Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, June 8, 2006
Guilderland boys’ track qualifier
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — They took different paths to get there, but three Guilderland athletes will be representing the track team at the New York State Meet this weekend at St. Lawrence University.
Juniors Mark Domaracki and Brian Rhodes-Devey won their events — the 400- and 1,600-meter runs respectively — while senior Seth Dubois finished third in the 3,200 but had to wait on another competitor.
"We had great performances," said Guilderland Coach Pete Wachtel. "We got two school records and Seth Dubois is in the top four in Guilderland history."
But, those races were not the best performances by those three competitors.
Domaracki, Rhodes-Devey, and Dubois teammed up with Justin Wager to run an amazing time in the 4x800 relay, a race that was still the talk of the State Qualifier Meet that was held in Johnstown on Thursday and Friday.
"Eight teams fielded a 7:53 or faster," Wachtel said. "You needed a 8:03 to qualify for the state meet. We finished third in 7:48.50 which is a new school record that was around since 1978."
However, since the Dutch team finished third behind Shenendehowa and Shaker, they will not be heading to the state meet. The winner of the event and the next fastest time qualified for the meet even though the Dutchmen met the state-meet qualifying time.
"It was a phenomenal race," Wachtel said. "Dubois ran his best 800 ever in 2:01 and Wager ran a 1:56.12 and Domaracki, running it for the first time, ran 1:59.9. Then Brian ran a 1:51.15 at the end. It was a phenomenal effort."
"It’s disappointing that I didn’t make it with the 800," Domaracki said. "We had a great time. It was a big accomplishment for us."
"At first I was disappointed," Rhodes-Devey said. "I saw that I ran a 1:51.15 and I was telling everybody ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But it hit me that we ran a 7:48 and that was amazing. We annihilated the school record and everyone got a personal record. For our first time running together, that’s awesome."
"The race was ridiculous," Dubois said. "It was awesome. We just really clicked."
The runners were still excited about the race on Monday, even though they won’t get to show off their teamwork at states. Each member of the relay put up their names on the board — which is enclosed in a glass case — that hangs on the wall outside of the East Gym at the high school. The most excitement and talk was about that race, even though Domaracki and Rhodes-Devey earned new school records.
Another gear
Domaracki brought the first championship to the Dutchmen at the Section II meet. He blazed the track to finish the 400-meter run in 48.9 seconds.
"We set him up to do well," Wachtel said. "He went easy in the first 200 meters and then picked it up. At Hartford earlier in the year, he ran his best 200 in the beginning and then ran out of gas. This time he kept his arms down and he was not struggling. He got to the straightaway at the end and he kicked it into another gear and won, walking away in the last 50 to 70 meters."
"It’s really exciting," Domaracki said before practice on Monday. "It was a lot of hard work. It’s tough to get there."
Domaracki said that his coaches had come up with a good plan heading into the race and that he ran a more tactical race.
"I tried to be smarter," he said. "I just wanted to save it for the last 100 meters and I kicked it at the end. I knew I had it; I just hadn’t used it much this year. I was able to get a hold of it again."
But he wasn’t expecting to do everything he did on Thursday to qualify for his state meet.
"I expected to come out and run a good race," Domaracki said. "I did not expect to break the school record.
"It was amazing," Domaracki added. "Just everyone that runs at sectionals, they have all done great. To win is a special moment."
Domaracki wants to run track in college, though he has one more year to decide where and to play his other sport, basketball. He has been on the varsity squad for the past two years and will be one of the key players next season.
Basketball might have good and bad effects on Domaracki.
"It’s definitely a different type of training," he said. "It takes a little while to get into track form."
Because he doesn’t run track during the indoor season in the winter it might not prepare him well for the spring season.
"It does give me a little disadvantage," Domaracki said. "By the time the season begins, I’m probably not in top form."
But it also might save him from peaking too early in the season.
"It probably has that effect too," Domaracki said. "It keeps my mind in different places. I’m not always focusing on track."
Now his focus is just on the state meet and seeing what the atmosphere there is like.
"I’ll definitely build off this and get experience of the states this year," Domaracki said. "I want to get experience and next year come back and win it."
1,600 meters to states
Rhodes-Devey looked to be in charge of the 1,600-meter race at the state qualifier when he caught a glimpse of an old rival — Greg Kiley of Saratoga.
"People were yelling, ‘Kiley’s coming, Kiley’s coming,’" Rhodes-Devey said. "Greg Kiley caught up, but with about 100 meters to go, I made my move.
"I have to make the race exciting for the people watching," he said with a laugh.
"Brian won the 1,600 without working too hard," Wachtel said. "Kiley pulled up with him before the straightaway at the end. Then I saw a smile come on Brian’s face and he just took off."
Rhodes-Devey finished the race in 4:16.14 to break the school record. Kiley finished in 4:16.82.
After the state meet, Rhodes-Devey will get ready to go to the nationals in Greensboro, N.C., where he will run the mile and run the distance medley relay. He also plans a trip to Arizona.
"I’ll take two weeks off," Rhodes-Devey said. "Then I might go to Flagstaff to do some altitude training at the Olympic Center, and get some tests done."
Although he has one more year of high school, Rhodes-Devey has already sparked interest in a number of top universities.
"I made a trip to Michigan, which I liked," he said. "I’ve also heard from Oregon, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona. I want to keep my options open. I like the idea of being able to go anywhere. I’m looking forward to being recruited."
He hasn’t decided what he would like to study while in college, but he knows his sport will keep him busy.
"I have no idea," Rhodes-Devey said. "I’ll find something, or I’ll just do liberal arts and minor in education. I’ll be majoring in running."
Waiting
Unlike Rhodes-Devey and Domaracki, Dubois had to wait to see if he would be going to the state meet.
Dubois finished third in the 3,200 in a time of 9:24.40, which set a personal record but put him behind Kiley and and Drew Houghtalen of Burnt Hills. But Kiley decided after qualifying in the 1,600 to run that race at the state meet and it opened a slot for Dubois.
"I was definitely nervous," Dubois said of waiting for Kiley’s decision. "I still had it in my mind that Kiley might not qualify in the 1,600. But he made it and I was relieved."
"I talked to the Saratoga coach and he said Kiley would go if he qualified in the mile," Wachtel said. "So that didn’t rule out the 3,200. Seth ran a personal record and was two seconds faster. He is on his way to getting better and better. He was disappointed. He knew he could’ve run better. He finished nice but he struggled a bit. But he held in there and got a personal record."
It will be Dubois’s first trip to the state meet for track, but he has been to the states for cross-country for the past two fall seasons.
Dubois will be heading to the nationals to run in the distance medley relay. He will then train for the summer to get ready to run in college.
"I’ll be going to Cortland and run all three seasons," he said. "I’m definitely excited to run there."
Running will give him something to do while he is not studying to get his degree in kinesiology, the study of muscles and the mechanics of human motion.
Good season
Jordan Bieber and Jarrel Gatterson also competed at the state qualifier.
Beiber ran 15.5 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles to set a personal record. He ran faster in the final than he did in the semifinals.
Gatterson competed in the triple jump and his longest leap was 41 feet, 8 inches.
"This has been a great year," Rhodes-Devey said. "We had a good record and everybody just stepped up and we were able to make some noise. It’s good for the team"It’ll be great to have a couple of other guys at states. It’s going to be a lot of fun."
Guilderland boys’ lacrosse
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — The old saying goes, "Defense wins championships," and Niskayuna used plenty of it to beat Guilderland in the Section II Class A boys’ lacrosse championship on Thursday.
The Silver Warriors did not give up a goal to the Dutchmen after Sean Davis scored with 10:21 left in the second quarter. Niskayuna went on to win the contest, 8-2.
The Dutch couldn’t get the ball past Nisky’s goalie, Noah Fossner.
"He was making saves all day," said Guilderland Coach Sean McConaghy after the game. "He took the wind out of our sails all day. We took some quality shots, we just couldn’t put the ball away."
Fossner, who will be playing at the University of Delaware next spring, finished the game with 13 saves, some in spectacular fashion.
"At the end, we were trying to get the ball back," McConaghy said. "And, when we did, Noah made a save and then we had to go back on defense."
The Dutchmen played a lot of defense on a hot day on the artificial-turf field at Rennsselear Polytechnic Institute. They also played a lot of defense with one less player as the Dutch were called for eight penalties in the contest. Niskayuna converted on two of the extra-man opportunities.
"We’ve played man down all year," McConaghy said of his team’s propensity for getting penalties. "It’s been a common theme. We get eight to 10 a game and you can’t do that against a better team."
Early leads dissolve
The teams’ play was sloppy in the first quarter of the contest as big-game nerves dominated.
But Davis broke the ice for the Dutch, as he scored with 2:36 left in the first quarter. Davis, a senior, got a pass from Bob McIver from behind the goal and fired a shot past Fossner.
Niskayuna drew even with just 12 seconds left in the opening stanza on Phil Rollins’s unassisted goal.
Davis gave the Dutch the lead early in the second period. No one thought it would be the last goal they would score for the season.
Niskayuna tied the game with 5:41 left in the quarter on a tally from Tyler Connelly. Connelly took advantage of a penalty on Guilderland’s Mike Camardo and scored off a pass from Rollins.
The scored remained deadlocked for the rest of the half.
"At halftime I was happy," McConaghy said. "Our defense was playing great and we had great opportunities we just couldn’t put it away."
Rollins gave Niskayuna the lead for good less than 30 seconds into the third quarter.
Kris Martin scored with an assist from Connelly with 6:12 left in the quarter and Jack Leary scored to give Niskayuna a 5-2 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Silver Warriors added three goals in the final frame as they possessed the ball for long stretches and forced the Guilderland defense to scramble.
"Their offense moved the ball well and they have some athletic dodgers," McConaghy said. "They made us press out to try and get the ball and we are not good at that."
Robinson finished the game with 14 saves for the Dutchmen.
"They just found the open man," Robinson said of the Niskayuna offense. "They got that first goal and it was just like a ball rolling downhill. Especially with a team like Niskayuna, it’s hard to stop it."
Though Jordan Dubose did a good job keeping the face-off total even for the Dutchmen, Niskayuna won the battle in shots and groundballs. The Silver Warriors took 32 shots to Guilderland’s 17 and won 26 groundballs to 15 for the Dutchmen.
"Great year"
"It was a great year," McConaghy said. "I didn’t think we would be here. Over the summer, we had only two guys make Empires [State Games]. Maybe that was a sign that we weren’t supposed to get this far. I’m happy for the seniors to be here. The 12 seniors accomplished everything they wanted. It would have been great to get out of the section. The seniors are awesome; I’ll miss them."
"We lost a couple of big guys," Robinson of last year’s team that also played in the Section II final. "We had a couple of 100-point scorers on attack and we lost the top face-off man in the section. We pulled together and had a goal of coming back here and we accomplished that."
The Dutch will be losing key seniors like Robinson, who wiil play at the State University of New York College at Oswego next year; Mike Camardo and Bob McIver. Both will be playing Division I schools next spring — Camardo, who was named an All-American, at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and McIver, who is an Academic All-American, at Binghamton University. Also leaving the program are defenders Matt Rimmer, who will be going to SUNY Cortland, and Colin Brunk. Midfielder Stephen Puvogel, attackman Ben Newell, Havard Brustad, Davis, Jeff Armer, Stas Petkevichus, and Kelly Young will also graduate.
Key returners are defensemen Scott Raffensperger and Kip Stillman, Dubose, attackmen Ron Buck and Uriah Myrie, and midfielders Matt Stillman and Chris Conway.
"This definitely hurts a lot more," Robinson said, comparing the two title games he’s played in. "One, because it was a closer game and, two, because I’m a senior."
Voorheesville track qualifier
By Tim Matteson
VOORHEESVILLE — What do you do when you don’t qualify for the state meet in the event you’ve been working at all season"
You qualify in another event.
Kyle Jacobs of Voorheesville has been one of the top pole vaulters in Section II but he didn’t qualify for the state meet in that event. He qualified in the 400-meter hurdles in the small-school division.
"I never trained for that," Jacobs said at practice on Tuesday. "I train for the pole vault. I did that race for fun."
Jacobs ran 56.38 in the event to qualify for the state meet that will be held at St. Lawrence University this weekend.
"I’ve been here for four years and this is the first time we had someone qualify for the state meet," said Voorheesville Coach Steve Relyea. "I don’t know how long it’s been, but it’s been a while, since Voorheesville had a runner go to states. This is a pretty significant event."
Jacobs did win the 400-meter hurdles at the Class B track-and-field meet as well as the 110 hurdles and the pole vault. He had a vault of 14 feet and ran 16.2 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.
Jacobs ran a 58.53 in the 400 hurdles at the Class B meet.
"He passed his personal best by two seconds," Relyea said of Jacobs’s state qualifier race. "It was a great race for him. At his first meet this year, he ran a 61. He’s taken a good five seconds off his time. This is one of his top races."
"I actually passed my personal best by 2.2 seconds," Jacobs said. "When I finished and I saw my time, I was pretty surprised."
Relyea said that he knew that Jacobs could run that fast at this point of the season.
"I’m not surprised at all," the coach said. "I knew he had it in him. He is by far the best athlete in the event in the section. I’m not surprised. He got the job done like he’s done all year."
Jacobs didn’t know where he was until he hit the final stretch of the race.
"During the back stretch I wasn’t sure if I was in first because I was in lane four," he said. "I was feeling tired and my legs are burning. But I thought, ‘If I slowed down I won’t win.’ So I kept going and I came around for the last 100 meters. I was sitting in the lead and I didn’t have anyone around me for the last 100."
Relyea admitted that he might have made an error in having Jacobs run the hurdles.
"It might have been a mistake of mine," he said. "The time he ran might have burned his legs out a bit and he was not as fresh for the pole vault. But it worked out well. He got a seat on the bus."
The pole vault was the next day and Jacobs just missed getting a spot in the state meet.
"It was a good competition," Relyea said. "He did his personal best but he wasn’t at the top of his game. But I can’t take anything away from the guy who beat him. He did a good job."
Relyea and Jacobs are confident that he can bring a state title to Voorheesville.
"I’m going to win it," Jacobs said. "I went on-line the other day and looked at the sectionals. I’m seeded second by just .03."
Young talent
Though Jacobs is the only Voorheesville athlete to be going to the state meet, there were several young and talented competitors at the qualifier.
Junior Matt Miller set a personal record in the high jump. He cleared six feet and finished in second place.
"He just narrowly missed a seat on the bus," Relyea said. "The winner also cleared six feet, but he had fewer misses."
Classmate Alison Vogelien had a best jump of five feet in the high jump at the qualifier.
"It was a personal best and she finished in third place," Relyea said. "Only the winners in each event are going to the states."
Vogelien also finished fifth in the triple jump. Her jump of 33-1 is a personal best.
Sophomore Mackey Lloyd competed in the 1,600 meters in the small-school division at the qualifier. He also set a personal record with a time of 4:36 and was the second-place finisher in the race.
"The winner had a time of 4:20," Relyea said. "It wasn’t close but Mackey ran a great race."
Lloyd also finished in second in the 3,200 last Thursday. He ran a time of 10:26.
"It was a muggy night and that got him a little bit," Relyea said. "But it was nice he came back and ran well in the 1,600."
Sophomore Hillary Edmunds ran in the 1,500 and 3,000 runs for Voorheesville but she didn’t qualify.
"The distance running in Division II is very strong," Relyea said.
Classmate Pat Jones ran the 200-meter sprint but did not qualify either.
"The future is bright here for track," Relyea said. "It’s looking good. In Section II in Class B, we finished in second place overall and we brought only eight kids to the meet. We were excellent all around. The future looks good."
The Blackbirds were small in numbers, but had a load of talent. And Relyea hopes the accomplishments of the young runners will help inspire more kids to come out for the team.
"Success breeds success," Relyea said. "Other kids might come out and see the success that the track program is having and they will consider track and field. Hopefully, we can do the little things to keep up on our success."
BKW track ends
By Tim Matteson
BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo track team did not have anyone qualify for states but that did not stop Coach Bill Tindale from being pleased with the season and looking forward to the future.
"We’re a young team," the coach said. "But we won the Marsh Galotta Invitational at Middleburgh. It was a good year. We have a lot of young guys."
The Bulldogs might be young but a senior led the way this spring.
Travis DeRusso finished his sensational career at BKW with a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter run at the state qualifier in Johnstown on Thursday. DeRusso did win the event and the 800 meters at the Class CC Section II meet earlier in the season. He also set the school record in the 400 during the season with a time of 50.8 seconds.
Peter Primiano also set a school record during the season. Primiano’s 21 feet, 7 3/4 inches in the long jump puts him on top of the school leaderboard.
Senior Ian Smith was a captain and provided leadership for the Bulldogs.
"He did a good job for us," Tindale said.
Freshmen and sophomores made their marks for the boys’ team.
Jared Finke competed at the state qualifier and ran the 3,200- and 1,600 –meter runs. He ran 10:32 in the 3,200 and 4:51 for the 1,600.
Josh Glick set a school record in the pole vault and also competed in the 4x400 and 4x800 relays.
"At sectionals, we finished in the middle of the pack," Tindale said. "We’ll improve over the next couple of years."
The girls’ team was also led by a contingent of underclassmen.
Sophomore Ada Lauterbach won the Class CC sectional title in the steeple chase. She also ran a 5:02 in the 1,500 meters for the second best time in school history.
Junior Sarah Hannay holds the school record in the shot put and also won the league title in the event.
BKW also had two ninth-graders who scored points at meets this season.
Alyssa Wetterau and Monique Devine are tied for the school record in the pole vault; they both have gone over 6 feet, 6 inches.
The girls’ team had a lot of success. The Bulldogs finished second in the league and won the Southern Division. They also won the Marsh Galotta and Cherry Valley Invitationals.
The Bulldogs also got good leadership from senior Sarah Furman, who became a top two-mile runner.
"She scored a lot of points at several meets for us," Tindale said. "She also won the two mile at some invitationals. She had a phenomenal senior year. It was the best of her career."
Tindale is looking forward to the future, despite losing some key seniors.
"It’ll be tough to lose Travis and Pete," the coach said. "They did a good job for us as did a couple of other seniors. But 75 percent of our points were scored by freshmen and sophomores.
"It’s great on one hand because the future looks bright," Tindale said. "But I’d would’ve liked the junior and senior classes to be a little stronger. It’ll be great if we can get more kids into it. It’s not the quality of the athletes; we just need more of them."