MORAVIA - It was only fitting that a few records were broken on a day where a record number of athletes competed at the ninth annual Bob Scarry Invitational Relay.
Jennifer Meyers / The Citizen
Moravia's Emily Dusseau, 16, competes in the shuttle hurdles event at Moravia's track and field competition on Saturday.
Moravia's Emily Dusseau, 16, competes in the shuttle hurdles event at Moravia's track and field competition on Saturday.
The teams descended on the track behind Moravia Elementary School bright and early Saturday morning.
Nearly 625 kids representing every area of track as schools across the region turned out for the relays.
“It was huge,” Moravia coach Jan Hunsinger said. “It is definitely the biggest this has ever been.”
Cayuga County was well represented with teams from Southern Cayuga, Union Springs, Weedsport and Moravia hitting the track and pushing for some strong performances against some big schools with big teams.
“There were teams here with 50 kids on their team,” Hunsinger said. “We have teams here that have 15 or 20 kids, so there is a little advantage there. But I saw all our teams come to compete.”
It was certainly a pleasing day for Union Springs coach Mark Gaffney, who saw his girls break a Union Springs' school record in the sprint medley with a 4:45.5. The Union Springs boys won the freshman sprint with a 4:15.1 and the shot put with a 71-0 to break another school record as well as a meet record in the high jump with 11-8.
“Everything went pretty smooth,” Gaffney said. “I knew they had the talent to do it and it is good to see them get what they work so hard for.”
The combination of Bryan McClary and Mike Howell brought home the meet record in the high jump, beating out the previous high of 11-5.
“It just feels normal,” McClary said. “It is worth it though. We got a lot of motivation from each other and knowing that you are putting your best against another team's best.”
Howell set a personal best with 5-6.
“That felt pretty good,” Howell said. “You get a lot of adrenaline going with all the people here and everyone watching you. I think that helped push us.”
Bill Mularney, coach of Southern Cayuga, said that overall he was pleased with his team's performance.
“There was more competition this year than there has ever been before,” Mularney said. “But people ran close to what I wanted to see. There are some places where we could've run better but it is a long meet and I'm pretty happy with what I saw today.”
Even with such an expanded field of competition this year Southern Cayuga placed in the 4 x 400 relay.
“I think we did all right,” Zella DeForest said. “There were some big schools but we still placed. We really stepped it up a lot and there are a lot of younger kids on the team who stepped it up and it was awesome to see. I think we are right where we want to be.”
Over the past few years, Weedsport has consistently been able to finish second or third, but according to boys' coach Tom Kunkle, things were a little tougher this year.
The Warriors finished ninth after taking home third place the last two years.
“We did well as a team,” Kunkle said. “Normally we are second or third, but we had some good performances and overall we had a good time and it was a good day for the kids to be out and in the sun.”
Weedsport had strong showings in the boys' 4 x 100 relay (46.0) as well as the long jump (20-4) where they finished second overall.
“I hit my average,” Josh Galletta said. “There is always room to improve, but it was a good jump.”
John Mietz, who joined Galletta in the 4 x 100 relay, said that while the team performed well, it was the kind of day that motivates these young athletes to always push to be better than their last performance.
“There was a lot of good competition,” Mietz said. “We didn't do the best we could do. I think we are going to work more on our hand offs and get better and be more ready for the rest of the season.”
Hunsinger said that coming into Saturday's invitational the team had set a goal for themselves to break three school records, but at the end of the day Hunsinger and his team were more than happily surprised to learn they had broken five.
“It was a very good day,” Hunsinger said. “Everyone really competed and in the end did really well.”
Moravia broke records in the girls' shot put and discus, the boys' shot put, girls' triple jump and girls' sprint medley relay.
Hunsinger attributes the great performances to the rush everyone gets from hosting the event and knowing there is so much tough competition out there
“This event is a chance for us to show off our facility,” Hunsinger said. “And when all of these schools come here, everyone on the team really rises to the occasion to be their best for the meet.”
Nearly 625 kids representing every area of track as schools across the region turned out for the relays.
“It was huge,” Moravia coach Jan Hunsinger said. “It is definitely the biggest this has ever been.”
Cayuga County was well represented with teams from Southern Cayuga, Union Springs, Weedsport and Moravia hitting the track and pushing for some strong performances against some big schools with big teams.
“There were teams here with 50 kids on their team,” Hunsinger said. “We have teams here that have 15 or 20 kids, so there is a little advantage there. But I saw all our teams come to compete.”
It was certainly a pleasing day for Union Springs coach Mark Gaffney, who saw his girls break a Union Springs' school record in the sprint medley with a 4:45.5. The Union Springs boys won the freshman sprint with a 4:15.1 and the shot put with a 71-0 to break another school record as well as a meet record in the high jump with 11-8.
“Everything went pretty smooth,” Gaffney said. “I knew they had the talent to do it and it is good to see them get what they work so hard for.”
The combination of Bryan McClary and Mike Howell brought home the meet record in the high jump, beating out the previous high of 11-5.
“It just feels normal,” McClary said. “It is worth it though. We got a lot of motivation from each other and knowing that you are putting your best against another team's best.”
Howell set a personal best with 5-6.
“That felt pretty good,” Howell said. “You get a lot of adrenaline going with all the people here and everyone watching you. I think that helped push us.”
Bill Mularney, coach of Southern Cayuga, said that overall he was pleased with his team's performance.
“There was more competition this year than there has ever been before,” Mularney said. “But people ran close to what I wanted to see. There are some places where we could've run better but it is a long meet and I'm pretty happy with what I saw today.”
Even with such an expanded field of competition this year Southern Cayuga placed in the 4 x 400 relay.
“I think we did all right,” Zella DeForest said. “There were some big schools but we still placed. We really stepped it up a lot and there are a lot of younger kids on the team who stepped it up and it was awesome to see. I think we are right where we want to be.”
Over the past few years, Weedsport has consistently been able to finish second or third, but according to boys' coach Tom Kunkle, things were a little tougher this year.
The Warriors finished ninth after taking home third place the last two years.
“We did well as a team,” Kunkle said. “Normally we are second or third, but we had some good performances and overall we had a good time and it was a good day for the kids to be out and in the sun.”
Weedsport had strong showings in the boys' 4 x 100 relay (46.0) as well as the long jump (20-4) where they finished second overall.
“I hit my average,” Josh Galletta said. “There is always room to improve, but it was a good jump.”
John Mietz, who joined Galletta in the 4 x 100 relay, said that while the team performed well, it was the kind of day that motivates these young athletes to always push to be better than their last performance.
“There was a lot of good competition,” Mietz said. “We didn't do the best we could do. I think we are going to work more on our hand offs and get better and be more ready for the rest of the season.”
Hunsinger said that coming into Saturday's invitational the team had set a goal for themselves to break three school records, but at the end of the day Hunsinger and his team were more than happily surprised to learn they had broken five.
“It was a very good day,” Hunsinger said. “Everyone really competed and in the end did really well.”
Moravia broke records in the girls' shot put and discus, the boys' shot put, girls' triple jump and girls' sprint medley relay.
Hunsinger attributes the great performances to the rush everyone gets from hosting the event and knowing there is so much tough competition out there
“This event is a chance for us to show off our facility,” Hunsinger said. “And when all of these schools come here, everyone on the team really rises to the occasion to be their best for the meet.”
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