Whether it won the events or not, the Oneida boys track and field team knew it had enough star power to outshine everyone else in last Friday’s Section III Class A championship meet at Canastota High School.
Led again by Mike Rabbitt and Pat McLaughlin, the Indians finished on top, earning 113 points to outlast 15 other opponents.
Fulton was second, with 88 points, while Jamesville-DeWitt (85 points) had to settle for third place. Vernon Verona Sherrill, with 48 points, landed in sixth place.
Rabbitt earned three individual titles. In the 200-meter dash, Rabbitt prevailed in 22.72 seconds, the only sub-23 second 200, and he also held off New Hartford’s Greg Sholtzhauer in the 400-meter dash with a season-best time of 49.54 seconds.
And in a close high jump competition, Rabbitt proved to be the only competitor who could clear 6 feet 1 inches as J-D’s Mychal Weekes and Fulton’s Rob Jackowski stopped at 6 feet.
McLaughlin wasn’t quiet either, though he won just once, in the 110-meter high hurdles, posting the best Section III time of the season with 14.57 seconds.
In the 400-meter hurdles, McLaughlin posted 57.28 seconds, but watched Phoenix’s Mitchell Switzer rip off 55.55 seconds (the best sectional time this spring) to win it.
Also, McLaughlin also got second in the long jump (21 feet 2 3/4 inches) and triple jump (43 feet 5 1/4 inches), as Andre Green (Indian River) won the long jump with 21 feet 5 inches and J-D’s David Salbert (44 feet 6 3/4 inches) prevailed in the triple jump.
Kyle Mosack added to the winning total, claiming the pole vault by clearing 10 feet 6 inches with fewer misses than Cortland’s Eric Reisweber. Connor LoMonaco (10 feet) finished fifth.
Jeff Barres took fourth in three events — the 110 high hurdles (15.93 seconds), the 400 hurdles (58.93 seconds) and triple jump (40 feet 11 1/2 inches), as Rabbitt got fifth in the long jump with 19 feet 11 1/2 inches.
Matt Gillmeister earned third in the shot put, tossing it 44 feet 2 inches, while Justin Ward got to third in the discus with a throw of 123 feet 1 inch. James Moyer had 2,162 points for fifth place in the pentathlon.
Jeb Stewart ran to fifth in the mile in 4:36.36, and helped the Indians to its best relay finish as he, Bryan Rose, James Barr and Eric Riley got fourth in the 4×800 in 8:46.35. Oneida was fifth in the 4×400 and sixth in the 4×100.
VVS saw Robert Romeo win the pentathlon, as he was first in three of the five events and, with 2,586 points, beat Whitesboro’s Sam Brandstadt by 120 points.
Tyler Curtis ran to third in both the 100-meter dash (11.59 seconds) and the 200 (23.42 seconds). He also teamed with Matt Femia, Dylan Guider and Neal Fahey to finish second in the 4×400 relay in 3:29.05, just behind New Hartford (3:28.34) at the wire.
Femia was fourth in the 800-meter run (2:02.03) and Mike Eichenlaub got fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:37.31. James Finley got fourth in the pole vault (10 feet) and Rob Drozynski sixth in the 110 high hurdles.
Going first, the Oneida and VVS girls teams met moderate success at last Thursday’s sectional Class A meet at Chittenango. The Indians had 41.5 points, taking sixth place, while the Red Devils (25 points) finished eighth. Jamesville-DeWitt won with 133 points.
Taylor Youngkrans gave Oneida a victory in the discus, tossing it 98 feet 3 inches, while Rachel Kline got second in the shot put (33 feet) and sixth in the 100-meter high hurdles. Courtney Casler cleared 4 feet 10 inches for second place in the high jump behind Mexico’s Kaylea Morse (5 feet).
Oneida ran to fourth in the 4×400 relay as Rachel Wurst, MacKenzie Lynch, Shannon Harrington and Morgan Bernier finished in 4:20.11. The Indians then added a fifth in the 4×100 (53.49 seconds) and sixth in the 4×800.
Jordan Armstrong was fifth in the long jump (14 feet 5 3/4 inches) and Vivian Thurston took sixth in the pole vault, clearing 7 feet 6 inches.
For VVS, Lauren McDonald contended in the 1,500-meter run, claiming second place in 5:06.30 as New Hartford’s Savannah Boucher (5:03.45) prevailed. Casey Kane ran to fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:12.48.
Rachel Brown earned 2,182 points, second only to Sherburne-Earlville’s Alysha Harlost (2,315 points). McKenna Novak was sixth with 1,754 points. Brittany Fort took sixth in the 2,000 steeplechase. The Red Devils were fifth (4:25.13) in the 4×400.
