Our Hometown
|
|
NHS Indoor track at Hobart College Saturday night at Hobart College, five Newark athletes qualified for the New York State Indoor Track Championships. An athlete must place first or second to automatically qualify for the State Championships. The third place athlete may qualify if he or she meets a standard set by the state. With over 45 schools competing, it's difficult to win a qualifying berth. Exchange student Gudeta H. Roba defeated a loaded field in the 3200 meter Run (approximately two miles) in a Newark school record time of 9:36.2. After following the lead pack most of the race, with two laps to go, Roba used an effective surge to power away from the field. This win, coupled with his Sectional championships in the 1600 and 3200 the week before, won the Ethiopian student the Most Valuable Athlete award in Class C. Another Newark athlete also qualified in the longest race. Sophomore Erin Daly placed second in the girls' 3000 meter run. Hilton's Shannon Griggs pulled away from Daly with about a half-mile to go in the race. Daly then, in turn, pulled away from HAC's Sarah Hildebrand, the NYS Class D Cross Country Champion. Daly's final time of 10:55.5 was her fastest time of the season, and one of the fastest run this year in Section 5. Behind Daly, Freshman Angie Washburn placed a non-qualifying third-place in 11:31.3. Also taking second, was Jennifer Hart in the Pole Vault. Hart, the Section 5 indoor record-holder at 9 ft. 6 in. was injured in early February, and had missed several meets. She duelled with Lyons senior Laura Olsen throughout the entire competition. Although both jumpers cleared 9 ft., Olsen managed it on an earlier attempt, so was given the win. 'Before Jenn's injury, we had hoped that she would have made 10 ft., by this time,' said Newark Coach Joe Contario. 'But she showed a great deal of courage just to be able to come back and jump. Of course, she might do it next week at the State Meet.' Dwayne Parker had been competing with Franklin's Walter Davis all season to see who was the Section's top sprinter. Coming into the State Qualifier, Parker had an edge in wins. But Parker got an unusually poor start that put him two steps behind at the beginning of the race. It would be a margin that he wouldn't make up. Davis won the race, with Brockport's John Bonczyk sneaking past for second. 'Both Dwayne and Walter are high up on the State List, so we were sure that this would be a tough race, Dwayne just didn't have his regular start. He came back well, but he was just too far down,' explained Contario. Also qualifying for the State Meet was Senior Amanda Leeuwen, who will be running on the Intersectional Relay, a team made up of the top non-qualifiers from the 300, 600, 1000, and 1500 races. Leeuwen placed 4th in the 1000, with a time of 3:10.5. Her time is the second fastest in Newark's history, only behind the school record set by Lisa Hernandez in 1982. Leeuwen broke the school's 800 meter record enroute in the 1000...two school records in one race. Also breaking school records were both the girls and the boys 4 X 800 relay teams. In the girls race, Daly, Leeuwen, Washburn, and Breille Benge ran 10:16.1 to better the old mark by over five seconds. They finished second behind Penfield. In the boys race, Roba, Peter Chambers, Shane Morrissey and Jesse Contario ran 8:39.1 to break the record by one second. 'Breaking five school records at one meet is really unheard of for an established program like ours,' said Contario. The boys 4 X 200 Relay ran to a third place finish in 1:36.9, their fastest time of the season, and in most Sections of the State would have won. The four members are Juniors Parker, Brandon Schroeder, and Dan Lester, and senior Shawn Orlopp. Lester also triple- jumped 40 ft. 7.75 in. - the team's best this season. Laurie Bastian high jumped 4 ft. 10 ft. The State Meet will be held Saturday (March 4) at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome. Copyright © 2000 |
     Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information  |
