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Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, June 14, 2007


BKW girl’s track team eclipses boys, but not for long

By Tim Matteson

BERNE — This past spring, the girls on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo track team overshadowed their male counterparts. But it might not be for much longer.

The Lady Bulldogs capped a successful season with a win at the Western Athletic Conference championship meet and a third-place finish at the Class CC meet.

"We had an undefeated league season and were league meet champs," said BKW Coach Bill Tindale. "We won the three invitationals that we were at and we finished third at the sectional meet. We were just five points out of second place."

BKW won the Cherry Valley, Middleburgh, and Maple Hill invitationals this spring.

The boys’ team did not share the same success as the girls’ team, but with a lot of young talented athletes, the boys’ glory days might not be far off.

"They had a solid season," Tindale said of the boys’ team. "They were overshadowed a bit by the girls’ success. But 75 percent of the team is freshman and sophomores. In the three invitationals, we finished in third place. And they all had at least 10 teams. I was very happy with them. All our big scorers are sophomores and freshmen. They will continue to get stronger."

Girls shine

Senior Sarah Hannay had a great season for the Lady Bulldogs, Tindale said. She threw the shot and discus and holds the school record in both events. Her best throw in the shot is 36 feet, 1 inch and her best in the discus is 104 feet, 5 inches. She tied for second at the sectional meet.

Hannay will continue to compete in track in college. She will attend Cedarville College in Ohio, starting in the fall.

Ada Lauterbach set the school record in the 2,000-meter steeplechase. Her best time was 7:37.1 in the event.

Lauterbach finished second at the State Qualifier meet.

"She was one spot from going to states," Tindale said.

Alyssa Wettereau went over eight feet in the pole vault and will continue to be a force in the event for the Lady Bulldogs and add to her school record.

BKW also had a lot of other athletes who contributed mightily to the team’s success.

"We had 10 or 12 girls that scored a lot of points this year," Tindale said. "Most of them are coming back next year."

Anna Kusler ran the hurdles as well as competed in the triple jump. She finished second in the triple jump at the sectional meet.

Kusler also ran on relay teams that finished in the top three at the big meets, Tindale said.

Sabrina Stoutt ran the 200-meter dash as well as the long and triple jumps at the league meet.

Ninth-grader Kristine Skinner placed in the hurdles at most of the major invitationals the Bulldogs competed in as well as sectionals.

"We knew she was going to be good," Tindale said. "But we didn’t know she would be this good this early in her career."

Faith Carney and Allison Bates competed in the throwing events and placed at the sectional meet.

Amber Pitcher ran the 400 meters and Michelle Raymond, a senior, ran the 800. Senior Cara Swain came out for track for the first time and competed on the relay teams.

"I thought we were the best team at sectionals," Tindale said. "We scored in almost every event. Greenwich [the section champion] is great at the distance events but I thought we were the better all-around team. But they don’t score the meet that way."

Hannay, Raymond, Swain, and captain Claire DellaRocco all will be graduating.

Most of the girls will be playing a sport in college. Besides Hannay at Cedarville College in Ohio, Raymond will be going to the State University of New York College at Oneonta where she will compete and Swain will play soccer at Pace University in Westchester County.

Boys are solid

Alan Diamond, Tyler Messick, and Mark Bryan were three of a small group of underclassmen who were major contributors to the Bulldogs this season.

"They did a great job," Tindale said. "But we have a young nucleus on this team."

Greg Hannay, Sarah’s younger brother, competed in the throwing events and was in the top three at several invitational meets this season, Tindale said. Hannay was also starting to compete in hurdles at the end of the season.

"He is becoming an all-around athlete," Tindale said.

Jared Finke was the Bulldogs’ best runner in the 800 meters, the 1,500, and the 3,200. Josh Glick set a school record in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, 3 inches.

"He shared it before and broke it last year," Tindale said. "Now he keeps going higher and higher. He’s only a sophomore; he’s got two years to better that height."

After those big point producers, the scoring was spread out.

"We had guys on the team that were scoring points," Tindale said. "We had a bunch of different scorers. We didn’t have the big scorer that gave us a lot of consistent points."

The Bulldogs finished 10th at the sectional meet, near the middle of the pack.

"It’s a very competitive meet," Tindale said. "The difference between 10th and fourth is just a handful of points. Some teams are really loaded up to win. This year, we decided to have athletes compete in one or two events.

Next year, Tindale predicts, the Bulldogs can reach a higher ground.

"There is no reason why we can’t finish third in the section next year. It’s going to be a big year for the guys."


High numbers not enough for Lady Dutch track

By Tim Matteson

GUILDERLAND — Guilderland girls’ track coach Dick Usher is looking for dedicated athletes.

Though he had 89 "kids" on his team, not all of them were there to get better in a track-and-field event, he said.

"The potential was obviously there," Usher said. "Whether we have athletes to be competitive, I don’t know. We had a couple that were really interested and wanted to be the best they can be. The rest just chilled."

The Lady Dutch had a talented athlete in senior Katie Murdock. She was a captain on the team and had a successful season as a hurdler.

Murdock set the school record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.9 seconds. She also ran the 400-meter hurdles and finished fourth in both events at the state qualifier meet.

Senior Miriam Booker was the only athlete who graduated to earn points for the team during the season. She had a best throw of 30 feet in the shot put.

A small group of underclassmen showed a lot of talent and worked for Guilderland this spring, said Usher.

Sophomore Carly Giles competed in the high jump and the pentathlon. She finished second in the five-discipline event at the Class A Section II meet. Giles jumped 5 feet, 2 inches in the high jump.

Classmate Taylor Murphy had a best leap of five feet in the high jump and 32 in the triple jump.

Junior Liz Schwenker had a season best 59.8 in the 400-meter run for the Lady Dutch this spring.

Sophomore Alicia Bowman had a best throw of over 90 feet in the discus and classmate Brianna Delbene threw the discus 101 feet.

Usher also has seen talent in a young distance runner.

Seventh-grader Lea Cure had an excellent year running the long-distance races and the steeplechase, the coach said.

"We have a very young team," Usher said. "We had 89 kids finish and a lot of them were underclassmen."

Though there was a good turnout of athletes, Usher said, there’s more to the sport than just showing up. There must be a lot of work put into it.

"Numbers don’t mean that much," Usher said. "It’s the quality of athletes that counts."


Rhodes-Devey beat heat, wins state title

By Tim Matteson

GUILDERLAND — Guilderland High School senior Brian Rhodes-Devey put his track career on par with his cross-country exploits.

Rhodes-Devey won the state Division I title of the 800-meter race on Friday afternoon in Kingston. He finished third in the Federation 800-meter race the next day. The Federation includes private schools and high schools from New York City.

Rhodes-Devey won the public school title with a time of 1:52.37 despite the day’s high temperatures. He ran 1:54.12 at the Federation meet to finish third despite getting tripped 300 meters into the race.

Guilderland senior Mark Domaracki finished fifth in the 400-meter run at the state meet. He was the top Section II finisher with a time of 48.95. He improved two places in the Federation race, coming in third even though his time (49.38) was slower.


Voorheesville teams right on track

By Tim Matteson

VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville track team this year had its best season in the five years that Steve Relyea has been the coach.

He only expects things to get better.

It’s hard to imagine how the boys’ team can improve on an 8-1 record and a second place finish in the Class CC Section II meet. And the girls’ team doesn’t need much to improve on a 5-4 Colonial Council mark and sixth-place finish at the sectionals.

Both teams finished third in the Colonial Council. The boys were behind Albany Academy and Lansingburgh and the girls behind Holy Names and Lansingburgh.

"Third place is the best we’ve accomplished in the past five years," Relyea said. "These are the best records we’ve had in the last five years. We’ve really turned the boys’ program around. Five years ago, they were 1-8."

It is the second year in a row that the boys’ team has finished second in the sectional meet. In 2006, the Blackbirds were the runners-up at the Class B meet.

"We were up last year in the B’s," Relyea said, "but the competition is tougher in the CC’s than the B’s."

Girls take off

There were a number of key performers on the girls’ track team at Voorheesville this spring.

Seneca Gray ran the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles this spring. She finished second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.35 seconds.

Alison Vogelien was outstanding in the high and triple jumps this season, Relyea said. Vogelien won the long and triple jump at the sectional meet and finished third in the high jump.

"She was off in the high jump," Relyea said. "All the jumpers were going four feet, 10 inches. She has been over five feet consistently."

At sectionals, Vogelien won the long jump at a distance of 14 feet, 10-and-three-quarters inches. Her best leap in the triple jump was 33 feet, 7-and-one-quarter inch.

She surpassed that jump with a 34 feet, 5 inches at the State Qualifier meet a week later. The leap set a school record.

Vogelien also ran a leg on the 4x100-meter relay team.

Chantel Little won the pole vault at the Colonial Council championship. She also ran the 400-meter race and had a best time this season of 1:05.01.

Carrie Gorka was outstanding in the 400 meters as well this season, Relyea said. She finished fourth at the Colonial Council meet with a time of 1:04.77

The Lady Blackbirds also had some good distance runners in Grace Giampaglia, Hilary Edmunds, and Zoe Edmunds.

"We were strong in the 1,500-, 3,000- and the 2,000-meter steeplechase," Relyea said."We were placing in those events at the council championship."

Eighth-grader Michaela Conway is a runner with a strong future, Relyea said. She ran the 2,000 steeplechase.

"We had an outstanding year," Relyea said of the girls’ team. "We got over the .500 mark. It’s unfortunate that we lose Alison to graduation, but the rest will be back. I expect to have a strong season next year. We have modified runners that we’ll move up and we can have a better season. We can keep going up."

The boys

Pat Jones was one of the fastest runners in the area as he ran 11.57 seconds in the 100-meters dash at the Class CC sectional meet. He also ran the 200 meter this spring.

The strength of the Blackbirds was in their middle-distance and distance runners.

Nathan Bub, Ian Powell, Ryan Allison, and Macky Lloyd teamed up to set a school record in the 4x800-meter relay. The foursome ran 8:19.58 with each runner averaging less than 2:05 in his heat. The relay team won the Class CC championship.

Individually, Bub had a good season running the 400 and Powell and Allison ran the 800. Lloyd ran the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters. But Lloyd’s best race was the steeplechase, in which he won the sectional and league titles and had a best time of 10:20.61.

Matt Miller won the high jump and finished third in the long jump at the Colonial Council meet. Josh Glover won the pole vault and was sixth in the long jump.

Anthony Loccisano was the Colonial Council champion in the triple jump and finished second in the high jump.

"We’ll lose a few athletes to graduation," Relyea said, "that were contributors to the team. But all of our core runners and the guys that were placing in the council championships are underclassmen. Next year is looking really good."

"Good numbers"

The season finished with 35 competitors on the boys’ team and 30 on the girls’ team.

"Those are very good numbers," Relyea said. "We have a lot of kids that go out for track and that allows for the returning athletes to keep getting better and we have quality athletes that keep getting better.

"We had a great year," Relyea added. "I’m looking forward to next year. We had a quality modified team and we’ll have eighth-graders that will be moving up to varsity and they will be good for the next few years."


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