More than 20 boys and girls track and field teams came to town on Friday for the annual Oneida Invitational.
And on the boys side, the host Indians made a serious push for the top spot, earning 71 points. That beat everyone except Holland Patent, who prevailed with 77.5 points.’Vernon Verona Sherrill, with 54 points, claimed third place.
Mike Rabbitt’s strong spring continued as he blazed through the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.57 seconds, with Homer’s Andrew Gregg (15.91 seconds) the runner-up.
In the 200-meter dash, Rabbitt, in 22.90 seconds, beat Adirondack’s Andre Adkins (23.14 seconds) and the rest. And in the high jump, Rabbitt cleared 6 feet 2 inches for yet another victory.
Eric Riley, third (6 feet) behind Rabbitt in the high jump, dominated the triple jump, going 42 feet 3 inches to beat the field by more than two feet. Riley eeded 57.12 seconds to finish second in the 400-meter hurdles as teammate Zach Hall finished sixth.
Kyle Blessing took second in the discus with a throw of 123 feet 1 inch as Westhill’s Tom Fisher (138 feet 4 inches) finished in front. Jimmy Moyer contended in the pentathlon, taking third place with 2,538 points. Morrisville-Eaton’s Alex Marris was sixth with 2,040 points.
VVS saw Tyler Curtis claim the title in the 100-meter dash in 11.25 seconds, well clear of Chittenango’s Brian Bohne (11.62) as M-E’s Jarred Kent (11.70 seconds) was fourth.
Curtis also was third in the 200 (23.25 seconds), with Nash Robb (23.74 seconds) in fourth place. Robb fared better in the long jump, taking second with 19 feet 2 inches.
Curtis, Robb, Dylan Guider and Luke Lagoy got third (45.28 seconds) in the 4×100 relay, where Oneida, even with Rabbitt and Riley, finished fifth. Lagoy was fifth in the long jump.
Matt Femia was second in the 400-meter dash in 50.05 seconds. Guider and Femia joined Neil Fahey and Ryan Dugan to get second place in the 4×400 relay in 3:32.66 as Holland Patent (3:32.66) won.
Over in the girls version of the Oneida meet, the host Indians had 25 points for eighth place, with VVS (21 points) taking 10th place. Fayetteville-Manlius earned the title with 105 points.
In a close pentathlon battle, VVS senior Rachel Brown earned 2,255 points, beating Jamesville-DeWitt’s Sierra Vasiliou by just seven points.
Rachael Kline gave Oneida another title in the shot put, her toss of 33 feet 11 1/4 inches beating Sauquoit Valley’s Kristen Linder by half an inch as Taylor Youngkrans (30 feet 7 1/2 inches) finished fourth.
Kerry Miley got fifth place in the 800-meter run (2:27.17), with Oneida’s Sara Rifendifer in sixth place.
Kline was sixth in the 100 hurdles, with Jordan Armstrong sixth in the 100-meter dash. Armstrong, Vivivan Thurston (sixth in the pole vault), Rachael Wurst and Shannon Harrington were fifth (54.46 seconds) in the 4×100, while Harrington, Wurst and Rifendifer joined Mackenzie Lynch for fourth place in the 4×400 (4:21.55).
Canastota’s Allison Lasnicki went up against the F-M runners twice. In the 3,000-meter event, Lasnicki finished third, in a time of 10:11.47, and also got third in the 1,500 despite a quick time of 4:44.96.
M-E’s Kim Horton got fourth place in the high jump, clearing 4 feet 10 inches as VVS’s Elaine Slaven got sixth place. Amber Smalley was sixth in the long jump.
