Empire 8 teams compete at NYSCTC meet

Empire 8 teams compete at NYSCTC meet

Bookmark and Share

CANTON, NY – Empire 8 men's track & field teams competed in the first day of the NYSCTC Indoor Championships hosted by St. Lawrence University inside the Newell Field House on Saturday. 

ITHACA
The Bombers' top individual performance of the afternoon came from junior David Dorsey, who won the pole vault with a mark of 4.70 meters (15 feet, 5 inches) and tied Ithaca's school record set in 2010 by Andrew Brown. Dorsey topped Ethan Maguire of RIT for the top spot on total attempts at that height – Dorsey cleared 4.70 on his first run, while it took Maguire until his third try.

Ithaca's distance medley relay team of sophomores Daniel Hart and Derek Howes, freshman Patrick Robertson and senior Sean Phillips bested the field by .58 seconds with a time of 10:19.82.

Senior Larry Cass was the runner-up in the weight throw with a mark of 15.99 meters (52' 5.5")m while freshmanDaniel Harden-Marshall claimed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 6.55 meters (21' 6").

Junior Tim Chappell clocked a time of 15:14.10 in the 5,000-meter run to come in fourth overall, and senior Jesse Capellaro was seventh in 15:31.64.

After five events in the heptathlon, sophomore Lee Matthews sits in second with 2556 points, freshman Connor Florczyk is fourth at 2363 and junior Seth Abbott currently holds the fifth position at 2347.

Matthews' highest point total of 729 came in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.45 seconds. Florczyk and Abbott also notched high-point totals in the 60 with 694 (7.56 seconds) and 668 (7.64 seconds).

ST. JOHN FISHER
Mark VanMarter took first place in the long jump at yet another championship meet, jumping a distance of 6.72 meters, qualifying for ECACs.

Ross Mathewson would place eighth in the 35-lb. weight throw with a distance of 14.96, while Jonathon Robinson would take 11th at 14.18.

The distance medley team of Bernard Daoust, Tyler Wilkie, Luke Dunkelberg, and Daniel Cleary took 11th place in the event with a time of 11:04.42.

UTICA
Freshman pole vaulter Christopher Fisk (Pennellville, NY/John C. Birdlebough) tied the school-record with a clearance of 4.40 meters and placed fifth overall. Ka'Sean Watlington(Bayport, NY/Bayport-Bluepoint) placed second in the men's long jump with a distance of 6.63 meters to earn eight team points.

Senior Sam Kaczmarek (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor ) posted a personal best distance of 15.42 meters to earn a fifth place finish in the men's weight throw.

The 4x200 meter relay team of Christian St. Amour (Syracuse, NY/Westhill), Kevin Gangemi(Cornwall, NY/Cornwall Central High School), Philip Cruz-Rodriguez and Brenden Moore(Cocoa, FL /Space Coast) placed fourth and earned five team points for Utica with a time of 1:32.75.

NAZARETH
Junior Nick LaBarbera finished third in the 400-meter prelims with a time of :50.07 and will run in the finals Saturday. Nazareth also finished eighth in the distance medley relay (10:50.75) behind the team of Matt Battaglia, Nick Murad, Jacob Murray and Nicasio Gristina.

ALFRED
Seth Spicer (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post), a junior on the Alfred University men's track and field team, was leading the heptathlon after Friday's first day of competition at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference indoor championships.
 
Spicer had accumulated 2,598 points after four heptathlon events Friday, 43 ahead of Ithaca's Lee Matthews. Spicer had a 6.23-meter long jump, tops in the 13-man field; a 7.47-second 60-meter dash; a 12.35-meter shot put; and a 1.78-meter high jump.
 
Senior teammate Sean Howarth (Howells, NY/Minisink Valley) – 7.96 seconds, 60 meters; 5.12-meter long jump; 8.25-meter shot put; 1.66-meter high jump --had 1,883 points and stood in ninth place. The heptathlon concludes Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault, and 1,000-meter run.
 
Two Saxons scored points for the team in individual events Friday. Senior Jeffrey Nunez (Wurtsboro, NY/Ellenville) took third in the weight throw (15.77 meters) and sophomore Zac Mapes (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) placed eighth in the long jump (6.24 meters).
 
Two AU relay teams took seventh to also score points for their team. The distance medley team of juniors Kyle Gallo (Ontario, NY/Wayne) and Matt Roder (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) and sophomores Jordan Schools (Wyalusing, PA/Wyalusing Valley) and Chase Swetland (Portville, NY/Portville) placed seventh in 10:50.12, while sophomore Spencer Cameron-Pressley (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle), Swetland, junior Sammy Davis Jr. (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) and junior Willie McFadden (Amityville, NY/Copiague) was seventh in the 4x200-meter relay in 1:35.97.