Apologies for the late recap, folks, but our final track meet of the season was a big success. We had 208 athletes from 14 teams recording 477 results for the day. Full results and hundreds of fabulous photos by photographer Paul Houle are now available.
60m Dash
Logan Aman of the Candor Running Club blazed to victory in the 60m with a time of 6.58 seconds. Nhlakaniphu Shezi of the Mustangs Track Club took second in 6.84, and Rocco Coulibaly finished third at 7.02 (with Ryan Haisler at 7.03 and Sebastian Bartischevich at 7.04—too close for hand timing to call). For the women, Jalasia Demember led with 8.02, followed by Cornell Track & Field Club member Suraya Chalabi at 8.20 and Milla Gonzalez of the Mustangs Track Club at 8.23. The event saw competitors from ages 1 to 75, with 75-year-old David Chambers finishing in 12.07 and 1-year-old Theo Milano crossing the line in a PR of 1:10.86.
200m Dash
The Candor Running Club’s Logan Aman continued his sprinting dominance of the day by winning the 200m in 23.66 seconds. Cornell Track & Field Club’s Luke Szathmary secured second place with 23.86, and Sebastian Bartishevich took third in 23.96. Odessa-Montour’s Janne Anderson was the top female finisher at 29.54, with sisters Charlotte Hulsey (30.76) and Gretchen Hulsey (31.32) completing the women’s podium. 72-year-old Ken Hodges impressed with a 40.12 finish, while 3-year-olds Emma Gulliford and Mae Viola-Cain completed the full lap in 1:25.20 and 1:32.80 respectively, with Mae decked out in a fabulous princess dress.
1-Mile Run
In the mile, we had a heck of a matchup. Nolan Chiles had seeded himself at 4:16 and Alexander Simpson at his PR of 4:19, and Simpson was hot to break his PR. Chiles led a fast pace through 1300m before Simpson unleashed an astonishing kick to win. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make up for a slow fourth lap, so Simpson crossed the line 4:19 yet again, followed by Chiles at 4:21. The Cornell Running Club’s Callum Coots rounded out the men’s top three at 4:29. For the women, Liz Hartman led the field with an solid 5:47, followed by 12-year-old standout Cora Hayes in 5:48 and Kate Hulsey in 5:59. 72-year-old Ken Hodges recorded a strong 7:30.
3000m Run
The 3000m was a tight race for most of its 15 laps, with the top three runners staying in a pack until Samuel Breckenridge broke it open to win a time of 9:22. Gabriel Diamante finished second in 9:27, and Gavin Bowers took third at 9:38. Despite running alone in the fastest heat, Emily Miller led the women with a strong 10:44, followed by Liz Hartman at 11:14 and Erica Griffin at 11:35.
4x200m Relay
The Cornell Track & Field Club dominated the 4x200m relay event with Riki Sampson anchoring his team to the FLRC season’s best time of 1:38, besting their February Flash Dash time by 1 second. Not far behind was the Mustangs Track Club in 1:42, while Elite Aura Farm took third with a 1:44 finish. Of the 24 teams, 9 broke the 2:00 barrier for the 800m race.
High Jump
The Cornell Track & Field Club’s Luke Szathmary cleared 5 feet, 8 inches to win the high jump competition. Rocco Coulibaly took second with a jump of 5 feet, 6 inches, and Jakobe Foster of Candor Running Club finished third at 5 feet, 4 inches. Candor’s Ayasha Schweiger led the women with a height of 4 feet, 6 inches, followed by Gretchen Hulsey at 4 feet, 2 inches and Jalasia Demember at 4 feet even.
Long Jump
The Groton Project’s Ross Bush leaped to victory with an impressive distance of 19 feet, 2.5 inches. Michael Fetzko of the Mustangs Track Club took second at 18 feet, 4.75 inches, and North Penn-Mansfield’s Brayden Johnson completed the men’s podium with a jump of 18 feet, 4 inches. Lindsey Morse from the Candor Running Club led the women with 15 feet, 6 inches, followed by Cornell Track & Field Club’s Megan Wong at 15 feet, 3 inches and the Mustangs Track Club’s Jaidon Brodie at 14 feet, 1.25 inches.
Thanks to Our Volunteers
Kudos to our volunteers for making the meet a success. Tonya Engst, Carl Franck, and Jesse Koennecke arrived early to help with setup. Tonya continued to manage the registration desk and answer questions alongside Rebecca Lambert. Patrick Boyle reprised his role as our starter though his enhancement to the electronic starting pistol only survived the first event, Tristan Lambert made a successful debut as head timer, and Heather Cobb and Rich Bernstein coordinated the heats. Jesse Koenecke kept HyTek Meet Manager running smoothly for results with help from Jamie Loehr, Molly Doruska recorded bib numbers for longer races, and Crosby Woods counted laps and ran the backup timer. Our sprint timing team consisted of Charlie Fay, Ian Golden, Sandy Gregorich, Christopher Guillen-Chacon, Nora Golden, and Carl Franck. Paul Houle took tons of great photos. Special thanks to Steve Wagner of the SOAR Running Club for overseeing the high jumps with the capable assistance of Carl Franck, and to Brett Shelton of SOAR for the long jump with support from Sandy Gregorich.
And we just can’t resist sharing this photo of a couple of kids reveling in their recycled trophies. Keep donating your extra medals and trophies at the running store, and we’ll keep giving them to little kids after their races.
That’s it for our indoor track season this year, but tune on June 17 for our Sunset Circuits meet at Groton High School, followed by Trackapalooza, also at Groton, on July 19. Thanks for joining us!