The weather was fickle for our June meet, being hot and sunny for setup before drenching us during registration and forcing a delay in starting the events. But everyone hung out with good cheer, the rain eventually passed, and we were able to hold the entire meet, with 109 runners completing 189 events. Full results are available on the FLRC website, and we have hundreds of meet photos in our public album from Tammy Walsky and Ruth Sproul—contribute yours too!
We kicked the meet off with nine heats of the 100m, culminating in Kyren Young’s win in 11.11 seconds, just nipping Aidan Tierney’s 11.23 and Dylan Sedorus’s 11.41. 12-year-old Selena Rollins of the SOAR Running Club took the win for the women in 14.26, just edging her 12-year-old sister Serenity Rollins in 14.28.
Our next event went from short to long, with 27 runners across three heats of the 1600m. After a slightly slow start, Seth Bywater took control of the race and ran unchallenged for the win in 4:45, though second and third came down to a sprint where Adrian Haws snuck ahead of Patrick Milano by 3 tenths of a second: 4:51 to 4:52. Liz Hartman ran a strong PR-tying 5:48 to place first for the women, followed by Kylee O’Hara in 6:15 and Kathleen Sullivan in 6:23.
We focused more on sprints this month to provide more events for kids, and the 200m gave Michael Durski the opportunity to block Kyren Young’s quest for a double sprint win. Durski ran 22.42 for the win, just ahead of Young’s 23.77, with Tristin Weeks of the Groton Project third in 24.30. The Groton Project fared better on the women’s side, with Matty Lucey laying down a 27.43 ahead of Kathleen Sullivan’s 30.65 and Selena Rollins’s 31.08 for SOAR.
In the final individual running event of the day, the 400m, Carter Naginey of the Groton Project enjoyed a commanding win in 52.73, followed by David Patterson in 55.65 and Groton teammate Ross Bush in 56.04. Running her first 400m since high school, Ronke Ilegbusi surprised everyone—including herself—by winning the women’s 400m in a blazing 64.72. Grad student and former Cornell runner Kate McCormick, who coached our Tuesday night kids workouts all winter in Barton, took second in 69.39, with Liz Hartman third in 74.31.
Throughout the meet, Brett Shelton of the SOAR managed the long jump, with 24 athletes completing a jump. David Patterson hit the winning distance‚ 18 feet, 5 inches, on his first jump, and second-place Ross Bush came close on his second, leaping 18 feet. Third place went to Matthew Funicelli with a 17-foot, 7-inch jump. SOAR’s Selena Rollins claimed her second win for the day with a 10-foot, 1-inch jump, just in front of teammate Vanessa Topielec, who jumped 10 feet. Rasa Warren took third for the women, jumping 9 feet, 5 inches.
For the first time I can remember, we featured three throwing events, the shot put, discus, and TurboJav (a short, soft-tipped javelin), courtesy of Steve Wagner of SOAR and volunteers coordinated by Scott Weeks of the Groton Project. Wet conditions reduced participation, but Matthew Funicelli topped both the shot put with a toss of 51 feet, 5 inches (16-pound shot) and the discus with a throw up 146 feet, 5 inches (2-kilogram discus). Collin Karl was second in both with a shot put of 41 feet, 4 inches and a discus throw of 96 feet, 6 inches. Janice Carter of the Groton Project took the discus win for women with an 86-foot throw (1-kilogram discus), and she was second in the shot put with a 23-foot, 4-inch throw (8-pound shot), just behind winner and teammate Jennifer Jones, who threw 25 feet, 7 inches, also with an 8-pound shot. In the TurboJav, Travis Durfee distinguished himself with a 75-foot, 3-inch throw (450-gram TurboJav), just ahead of Benson Patterson’s 74-foot, 1-inch throw. 11-year-old Molly Doran of SOAR was the top woman with a throw of 28 feet (450-gram TurboJav), beating out 9-year-old Isla Durfee, who threw 24 feet, 4 inches with a 300-gram TurboJav.
The night’s final event was the 4x200m relay, where 13 teams ran across two heats. Five teams broke 2:00 this month, with the win going to an unattached team anchored by Aiden Tierney in 1:48, followed by a High Noon & Friends team in 1:49, a Groton Project team in 1:50, and a Watkins Glen team in 1:51.
Our volunteers deserve extra acclaim for their grace under pressure while dealing with the rain, wind, and delays. Carl Franck, Tonya Engst, Paula Kilts, and Shane Eversfield showed up early to set up. Carl served as head timer when he wasn’t running his heat of the 1600m. Tom Rishel was our starter, and Heather Cobb and Rich Bernstein managed the heats. Jesse Koenecke kept everything running smoothly in Meet Manager with help from Dave Kania, producing results in record time. Tonya Engst and Rebecca Lambert reprised their roles at the bib pickup table, recruited for the relays, and answered runner questions. Lansing track and XC star Trent Thibault was unflappable while recording bibs for the 1600m and relay, Alan Lockett handled backup timing, and Ammon Koenecke counted laps for the leaders. Our sprint timing team was Amy Dawson, Scott Dawson, Amalia Skilton, Ruth Sproul, Keith Eggleston, Ammon Koenecke, and Bob Swizdor. Thanks to you all!
FLRC’s next track event is Trackapalooza, our inaugural full-slate track invitational, coming up soon on July 22, and if you want to run, please register soon! If not, we need your help volunteering!