GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland boys’ track-and-field team had an impressive performance in last Thursday’s Class A sectional meet.

Though coach Pete Wachtel was a little disappointed in his team’s score, he was pleased with the way individuals performed.
"We did all right," Wachtel said. "I wanted to place a little higher than we did, but we did exactly what we wanted to do. We had guys in certain events that did well."

The Dutchmen scored 60 points to finish in fourth place behind Shenendehowa’s 133 points. Niskayuna was second and Colonie was third.
"I would have liked to finish higher," Wachtel reiterated. "Such is life."

The Dutchmen had a lot of good performances to be happy about.

Brian Rhodes-Devey was the brightest star last Thursday. The University of Texas bound runner ran a state-leading time of 1:51.68, easily winning the 800-meter race. It was the third best time in Section II history behind John Maloy of Shaker’s 1:51.51 and John Moore of Fonda’s 1:51:59. Both those marks were set last year.

Rhodes-Devey also won the 1,600 in a time of 4:19.38. In both races, Rhodes-Devey let a Shenendehowa runner — Zach Predmore in the 1,600 and Zac Suriano in the 800 — set the early pace before passing him in the final lap to take the lead and win the race.

In the past two weeks, Rhodes-Devey has posted the second-fastest mile time (4:09.92) and the second-fastest 3,200 (9:06.22) in Section II history.
"The 1:51, that was pretty cool," Wachtel said. "He’s right where he needs to be. We’re excited about state qualifiers coming up."

State qualifier

Rhodes-Devey and about 10 or 11 Guilderland athletes will be running at the state qualifier meet in Johnstown on Thursday and Friday, Wachtel said.

Rhodes-Devey will be running the 800-meter race on Thursday.

Distance runner Roland Graves, who finished third in the 1,600 with a time of 4:21.64, will also compete.

Mark Domaracki finished second in the 100-meter dash behind John Reilly of Niskayuna last Thursday. He ran 11.28 in the event.

Domaracki followed up that run with a second-place finish in the 400. His time in that race was 50.14. He will run the 400 on Thursday at the state qualifier.
"It’s a tough race but he has a shot of making it to states," Wachtel said of Domaracki who made the state meet last year. "There is good competition and he’ll either make states or he’ll be home. In Section II, there are a lot of good runners who don’t make it to states."

Also competing in the state qualifier will be high jumper Mike Edmonds and triple jumpers Jarrell Gatterson and Drew Smith.

Smith finished second in the event with a state-meet-qualifying leap of 44 feet, seven inches. Gatterson finished fourth in the event.
"He’s number-two in Guilderland history," Wachtel said of Smith. "He is heading in the right direction."

Smith surpassed the required 44 feet, 6 inches needed to reach the state meet. He just needs to finish in the top two at the qualifier to go to the state meet.

Senior Jared Moriarty and Kevin Sheehan will be running as will a couple of relay teams.

The success the Dutchmen have had this season is partly due to the hard work the athletes have done this season but Wachtel was also quick to give credit to his assistant coaches.
"I’m pleased with the kids," Wachtel said. "They performed well. We had two jumpers finish second and fourth in the triple jump. And that is a credit to our coaches. You have to look at the guys in the background, Jason Usher and Dave Kosier; they do a really nice job."

The state qualifier meet will be at Knox Field in Johnstown and will start each day at 3 p.m. The large-school and small-school state teams will be determined.