In the season’s best conditions – warm, little wind, lots of sunshine – the Oneida and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill track and field teams met once more on Wednesday afternoon, and each side would get a home victory.
The boys Indians had no trouble putting away the Red Devils 110-31, while in the girls meet VVS came out on top by a comfortable 99-42 margin while both teams easily beat Utica-Notre Dame.
Even without an injured Jimmy Moyer, Oneida dominated the boys meet as Eric Riley won three times. He ran 800 meters in 2:04.1, tore through the 110 high hurdles in 16.9 seconds and had a top long jump of 20 feet 3 1/2 inches.
Kyle Blessing offered a personal best in the discus, heaving it 156 feet 6 1/2 inches to cap an Oneida sweep of the field events. Dan Margo threw the shot put 46 feet 9 inches, while Keith Johnson took the triple jump (38 feet 1 inches),
Tyler Neal cleared 10 feet in the pole vault and, in Moyer’s absence, Steve Patricia (5 feet 6 inches) claimed the high jump.
Conor McCarthy took over in distance events. He ran the mile in 4:45 flat, needed 11:06.5 to take the 3,200-meter run and helped Zach Hall, Connor LoMonaco and Ben Adams tear to victory in the 4×800 relay in 8:53.4.
Without VVS sprinter Tyler Curtis (also injured) to worry about, Johnson swept to the 100-meter dash title in 11.8 seconds, while Neal (1:04.5) took the 400 hurdles and Hall took the 200-meter dash in 24.0 seconds.
VVS did win two of the three relays. Nash Robb, Matt Femia, Hakim Rathbun and Dylan Guider took the 4×100 in 46.3 seconds and, as the meet was winding down, Femia, Guider, Robb and Vinny Bailey went to first in the 4×400 in 3:43.5.
The girls meet went in a different direction, VVS seeing Alexis Kavanaugh winning four times. On her own, Kavanaugh took the 100 (12.8 seconds) and 200 (27.4 seconds), had a top long jump of 14 feet 10 inches and helped the Red Devils’ 4×100 team win in 53.1 seconds.
Tamara Beal set a new personal mark in the 100-meter hurdles of 16.9 seconds, while Kerry Miley took the 1,500-meter run (5:41.2) and Ronnie Judge won the 800 (2:37.2). Judge also rallied in the final leg to help VVS edge Oneida in the 4×800 relay in 10:33.1. The Red Devils also won the 4×400 in 4:29.6.
For the Indians, Samantha Carinci prevailed twice, throwing the discus 87 feet 10 inches and clearing 8 feet in the pole vault. Her teammate, Erin Durdan, took the 3,000-meter run in 12:08.2 as VVS’s Alyssa Durant went 31 feet 8 inches in the triple jump.
The week started with Chittenango’s track teams meeting Homer and Phoenix last Tuesday afternoon.
For its part, the boys Bears split, beating the Firebirds 87-54 but losing to the Trojans 91-50. John Durfee won the mile in 4:56.6 and added an 800-meter title in 2:08.5, while Chris Ingerson took the 400 hurdles in 1:05.4.
On the girls end, Chittenango lost to Homer 115-25 and to Phoenix 78-61. At least the Bears got to compete against some of Section III’s top athletes, as the Firebirds’ Ashley Palmer won the 100-meter dash (12.6 seconds), 200-meter dash (26.6 seconds) and triple jump (35 feet 5 1/2 inches), while the Trojans’ Bori Toszer swept the 800 (2:30.7), 1,500 (5:16.7) and 3,000 (11:53.8) meter runs.
