCS, 10:23.38. 3) Dormann, SCS, 10:24.51. 4) Lynch, SCS, 10:30.38. 5) Welc Mi., PCS, 10:52.92

55M Hurdles- 1) Page M., BCS, 8.05. 2) Baker, PHS, 8.63. 3) Lannon, SCS, 8.92. 4) Power, SCS, 9.15. 5) Arel, SCS, 9.52

4x200- 1) Peru 'A' (Porter, McMillian, Daniels, Schlitt), 1:37.67. 2) Saranac 'A', 1:40.39. 3) TCS 'A', 1:58.39.

4x400- 1) Saranac 'A' (Hamel G., Hulkow, Gaboriault, Arel), 3:48.93. 2) Peru 'A', 3:51.16. 3) Beekmantown 'A', 4:02.51. 4) Plattsburgh 'A', 4:08.44.

4x800- 1) Peru 'A' (Squire, Watts, Welc Mi., Peters) 8:42.87. 2) Beekmantown 'A', 8:52.09. 3) Saranac 'A', 9:37.17. 4) Plattsburgh 'A', 9:59 82.

High Jump- 1) Lancto, PCS, 6'6". 2) Powers, SCS, 6'4". 3) DeAngelo, PHS, 5'8", 4) Sfera, PCS, 5'6". 5) Duquette, SCS, 5'4".

Long Jump- 1) Nobles, SLCS, 21'2". 2) Lancto, PCS, 20'4.25". 3) Daniels, SCS, 20'2.25". 4) Powers, SCS, 19'9". 5) DeAngelo, PHS, 19'1.5"

Triple Jump- 1) Nobles, SLCS, 44'8.75". 2) Lancto, PCS, 40'2". 3) Page S., BCS, 39'7". 4) Daniels, SCS, 39'1.75". 5) Homburger, SCS, 38'2".

Shot Put- 1) Bobbie, SC, 50'3.5" 2) Supley, PCS, 45'1". 3) Burke, SLCS, 41'1.5, 4) Hendrix, PCS, 40'3.5". 5) Webber, SCS, 39'2.25".

Weight Throw- 1) Webber, SCS, 54'7.5". 2) Frenyea, BCS, 52'1". 3) Bobbie, SC, 50'5.5". 4) Supley, PCS, 49'4.5". 5) Martin, BCS, 41'5".

GIRLS

55M Dash- 1) McAuliffe, BCS, 7.40. 2) Suloff, AVCS, 7.43. 3) Steele Michael, PHS, 7.49. 4) Liberty, SCS, 7.61. 5) Lavigne, SCS, 7.84.

300M- 1) Steele Michale, PHS, 43.34. 2) Lavigne, SCS, 44.39. 3) Liberty, SCS, 44.52. 4) Hamel K., BCS, 46.09. 5) Davey, PCS, 46.61.

600M- 1) Boulds, SCS, 1:44.05. 2) Steele, BCS, 1:45.87. 3) Chase, PHS, 1:46.44. 4) Breen, PCS, 1:51.23. 5) Davey, PCS, 1:51.78.

1000M- 1) Denial L., SCS, 3:20.8. 2) Blanchard, TCS, 3:24.3. 3) Chase, PHS, 3:27.26. 4) Rostak, BCS, 3:28.84. 5) Wynnik E., 3:29.79

1500M- 1) Denial L. SCS, 4:58.86. 2) Welc Ma., PCS, 5:02.25. 3) Blanchard, TCS, 5:04.84. 4, Boulds, SCS, 5:26.18. 5) Thayer, SCS, 5:32.15.

3000- 1) Welc Ma., PCS, 10:42.29. 2) Boulds, SCS, 11:40.41. 3) Denial L., SCS, 11:45.23. 4) Thayer, SCS, 12:23.85. 5) Drowne, BCS, 12:30.56.

55M Hurdles- 1) Clark, BCS, 9.41. 2) Burroughs, TCS, 9.42. 3) Marro, BCS, 10.35. 4) Hamel H., SCS, 10.4. 5. Liberty S, SCS, 10.58.

4x200- 1) Saranac 'A' (Ranger, LaPlane, S. Liberty, Rabideau), 1:55.99. 2) Beekmantown 'A', 1:57.33. 3) Saranac Lake 'A' 2:00.62, 4) Peru 'A', 2:04.08. 5) Ticonderoga 'A', 2:05.7

4x400- 1) Saranac 'A' (LaPlante, Lavigne, Liberty E., Wynnik), 4:23.48. 2) Plattsburgh 'A', 4:24.83. 3) Beekmantown 'A', 4:33:15.

4x800- 1) Beekmantown 'A' (Yost, Drowne, Jewell, Rostak) 11:05.01. 2) Saranac 'A', 11:13.64. 3) Peru 'A' 12:19.08. 4) Saranac Lake 'A' 12:39.01.

High Jump- 1) Damiani, SCS, 5'0". 2) Lacey, PHS, 4'10". 3) Pelkey, AVCS, 4'10". 4) Miller, PCS, 4'10". 5) Jean-Pierre, SCS, 4'6".

Long Jump- 1) Wynnik M., SCS, 16'5". 2) Pelkey, AVCS, 14'5". 3) Clark, BCS, 14'8.75". 4) Secore, BCS, 14'3". 5. Damiani, SCS, 14'2.5".

Triple Jump- 1) Clark, BCS, 32'6.5". 2) Wynnik M., SCS, 31'9.25. 3) Damiani, SCS, 30'10.5". 4) Hamel H., SCS, 29'10.75". 5) Secore, BCS, 28'5".

Shot Put- 1) Jean-Pierre, SCS, 40'3.5". 2) Bishop, BCS, 31'9.5". 3) Heuer, SCS, 29'10.25". 4) Pelkey, AVCS, 28'9". 5) Jewell, BCS, 28'2.75.

Weight Throw- 1) Heuer, SCS, 35'6.5". 2) Secore, BCS, 35'2". 3) Hotchkiss, SLCS, 34'0.25" 4) Jewell, BCS, 32'2.25". 5) Orsetti, PCS, 29'6.75".