By Jessie Zdrowak
Lancaster NY - The Section 6 high school indoor track athletes were found tying up their spikes and ready to compete at the Lancaster field house on Friday, Dec 16th. Since last year, Section 6 has broken up its longer meets into what are now known as divisional meets. Each of the schools in the section, has been placed into a group, A, B, C, D, E, or F and every week, each group faces a different one either on Friday night, Saturday morning, or Saturday afternoon.
This past Friday, at the Lancaster Field House, Group A and Group B were ready for the competition ahead. Group A consists of the following schools which are, Depew, Fredonia, Hamburg, Maryvale, Niagara Falls, and Sweet Home. Group B, on the other hand, is made up of Cheektowaga, Kenmore East, Lancaster, North Tonawanda, Springville, and St. Joe’s.
Craig Kaiser, a high school senior from Lancaster, had an impressive race in the 3200m, with a time of 10:25.34. This finish not only qualified him for sectionals but also places him as sixth, in the section, for the boys 3200m. Kaiser also qualified for sectionals in the 1600m on Dec 2nd, with an FAT time of 4:50.24. This senior has high ambitions for himself and seems to be right on his way to achieving them.
“My goal this year is the make states in the mile.” Kaiser quoted.
After the boys 3200m race had finished, another impressive performance took place. In the girls 1000 meter, Sharae Smith, who is first in the section for the girls 1000m, blew away the competition. This senior from Niagara Falls took the lead in the beginning and held it all the way through till the end, widening the gap against the rest of the competition with each lap. She finished with a 3:19, which is not as good as her time on Dec 2nd, which was 3:14.9, but it was still a very impressive performance as seeing as she barely had any competition to push her.
Smith quoted, “ I definitely had a little bit more left in me after that race but I felt like I pushed it every lap.”
In the boys 1000m race senior Brian McNerney, from Springville, took a first place finish with a time of 2:50. He also took the win in the boys 1600m race, with a time of 4:53.78.
Alex Colarte, a senior from Lancaster, ran only a couple seconds slower, in the 600m race, from his previous time of 1:31.74, which he ran on Dec 10th of this year. He is ranked 4th in the section for the 600m.
“My goals this year are to hit a 1:28.00 in the 600m for indoor and in outdoor I am hoping to breaking 50.00 in the 400m.” quoted Colarte.
Aside from the running events, Jared Brucker, a senior from Hamburg, took first place in the pole vault with a jump of 13ft. He is number one in the section, as of now, in the men’s pole vault.
Overall this past Friday night presented a good amount of athletes who are both ambitious and determined to make sectionals and reach their racing goals.
On Saturday, Dec 17th Section 6 held a cross-divisional meet at Fredonia State University. The E and F teams, in the section, competed at the college from 2pm to 6pm that afternoon. Group E consists of the following schools, which are Amherst, Holland, Kenmore West, Lake Shore, Orchard Park, and St. Francis where as Frontier, Iroquois, Jamestown, West Seneca East, and Williamsville South, make up Group F.
Senior Kailyn Arcury from Williamsville South started off the meet with a first place win in the 55m Hurdles with an FAT time of 8.00. She not only is number one in the section for the 55m Hurdles but she is also number one in the 55m Dash, with an FAT time of 7.27.
Emily Krasinski a senior from Frontier ran 11:23.7 in the girls 3000m, giving her a first place win. With this time she is now third in the section for the 3000m and also qualified for sectionals.
In the boys 3200m Jake Eniex, who is 3rd in the section for the 3200m, had an impressive finish, which not only landed him a first place win, but also a PR with a time of 10:22.94. This senior, from Orchard Park, has shown much improvement according to his coach Greg Lardo.
Aside from running, Kevin Sandmaier from Frontier took first in the boy’s high jump with a height of 5’10’’. This qualifies him for sectionals and puts him at 6th in the section.
Sandmaier quoted, “I didn’t hit my PR in the high jump but this is my first meet of the season and I got first so I feel pretty good about my performance.”Sandmaier also said that he is hoping to break his school record this outdoor season in the pentathlon, which is 3165 points.
Back on the track, Andrew Hayes from St. Francis finished with a time of 2:47.94 in the boys 1000m and Emily Irish-Ryan, a junior from Amherst took first in the girls 600m, with a time of 1:42.2. Emily is now number one in the section for the 600m, beating Kala Allen’s time of 1:42.8.
After a successful cross-country season, tenth grader TJ Hornberger ran a great race in the boys 600m with a time of 1:26.94. He was behind senior Mark Mercer, from Orchard Park, until about the last 10 meters which is when he was able to pull away. Hornberger is now first in the section for the 600m. Hornberger also had a great race in the 1600m, blowing away the competition with a time of 4:45.34. With this time he is also number one in the section for the 1600.
Hornberger said, “This is my first meet of the season since cross country.” What a great way to start off his season.
In the 300m the girls and boys both showed some notable performances. On the girls side Kylie Wilson, a junior from Jamestown, ran a time of 44.4, which places her at third in the section. Chelsea Grupp, a sophomore from Holland, ran a 44.7, which puts her at fourth in the section. On the guys side of the 300m Brendan Allman, a senior from Orchard Park, ran an FAT time of 38.04, which is not only a PR for him but also puts him at first in the section for the boys 300m dash.