Track: Bison, Warriors brave the elements

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jim Schiltz

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Athletes battled each other, as well as the elements, Saturday at Niskayuna’s Warrior Track and Field Classic.

“This is not good weather to run in,” senior Dahni Anderson said after anchoring Schenectady’s winning 400-meter relay. “The only thing you can do is try to stay warm and try to stay focused.”

Shaker rolled to the boys’ team title, and the Niskayuna girls edged Queensbury on an overcast day with temperatures in the low 40s and winds swirling and sometimes gusting.

“Rough day,” said Notre-Dame-Bishop Gibbons senior Tyler Banks, who prevailed in the 110 hurdles in 16.73. “With this weather, you look for the win and go for it. Everyone is going through the same thing. With this weather, you do your best.”

The Niskayuna girls picked up seven wins and 156 points, and the Shaker boys totaled 137 points and notched five victories, including a distance sweep by Kyle Foster in the 800 (2:03.54), Casey Gilboy in the 1,500 (4:16.40) and Mike Libruk in the 3,000 (9:13.82).

“You just got to make sure you’re in the hunt. You’re not going to run a fast race. It was too cold to go for a fast time,” said Gilboy, a senior. “On a day like this, you go for the ‘W.’ ”

Gilboy got his with a surge into a windy stretch, a finish encountered by many of the runners throughout the meet. Jacob Adams of Saunders ran second (4:16.87).

“He passed me with 300 to go. He was looking strong, and I made sure he didn’t get away,” said Gilboy, a member of Shaker’s state champion cross country team. “In the last 100, I got him. I was trying to have more guts.”

Shaker junior Brian Hickey displayed plenty of that earlier in the meet when he ran the anchor leg of the 3,200 relay with only one shoe. He got the baton in second place, and held that spot as the Blue Bison (8:40.18) finished behind New Paltz (8:37.48).

“The guy behind me clipped my [right] shoe. The first lap was OK, but once I got to the second lap, I felt the imbalance,” said Hickey. “It was tough, but I hung in there. I couldn’t let my team down. I had to keep going.”

“He’s run 10 seconds faster, but not with one shoe and not in this kind of weather,” Shaker coach Garrett Couture said of Hickey’s 2:15 split.

Shaker sophomore Ian Weykamp was selected the meet’s outstanding male track athlete after winning the 400 hurdles (58.24) and joining with Robert Smith, John O’Connor and Dan Phillips on a first-place 1,600 relay (3:34.37). Averill Park sophomore Rudy Winkler was tabbed the outstanding field performer after setting meet records in winning the shot put (51-53⁄4) and discus (173-0), that effort tops in the state this spring.

Leigh Ann Labate (10:51.13) won an outstanding 3,000 duel with Queensbury’s Jolie Navatka (10:54.81) for one of Niskayuna’s seven wins.

“I had no idea who was going to be in the race, but I’m glad she was there,” said Labate, a junior, who hung on Navatka’s heels as the two pulled away from the pack. “She took the wind away from me. At 200 I went for it and really kicked it in.”

Junior Kaleigh Higgins and 10th-grader Anka Parzych were big point-getters for the Silver Warriors. Higgins won the 800 in a meet-record 2:20.57, Parzych took the 400 hurdles (71.44), and both joined Olivia Jaquith and Felicia Sciortino for first in the 1,600 relay (4:22.88), and coupled with Labate and Maggie Hensel for first in the 3,200 relay (10:15.96).

Niskayuna sophomore Alison Xu was named the outstanding female field performer after setting a meet record in winning the long jump (16-0) and taking the triple jump (33-31⁄2). Queensbury all-stater Brittany Winslow, the 1,500 (4:50.32) winner, was the outstanding female track athlete.

Anderson won the 100 dash (13.81) for the second year in a row before joining with Anasia Thompson-Lawrence, Meisha Lewis and Juette Joseph for a triumphant effort in the 400 relay (54.72).

“She [Anderson] won the 100 the hard way,” said Schenectady coach Joe Yamin. “Her start was not as quick as usual. In the last 10 meters, she passed three people. It’s not the way you want to do it, but she got it done.”

Katie Vogel of Averill Park set a meet discus record (104-3).

Lady Eagles Invitational

DELMAR — Kyle Plante won the 100 dash (12.42) and finished off Colonie’s triumphant sprint medley relay (4:27.69) to lead the Garnet Raiders to the team title at the sixth annual Lady Eagles Invitational at Bethlehem.

Jackie Kearney of the host school picked up three wins, in the 400 (1:01.15), 100 hurdles (15.86) and 300 hurdles (48.26).

Klarissa Ricks of Holy Names won the 200 (26.09) and long jump (17-11), Samantha Kosa of Shenendehowa placed first in the shot put (40-73⁄4) and discus (113-6), and the Lady Plainsmen also got victories from Lizzie Predmore in the 1,500 (4:47.95) and Alex Burtnick in the 1,000 (3:08.44).

Guilderland had a pair of winners in Kendra Lizotte in the pole vault (9-0) and Cadi Diamente in the triple jump (35-101⁄4).

Kiwanis Bi-County

BROADALBIN — Fonda-Fultonville’s Zak Godfrey won the 400 (55.30) and 1,600 (5:02.30), and anchored the Braves’ first-place 1,600 relay (3:51.90) and 3,200 relay (8:35.20) and for one of the top efforts at the Kiwanis Bi-County Meet at Broadalbin-Perth.

Mike Flowers of Amsterdam doubled in the 100 (12.0) and 200 (23.60), and John Briggs of Mayfield doubled in the long jump (20-1⁄2) and triple jump (38-9).

Lindsay Therrien of Fonda-Fultonville won the 100 hurdles (18.10) and long jump (15-7), and schoolmate Sarah Wyzokirski won the shot put (31-81⁄2) and discus (91-9).

Albright Invitational

ALBANY — Bethlehem captured the team title, while Jelanie Currie of host Albany Academy won the high jump (6-4) and triple jump (42-71⁄4) at the Albright Invitational.

Brandon Kallner of Berne-Knox-Westerlo won the 110 hurdles (15.5) and long jump (18-11), and Evan Keating of Glens Falls won the 100 (11.3) and 200 (23.3).