By Rob Potter
SULLIVAN COUNTY — The 2011 track and field season began in Sullivan County last Saturday when hundreds of athletes competed in the annual Tri-Valley Invitational at the Iatauro Athletic Complex at Tri-Valley Central School in Grahamsville.
Arlington won the boys’ meet with a total of 243 points. Middletown placed second with 48 points and Port Jervis was third with 45 points.
Monticello finished fourth with 39.5 points and Hendrick Hudson was fifth with 38 points.
Arlington also won the girls’ meet by earning a total of 157.5 points.
Middletown was second (72.5 points), Beacon placed third (54 points), Cicero North Syracuse was fourth (50 points) and Rondout Valley was fifth (41.5 points).
The Sullivan County athletes who placed first in their events included Eldred’s Alex Campanella and Hunter Proscia, Monticello’s Tino Taylor and Tri-Valley’s Rafael Ramirez and Brandon Tierney.
Campanella won the 3,200 meter run in a time of 9 minutes, 47.1 seconds, while teammate Proscia prevailed in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 6:42.7. Ramirez won the hammer event with a throw of 139 feet, 2 inches. Taylor won the 400 meter run in 52.7 seconds. Tierney won the freshman/sophomore shot put event by putting the shot a distance of 34 feet, 7 1/2 inches.
Proscia also placed fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:07.7.
Taylor also took fifth place in the 100 in 12.5 seconds.
Girls from Sullivan County high schools who won events included Liberty’s Jessica Dunnigan, Sullivan West’s Rachel Deppa and Hannah Feinman and T-V’s Amanda Bertholf, Dominique Darby and Mareena DiMilia.
Dunnigan was named the Girls’ Outstanding Field Athlete of the meet after winning the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 1/2 inch and placing second in the triple jump (30-9).
Dunnigan also placed second in two track events, the 100 and 200, with respective times of 12.8 seconds and 26.7 seconds.
Darby won the hammer (121-1). She also placed third in the shot put (32-10 1/2).
Bertholf won the pole vault (6-6). She also placed fifth in the 400 in a time of 1:09.8
Deppa took first place in the 1600 race/walk in 8:31.
DiMilia won the fresh/soph shot put (30-7 1/2). She also finished second in the fresh/soph long jump (14-2 1/2)
Feinman won the freshman/sophomore long jump (14-2). She also placed third in the triple jump (30-4).
Boys from county high schools who placed in the top six in their respective events included:
Justin Weintaub, T-V, fourth in the freshman 800 (2:20.0)
Hauk Boyes, T-V, fifth in the freshman 800 (2:23.4)
Kyle Denman, T-V, third in the hammer (112-10)
Mike Hinton, Liberty, fifth in the hammer (105-7)
Mistah Alli, Monticello, third in the fresh/soph long jump (17-0)
Austin Colon, Monticello, tied for fifth in the fresh/soph long jump (16-0)
Matt Rodriguez, Monticello, third in the 400 (54.3 seconds)
Erick Cuellar, Liberty, fourth in the 400 (54.4 seconds) and fourth in the 200 (24.4 seconds)
Brian Edwards, T-V, third in the discus (130-5) and second in shot put (44-0)
Kyle Denman, T-V, fourth in the discus (126-1) and sixth in shot put (37-3)
Brandon Wagner, SW, fifth in the discus (125-8)
Mark Michel, SW, fifth in the pole vault (8-0)
Ben Kline, SW, sixth in the pole vault (6-6)
Mitchel Paciga, SW, fifth in the fresh/soph high jump
Eugene Morton, T-V, third in the fresh/soph pole vault (7-6)
Damon Lopez, T-V, third in the 400 intermediate hurdles (62.5 seconds)
Eric Haberli, SW, fifth in the fresh/soph 1600 (5:18.8)
Reed Scott Jr., SW, sixth in the fresh/soph 1600 (5:19.9)
Will McGuire, Liberty, sixth in high jump (5-0)
Zack Roberts, T-V, fifth in the fresh/soph shot put (25-2 1/2)
In the boys’ relay events, the Monticello finished second in the 400 in a time of 47.1 seconds, while T-V was fourth in the event with a time of 51.4 seconds.
T-V finished third in the 1600 in 4:02.3
T-V placed fifth in the fresh/soph 1600 relay in 4:28.9
Girls from county high schools who placed in the top six in their respective events included:
Brittany Rennison, T-V, second in the 400 intermediate hurdles (1:18.7)
Autumn Bender, T-V, third in the freshman 800 in 2:43.5
Christine Donnelly, Eldred, fourth in the 800 (2:32.7)
Nikole Snyder, Liberty, sixth in the 100 (14.1 seconds) and fourth in the long jump (14-7)
Heidi Furman, T-V, second in the hammer (120-4) and third in the discus (86-4)
Tania Walker, Monticello, fourth in the 400 (1:09.7)
Shannon Smith, T-V, third in the fresh/soph shot put (27-5)
Sarah Coney, T-V, sixth in the fresh/soph shot put (24-6)
Ashley Weintraub, T-V, second in the 1600 race/walk (8:34)
Tori Kleinberger, Liberty, sixth in the 1600 race/walk (12:18.6)
Autumn Bender, T-V, third in the fresh/soph 1500 (5:29.1)
Camryn Johnson, Monticello, fourth in the fresh/soph 1500 (5:34)
Kelsey Dutton, SW, fifth in the fresh/soph 1500 (5:36.4)
Caroline Bertholf, T-V, sixth in the 1500 (5:40)
Erika Bowring, Eldred, fifth in the triple jump (29-2)
Allyson Delaney, T-V, sixth in the high jump (4-6)
In the relay events, T-V placed second in the 3200 (11:10.4), third in the 400 (56.0 seconds), third in the 1600 (5:07.2) and fourth in the fresh/soph 1600 (5:11.5).
Eldred placed second in the 300 shuttle relay in 54.7 seconds, while the T-V “A” team was third (55.3) and the T-V “B” team was fifth (57.4)
Monticello placed third in the 3200 relay (11:15.8) and SW was fifth (11:41.6).