Far ahead of anyone else, the Oneida boys track and field team roared to victory in the invitational meet it hosted on a sultry Friday night.
When it was done, the Indians had 92 points, well clear of a 22-team field as Canastota (59 points) outlasted Holland Patent (56.5) and Fayetteville-Manlius (54) for the runner-up spot. Vernon Verona Sherrill was fifth with 51 points.
No one would touch Pat McLaughlin in hurdle events. He broke 15 seconds (14.97, to be exact) and easily won the 110-meter high hurdles, then turned around and ran the 400 hurdles in 57.50 seconds to beat Sauquoit Valley’s Ricky Shorette by more than a second. Jeff Barres was fourth in 59.45 seconds.
In all, McLaughlin won three times, taking the long jump by going 20 feet 7 inches and also claiming third (41 feet 8 3/4 inches) in the triple jump, too.
Continuing a duel from a meet earlier in the week, Mike Rabbitt twice won in sprints, claiming the 200-meter dash (23.15) by half a second over VVS’s Tyler Curtis as he found time to win the high jump, too, the only competitor to clear 6 feet.
In the 400-meter dash, Rabbitt won again, edging out the Red Devils’ Matt Femia by one-hundredth of a second, 50.31 seconds to 50.32. Femia’s teammate, Neal Fahey, was third in 52.07 seconds.
Jeb Stewart earned third place in the mile in 4:41.91 and helped the Indians take third in the 4×800 relay (8:57.54), its best relay finish of the night.
Eric Riley earned 2,706 points for third place in the pentathlon. Ricky Rossi was fifth in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet, as Matt Gillmeister landed in sixth in both the shot put and discus.
VVS saw Curtis beat the field in the 100-meter dash, winning in 11.53 seconds as Holland Patent’s Brad Ashcroft finished second in 11.68 seconds.
The Red Devils also came through in the 4×400, edging Sauquoit at the wire, 3:34.53 to 3:34.57, to win that event as it also got second (46.53 seconds) in the 4×100. Robert Romeo got to sixth in the pentathlon.
Among the girls teams at the Oneida meet, the Indians finished fourth, with 42 points, as VVS tied for eighth with 28 points.
Oneida had Jordan Armstrong emerge with a victory in the long jump, going 14 feet 11 inches to beat CBA’s Betty Etheredge by 1 1/2 inches. Rachel Kline worked her way to second in the pentathlon with 2,175 points.
The Indians also had its own great relay, claiming second in the 4×400 in 4:30.62, as Taylor Y0ungkrans had a third in the shot put (30 feet 10 inches) and discus (94 feet 3 inches). McKenzie Lynch was sixth in the 400-meter dash.
The Red Devils had Elaine Slaven take third in the 200 in 27.81 seconds and fourth in the high jump, clearing 4 feet 10 inches. Rachel Brown claimed third in the pentathlon with 2,113 points.
VVS ran to second in the 4×800 relay in 10:30.38. Kayla Graham was fifth in the triple jump, going 31 feet 2 inches.
Morrisville-Eaton saw Kim Horton clear 5 feet for third place in the high jump as Emily Sherwood finished fifth in the 100-meter dash in 13.87 seconds. M-E had a fifth in the 4×100 relay in 55.50 seconds.
In boys action, the Warriors’ Jarred Kent was third in the 100-meter dash in 11.79 seconds, then took third in the 200 in 24.07 seconds and helped M-E to a third-place clocking of 46.77 seconds in the 4×100 relay.
