Throwers shine in Ohio
The shot putters of the women's track and field team finished one-two-three while the men's team did the same in the weight throw at the Mid-February Meet at Baldwin Wallace on Friday.
Brianne Paganello (Batavia/Batavia) led the field in the shot put for the second weekend in a row with a throw of 11.57 meters, closely followed by Anneliese Bienko (Clarence/Clarence) at 11.47 meters and Rachel Williams (Lockport/Lockport) at 11.44 meters.
Sawyer Bell (Middletown/Roy C. Ketchum) led the men in the weight throw with a final toss of 16.06 meters. Kyle Brown (Hamburg/Hamburg) took second finishing at 15.91 meters, and Hsin Chin (Pleasant View/Arlington) was third at 14.57 meters. Joseph Gabrielli (Depew/Depew) then won the men's shot put with a final throw of 14.17 meters.
Women
Kristen Sawyer (Lockport/Lockport) came within a hundredth of a meter of a school record in the indoor pole vault, finishing with a personal best jump of 3.49 meters. Olivia Kurbs (Lockport/Lockport), who set the record in 2015 at 3.50 meters, cleared 3.34 meters on Friday.
Brittany Feldman (Jamestown/Southwestern) cleared 1.65 meters to win the high jump, followed by Sarah Couperus (Marion, N.Y./Marion) who finished second, clearing 1.60 meters. Freshman Stephanie Wojnowski (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) won the 1-mile run (5:20.99), before Bonnie Binggeli (Walworth/Gananda) took fourth (5:37.10).
Hannah Kurbs (Lockport/Lockport) finished second in the 3,000-meter run, and Brenna Donovan (Youngstown/Lewiston-Porter) eighth, with times of 10:46.34 and 11:42.78, respectively. In the 800-meter run, Emily Maguire (Oakdale/Connetquot) took sixth place.
Julia Johnson (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) and Kara Hall (Bergen/Byron-Bergen) finished the 5,000-meter run with similar times of 19:16.95 and 19:18.19, placing third and fourth, respectively.
Men
Zakk Hess (Newark, N.Y./North Rose-Wolcott) won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:36.83, and Bobby Cooper (Walworth\Gananda) was second in the 800-meter run at 1:59.09.
Four Fredonia runners finished within half of a second of each other in that 800-meter race: Nick Watson (Rochester, N.Y./Rush Henrietta) was fourth (2:01.70), Merlin Joseph Jr. (Binghamton/Binghamtom) fifth (2:02.07), Jack Erhard (Syracuse/West Genesee) sixth (2:02.21), and Ethan Francis (Dunkirk/Dunkirk) seventh (2:02.23).
Nick Serafin (Depew/Depew) set a new collegiate best in the high jump (1.93 meters), ahead of Nick Watson who finished eighth (1.88 meters). Justyn Haines (Albion/Albion) took fourth in the pole vault, while Rocky Caparro (Staten Island/Susan E. Wagner) was sixth in the long jump.
Cody Martini (Palmyra/Palmyra-Macedon) took third in the 5,000-meter run (16:03.07), ahead of Casey Swartz (Horseheads/Horseheads), who took eighth (16:55.77).
The teams will travel to Brockport the next two weekends, culminating in SUNYAC Championships on Feb. 26-27.
