Many of the area’s indoor track and field teams made one more trip to Hamilton College on Jan. 17, this time to square off in the Mohawk Valley Indoor Track Association championship meet.
On the boys side, Oneida was third in the six-team Tri-Valley League, earning 63 points as Clinton won with 188 points. Canastota, with 70 points, was third out of seven entries in the Center State Conference, where West Canada Valley (155 points) finished on top.
Mike Rabbitt, by himself, earned 28 of Oneida’s points. He dominated the high jump, clearing 6 feet 4 inches to beat the field by half a foot, and won the 55-meter hurdles in 8.74 seconds. Rabbitt also was second (38.40 seconds) in the 300-meter dash.
Tylar Burton finished second in the shot put with a toss of 38 feet 4 1/2 inches as teammate Dalton Bloss (34 feet 7 inches) was fifth. Burton added a fourth in the weight throw.
The Indians ran to second in the 4×400 relay as James Barr, Pat Traynor, Ben Adams and Jeb Stewart finished in 3:54.78, behind New Hartford, who won in 3:48.87. Stewart, on his own, was third in the mile in 5:03.37, and Oneida also was third in the 4×200 relay.
Vernon Verona Sherrill saw Adam Litterio get third place in the 1,000-meter run (2:57.31) and Mike Eichenlaub take fourth in the 3,200-meter run (11:33.19).
On the CSC side, Aaron Walker flourished for Canastota in the distance races. He won the 3,200-meter run in 10:50.29, beating the field by more than half a then went to the mile and prevailed in 5:01.50, another one-sided race.
To cap it off, Walker, Erick Wells, Zach Szkolnick and John Iaconis worked together to give the Raiders a winning time of 9:43.75 in the 4×800 relay. And in the 4×400, Iaconis, Szkolnick, Wells and Josh Bazan held off Ilion by a second to win in 4:03.52.
Szkolnick claimed second in the 1,000 (2:58.13), while Wells and Iaconis were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 600. Frank Slaunwhite, who was fourth in the 3,200, helped the Raiders get third (2:07.42) in the 4×200, as ,Alex Spara was fourth in the weight throw and Josh Bazan took fifth in the triple jump.
By contrast, Canastota’s girls team had just 36 points for fourth place in the CSC (West Canada had 188 points to win), but VVS flourished in the girls Tri-Valley race with 89 points as, again, Clinton (176.5 points) finished on top.
In the relays, VVS took second (11:55.68) behind New Hartford in the 4×800 and, with a 2:05.61, was right behind Whitesboro (2:04.89) in the 4×200 while also taking fourth in the 4×400 in 4:48.40.
The Red Devils’ Elaine Slaven worked her way to second place in the 300 in 46.80 seconds, just as Casey Kane found her way to the runner-up spot in the 1,000 in 3:24.40.
Emily Hudson needed 12:37.51 for third place in the 3,000-meter run and was fifth in the 1,500. Kerry Miley took third (1:51.66) in the 600. McKenna Novak earned fourth place in the 55 hurdles (10.52 seconds) and Kayla Prentice was fifth in the 55-meter dash.
Jenna Fiacco gave VVS its big moment in field events, tossing the shot put 29 feet 1/2 inch as Melinda Stanton finished fifth and Molly D’Agostino sixth. Fiacco added a sixth in the weight throw.
Elsewhere, Slaven was second in the high jump, clearing 4 feet 10 inches as Kayla Fazekas (4 feet 6 inches) was fourth. Kayla Prentice claimed fourth (13 feet 2 inches) in the long jump. The Red Devils saw Brooke Waite and Briana Rascoe take fifth and sixth, respectively, in the pole vault, with Waite also sixth in the triple jump.
For Canastota, Marisa Williams earned her team’s only victory, needing 12:09.07 to beat the field in the 3,000-meter run. She was also third in the 1,500 in 5:53.52.
Francesca Popple ran her way to second place in the 1,000-meter run (3:27.05) and third place in the 300 in 49.97 seconds as Elise Soper (56.27 seconds) was fifth, with Soper also fifth in the 600.