By Rob Potter
WARWICK — May 17, 2005 – Track and field athletes from Sullivan County high schools joined competitors from around Orange and Ulster Counties at Warwick High School on Friday and Saturday for the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Track and Field Championships.
Long distance running events and several field events, including the hammer and javelin, were held on Friday. The remainder of the events were held on Saturday morning and afternoon.
In the boys’ team standings, Tri-Valley was the highest scoring Sullivan County team. The Bears earned 24 points, which was good enough to place eighth.
Right behind T-V were the Eldred Yellowjackets, who had 21 points and finished ninth. Liberty and Monticello tied for 15th with six points apiece and Sullivan West recorded three points to finish 17th.
Fallsburg and Livingston Manor also competed in the meet, but neither team scored any points.
However, Fallsburg’s Darnell Owens placed fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 11.2 seconds.
T-V’s Travis Wolfe won the 3,000 steeplechase in a record time of 9:26.6. He also took first place in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:36.5.
In addition to Wolfe, four T-V athletes earn top six finishes in their events. Ryan Loughery, Andy Garigliano and Alan Coombe placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the hammer throw, which was a non-scoring event. Loughery threw the hammer a distance of 147 feet, 3 inches, Garigliano’s mark was 134-1 and Coombe’s throw was 124-10. Max Fielder placed fourth in the 400 hurdles in 58.6 seconds.
Other top finishes by county athletes were recorded by Eldred teammates Kyle Anthony and Tim Hallock and SW teammates Alan Ackermann and Mike VanWagenen.
Anthony finished third in both the long jump (21 feet, 2 inches) and triple jump (44-8 1/4). Hallock placed second in the discus (144-8 3/4) and sixth in both the javelin, which was a non-scoring event, and the shot put.
Ackermann was fifth in the discus (131-8 1/4) and Van Wagenen took sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase (10:17.1).
In the pole vault, Monticello’s Robert Macedonio was third with an effort of 12 feet, 6 inches. Liberty’s Jacob Schwartz placed fifth in the event with a mark of 11-6.
Liberty’s Chris Goldsmith earned a fourth-place finish in the pentathlon. He recorded 2,471 points in the event.
In the girls’ team standings, Monticello was the top county team. The Lady Panthers recorded 21 points and finished eighth. T-V scored two points to tie Goshen for 14th place. Teams from Eldred, Fallsburg, Livingston Manor and SW also competed, but were held scoreless.
Leading Monticello to its strong showing was senior Erica Kalber, who excelled in a trio of events. She won both the discus (105-4) and shot put (38-2 1/2) and took second place in the non-scoring hammer throw (121-9).
Kalber’s teammate Te’nehsea Washington finished fifth in the 400-meter run. She posted a time of 1:02.3.
Eldred’s Jamie Schombs took first place in the javelin, which was a non-scoring event. Her winning toss was 91 feet, 8 inches.
Schombs’ teammate Katie Hanson was sixth in the hammer throw (95-2).
Kim McKay of Liberty placed fourth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase. Her time was 7:53.3.
McKay’s teammate Caity Baker was fourth in the hammer throw (11-7).