Track

Pole vault finish sends Dawgs to top of Division IV

Sullivan West boys beat Tri-Valley with pole vault points; Lady Bears prevail for second year

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY - “First things first” is an expression that aptly describes the importance of the April 18 track meet between Sullivan West and Tri-Valley. For the second year, the two schools met in early spring for a track meet that essentially would decide which boys and girls teams would end up as the Division IV champions.

The teams split the honors, with the Sullivan West boys edging out the Bears, while the Lady Bears easily handled a young Sullivan West girls team that lost three huge point gatherers to graduation. Gone now are April Ackermann, Jessica Wagner and Amanda Ward.

Tri-Valley’s girls team, mostly intact from last year, has gotten stronger. Although Tri-Valley did win the Division title, it was Millbrook that came away as the Section 9 champion. Neither of the Sullivan County schools was happy about that, but that battle waits for late May. But as far as the competition with Sullivan West, the Tri-Valley’s girls retained their balance of power and won by a commanding 92-49 margin, surpassing last year’s 88-53 win.

A year ago, the Tri-Valley boys shocked Sullivan West with a 74-67 win to take the meet and the division crown. The Bulldogs came back late in the season to win the Section 9 title. This year, it was Sullivan West that turned the tables on their cross-county rivals with a stunning 74-66 win in a meet that came down to the last event.

After Tri-Valley’s 4x400 relay team of Michael Kaplan, Gavin Perrella, Max Fiedler and Gary North bested the Bulldogs and cut Sullivan West’s lead to a scant five points, the pole vault competition determined which team would saunter away with bragging rights.

Sullivan West’s Donald Cooper cleared 11-0, the same height that Tri-Valley’s Gary North mastered just a few days before at the Gander Invitational. North topped out at 10-6. Cooper’s teammate, Brett Cucci, took third with a mark of 10-0, giving the Dawgs six points to Tri-Valley’s three in the event and shuttling the division crown back to the Bulldogs.

Both teams suffered from the loss of key performers, who were either sick or hurt. Tri-Valley’s stellar hurdler Sean Messenger pulled a hamstring last weekend at Rondout Valley. Sullivan West’s Colin Seidl ran despite being nearly flattened by stomach flu. Teammate Rich Feeney’s pulled hamstring from the Wallkill Relays kept him mostly on the shelf as well.

Here’s the breakdown of how the meet went event by event:

3200 relay, TV, 9:05; 110 High Hurdles, SW, Jon Figueroa, 16.3; 100, SW, Figueroa, 16.3; 1600, TV, Nick Denman, 4:58; 400 relay, SW, Figueroa, Will Schlott, Kienan Garn and Dan Figueroa, 48.7; 400, SW, Donald Cooper, 51.8; Discus, SW, Alan Ackermann, 159-2; 400 Intermediate Hurdles, TV, Gavin Perrella, 65.3; Long Jump, SW, Garn, 17-11; 800, TV, Max Fiedler, 2:15; 20, SW Jon Figueroa, 24.6; High Jump, SW, Cooper 6-0; Shot Put, SW, Ackermann, 50-6 —; 320, TV, Denman, 10:56; 1600 relay, TV, Michael Kaplan, Perrella, Fiedler and North, 3:43.1; Triple Jump, SW, Schlott, 36-5.

Comparing some performances with the meet a year ago shows what kind of progress several athletes made: Ackermann’s discus throw improved from 145-9; Cooper’s high jump went from 5-9; Schlott’s triple jump advanced from 33-7; and Ackermann’s shot put went from 42-2¼; Tri-Valley knocked off .6 of a second in their 4x400 relay time.

Lady Bears use their experience and depth to defeat Lady Bulldogs again

For Sullivan West girls track coach George Shakelton, who took the winter off to attend to his auto parts business, the return to the fray signaled an uphill battle with many new athletes.

Shakelton’s first rule of order was to establish a sound training program with the realization that it is going to take time to get results. Nonetheless, hopeful that his team could make a good showing against Tri-Valley, the veteran coach schemed while poring over the list of events. Although Tri-Valley won the meet, there were some positive signs for the Lady Bulldogs, who got key second-place finishes from Morgan Hawkins in the 100 and the pole vault, Chelsea Schadt in the 800, Kendra Barker in the high jump, Rianne Erlwein in the 3000, Kathryn Manzi in the 400 and Brittany Reddish in the shot put and discus.

One area of dominance for Sullivan West that has continued is in the hurdles; Sara Alsdorf won both the 100 High Hurdles in 16.7 and the 400 Intermediate Hurdles in 74.7. In both races, Tri-Valley’s Casey Offringa challenged her, but to the shock of the Lady Bears, Sullivan West’s Lindsey Murphy took second in both races, nudging out Offringa at the finish line. Alsdorf also teamed up with Morgan Hawkins, Murphy and Meghan Lowe to win the 400 relay in 54.7.

Tri-Valley swept all of the rest of the first-place finishes. In the 3200 relay, Rachel Sanborn, Courtney Roosa, Agnes Pompeii and Caroline Bertholf ran a 10:37, considerably faster than Sullivan West’s winning time of 11:06 a year ago. In the 100, Meghan Drown ran a 13.6. Roosa captured the 1500 in 5:21. Last year, Ackermann won it in 5:14.

Here are the rest of the Tri-Valley first- place finishers with their times and distances: 400, Drown, 65.8 (last year she ran 62.6); Discus, Kanacia James, 79-0; Long Jump, James, 13-6, (Wagner won for SW last year with a 14-4 ½); 800, Roosa, 2:34.8 (last year won by Ackermann in 2:32.9); 200, Drown, 28.8 (last year 28.9); High Jump, Pompeii, 4-6; Shot Put, James 27-5½ (last year 26-10½); 3000, Sanborn, 11:46; 1600 Relay, Drown, Offringa, Pompeii and Roosa, 4:45.1; Triple Jump, James 30-1½ (bested Ackermann’s 29-11 from a year ago); Pole Vault, Heather Knox, 7-0.

The two schools met again on April 21 at the Tri-Valley Invitational (see separate article).

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of meet photos.