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Athletes Shine On Cold, Blustery Evening At Strider

Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Cameron Barmore clears the bar in the high jump during the Joseph Paterniti Track & Field Classic at Strider Field on Friday night. P-J photos by Alex Shipherd

Cold weather, clouds and gusting wind did nothing to deter athletes from the 22 different schools that gathered at Strider Field on Friday afternoon for the Joseph Paterniti Track and Field Classic.

The meet, which has not had the benefit of sunshine in recent years, still delivered with plenty of record-setting times and strong performances as athletes prepare to make the push towards the Section VI Championships at Williamsville South High School on May 31.

The Southwestern Trojans, led by strong performances in the field and on the track, left the Martin Road Complex with a boys team title after finishing with 100 points, ahead of St. Francis (72.5) and Iroquois (62). Falconer took fourth in the standings with 54 points while Randolph grabbed 38 points.

Springville-Griffith Institute was able to edge out Southwestern and Maple Grove for the girls team title, finishing with 84 points to 75 for the Trojans and 64.5 for the Red Dragons. Clymer/Sherman/Panama finished with 62, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley 58 and host Jamestown 51.

No one had a better evening than Samantha Gilbert of Falconer/Cassadaga Valley.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Collin Barmore looks at the scoreboard to see his time before crossing the finish line of the 1,600-meter run

The junior claimed three events, finishing just a hair shy of her fourth victory as Jericha Petrella claimed first in the 200 meters by two-100ths of a second (Petrella also won the 400 meters in 1:00.52).

“My team, across the board, is running season bests in just about everything we are doing, so we are having a nice night,” said Falconer Girls coach Mike LeBaron. “(Gilbert) earns everything she gets. She works on all the little things in practice and it shows up in meets like this.”

Gilbert ended the evening with a winning time of 12.71 in the 100 meters, a leap of 16 feet, 6¢ inches in the long jump, and a mark of 35-2 in the triple jump.

“Last year she was in the 100, the 200, the long and the triple and she won sectional patches in all four, so she is probably going to do all four of those again,” LeBaron said. It’s not like a distance race where you run one race and your legs are shot. So that is what we are looking at for the end of the year for her.”

On the boys side, the Golden Cougars were just as strong as both Bryce Baglia and Collin Barmore finished with record-setting performances.

Maple Grove’s Ava Crist leads the girls 800 meters.

Baglia clocked a 1:59.87 to take home the 800 meters, setting a new school record in the process while Collin Barmore earned a new school record of his own with a 4:33.05 in the 1,600-meter Jason DeJoy Memorial run.

“I’m really pleased, the kids work hard and we’re trying to just get some personal bests tonight. We’re backing them off. Instead of running three our four events, they are just doing one or two,” said Falconer boys coach Dave Nelson.

Leading the Golden Falcons to victory in the 400-meter dash was Rayven Sample with a 51.55.

“He’s run a 51.2 but it was windy for tonight so I was happy,” Nelson said. “Collin, that was a new PR for him and a new school record.”

Joining Sample, Barmore and Baglia in the 3,200-meter relay was Wyatt Harrington as the foursome finished in first with a 3:29.76.

Helping Southwestern to its team title was Cooper Pannes, who finished with a big day of throwing, grabbing wins in the shot put (48-10.75) and the discus (133-11).

Also putting together a strong performance in the field for the Trojans was Gianna Hoose. The junior took third in the shot put behind winner Alyssa Steen of Maple Grove.

“Gianna Hoose threw awesome tonight,” said Southwestern coach Cristin Hockenberry. “Coach (Adam) Brown has been doing a fantastic job with our throwers, not just this season but over the course of several years he has really developed them and gotten them to where they are. We are starting to see these big gains there and that is a huge performance tonight, so that is great.”

Hoose edged out Steen in the discus, with a throw of 114-09, 20 feet better than second place.

Helping the Trojans pick up points in the distance races were Dagon Bryant and Hannah Sullivan. Bryant clocked a 10:41.95 to take home the 3,000-meter steeplechase while Sullivan was victorious in the 3,000 meters with a time of 11:42.95.

Taking home the boys 3,200-meter run was Ronan McDonald of Randolph in 10:07.09.

The same group of talented runners who have led Maple Grove to success in cross country over the last three years put together another strong showing at Strider Field.

Abby Brunenavs, Hope Marshall, Christina Peppy and Ava Crist claimed first in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:01.42. They are hoping to reach 9:39, which is the state-qualifying time.

Crist earned an individual win in the 800 meters (2:24.59), while Peppy put together a strong showing in the 1,500-meter Jason DeJoy Memorial.

That 1,500 meter race offered one of the best finishes of the day, with Kylee Odell of Clymer/Sherman/Panama taking first in 4:49.15, one step ahead of Emily Brown of Fredonia and the third-place Peppy.

“We were really hoping to break 10 minutes today,” said Red Dragons coach Steve Matteson said of his relay team. “The wind got a us a little bit, maybe we didn’t warm up 100 percent, but we still did a second better than last week at the Falconer Invitational. It was a good race. They seem like they are hungry, so hopefully next week at Super 8s we will get in that 9-minute range. It was a great finish in that 1,500 between Emily Brown from Fredonia and Kylee Odell who won it. Those three have been running against each other for the last four years. They know each other really well so it is a chess match out in distance. It was fun to watch.”

Cameron Barmore continues to have his sights set on returning to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships in the high jump for Clymer/Sherman/Panama.

Barmore once again topped out at 6 feet, 4 inches, the state standard, despite difficult jumping conditions.

“We’ve had crappy (weather) meets all year. There hasn’t been a nice day yet. I’m hoping for 6-6 on a nice day,” said Barmore. “I almost got 6-6 a couple of weeks ago. I feel really relieved (hitting the standard). It’s all I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of weeks. I don’t have anything to worry about now.”

Barmore’s teammate, Karianne Yuchnitz, was also victorious in the girls high jump, hitting the 5-foot mark.

Also leading Falconer/Cassadaga Valley in the field was Rachael Ward with a mark of 11-06 in the pole vault, while Chase Stevenson of Southwestern took home the boys event with a height of 12 feet.

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