1/18-1/19 - Yale Track Classic
The Yale track classic is always a staple for many New York powerhouses, with a huge contingent, usually featuring a slew of stars in the varying events, making the trip every year. 2008 proved no exception, with the majority of the action coming from the upstate powerhouses of Saratoga Springs and Burnt Hills.
Friday night. Relay night. It's always been that way, and everyone who comes to the meet knows it. Monstrous fields are assembled, titans clash, and Coxe Cage rumbles as the athletes pound around the steep banked track. In the girls distance medley, perennial powerhouse Saratoga Springs managed to fend off local rival Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake and the Academy of Holy Names, with NY teams sweeping the top 6 spots in the Championship heat. Saratoga took home the trophy with a powerful 11:48.88 performance to runner-up Burnt Hills' 11:53.95.
Burnt Hills came out swinging the next morning however in the girls 3000m run. Junior Meaghan Gregory posted a nation leading mark of 9:52.27 to take the win over Holy Names star Claire Hardwick (9:57.82) and freshman teammate Molly Pezzulo (10:01.26). In doing so, Gregory snuffed out any remaining doubts harbored by spectators and competitors alike that her bout of mono caused any lasting weakness. It was a bit of sweet revenge for the Burnt Hills front runner, not only posting such a fast mark, but also in taking away the national lead from rival Cassie Goutos of neighboring Saratoga Springs (10:05.95 at Molloy Stanner).
The sprinters made their presence known as well, with Holy Names speedster Klarissa Ricks dashing to a 7.12 55m - her second one this season - and marking herself up as 10th in the nation. Meanwhile James Kehrer of Colonie Central posted a top-20 national mark of 7.59 in the 55m hurdles with teammate Steve Crouse not far behind in 7.72.
1/16 - Art Mitchell Meet
There's a new star on the scene, although with the range she showed at this meet, one has to wonder where her true potential lies. Mount Sinai freshman Janie Turek posted a pair of second places at this Section 11, girls only meet, the first coming in the 1000m run and the second, in the 600m dash. In the 1000 meters event, Turek finished a close second to Jaclyn Marshall of Kings park with a 3:05.73. Not half bad. But she wasn't done yet. Just 3 events later, Turek came back to once again place second, this time to teammate Janet Mellor in the 600 meter dash in a very fast time of 1:39.66. A new star in the making? Only time will tell.
1/16 - Fred Kirschenheiter Relays
Relay meets usually turn out one of two ways. Either the majority of the events are so uncompetitive and mundane that spectators quickly lose interest, or the meet is features one or two solid performances backed by a slew of mediocre ones. Not so at this years Fred Kirschenheiter Relays in upstate NY, where powerful performances were on tap and the athletes truly strutted their stuff.
The shot put featured a pair of monstrous throws, the first coming from Shante White of Henninger in the girls event, who captured victory with her chuck of 40 ft. 3 in. - a heave that places her in the top-25 in the nation. Seconding that was Marcquis Barnes, also of Henninger who launched his shot 52 ft. 2 in. while dominating the field.
But the shot was only a piece of the excitement. not to be outdone, the Fayetteville Manlius girls put together a true team performance with a nation leading 9:22.02 4x800m relay. With the kind of range that this team has (National Champions in XC this past season), spectators can only wonder what will happen should they decide to go for a national record in the 4xmile event at some point.
Not to be outdone, Andy Kahl of local Cicero-North Syracuse made his own attempt at a new leading performance, falling short with a 6 ft. 8in. win in the high jump, just 2 inches shy of his own state leading performance the week earlier.
1/19 - Section 5
Up in Geneva, Pat Dupont raced to an impressive solo effort, clocking 9:33.62 on the flat track, and winning by nearly a minute and easily placing himself within the top-10 in the country thus far.