Varsity Select Competitions Provide Glimpses of Sectionals
The girls sprints might have stolen the show this past weekend at Houghton College as section 6 once again competed against almost the entire section. In the girls 55 meters Markira Garner, of McKinley, again looks like the one to beat come February as she held off Penn State Invite 60 meter champion Jada Kenner of Tapestry. It was the second straight week that Garner won the 55 meters by two hundredths of second, showing not only the depth the section has in the event, but also how tight the race to states will be! Coming back in the 300 meters Kenner exacted some revenge by holding off Frontier's Gwyneth Goldowski 41.27 to 41.65! Jada's time is currently the fastest 300 run on a flat track this year in NYS. Amherst sister's Maxana and Mallory Grubb combined to dominate the mid-distance events by winning the 600 and 1000 meters, respectively. East Aurora/Holland Freshman Megan McLaughlin captured the 1500 meters in a WNY leading 4:47.06, while Orchard Park's Marin Bogulski won the 3000 meters. Amherst sophomore Morgan Halt continued her impressive season remaining unbeaten in section 6 in both the 55 hurdles and the high jump. Rachael Ward continued to dominate the pole vault as well in the section, clearing a new indoor personal best, 12'1".
On the boys side of the competition Frontier's Joshua Peron continued to impress with his versatility, winning the 600 meters in a WNY best 1:24.32, and almost completing the impractical double finishing 2nd place in the triple jump by a quarter of an inch to Elmira's Jhamir Brown. Cheektowaga, as a team, continued to impress as sophomore thrower Jayden DuBard won both the shot and weight throw, and teammate Jake Kaminski might have had the best performance of the day clearing 6'4.5" in the high jump, a new personal best. That clearance is currently NYS #6. Frontier's Brian Gleason became the 3rd WNY athlete under 10 minutes in the 3200 meters, winning in 9:54.27, while Iroquois senior Ryan Mitchell became the 2nd WNY athlete under 2:40 in the 1000 meters this year, winning in 2:39.72.
Most of section 6 returns to action on Saturday at the section 5 vs section 6 meet at Houghton College, while others will travel to the armory for the New Balance Games.