Jacob Marshall and Marcus Payne
Staff Writers
The Jamesville-DeWitt High School Boys and Girls Indoor Track team are coming off a loss in their first track meet on Dec. 16 at Onondaga Community College. Both the boys and girls teams are coached by Mike Acchione, Bill Leberman, Juan Martinez and Emily Rowles.
Although the boys in came in fourth with a total of 54.5 points, seven boys from J-DHS qualified for sectionals. Senior Alex Carbacio qualified with a time of 8.40 seconds in the 55 hurdles event. Carbacio also qualified for the high jump bounding to a height of 5 feet 6 inches. In the 55 meter dash, senior Murad Amurlayev qualified with a time of 6.99 seconds and sophomore Haberle Conlon qualified with a time of 7.12 seconds. In the 1600, juniors Nick Mannion and Alan Gao qualified for sectionals. Mannion had a time of 4:51.26 seconds and Gao qualified with a time of 5 minutes 1.71 seconds. Junior Lear Wang recorded 36 feet 8.25 inches in the triple jump, thus making him qualify for sectionals. In the pole vault, senior Brendan Sharon vaulted 10 feet, qualifying for sectionals.
The girls team scored a total of 73 points which put them in second in their first meet, with nine girls qualifying for sectionals. Senior Alex Payne qualified in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.55 seconds. Payne also qualified for the high jump leaping to 5 feet 2 inches. Sophomore Denise Yaeger qualified for two events also. In the 55 meter dash she had a time of 7.95 seconds and triple jumped 31 feet and 7.75 inches. Junior Allison Virgo also qualified for the Triple Jump doing even better than Yaeger with a length of 31 feet and 11.50 inches. Sophomore Monica Hernandez also qualified for the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 9.97 seconds. Another sophomore, Tasha Bazile also qualified for the high jump, jumping 4 feet 8 inches. In the shot put senior Marianah Williams threw for 28 feet 9.75 inches. In the 1500 meter run three girls qualified for sectionals. Junior Sophia Vinciguerra with a time of 5:01.58, Senior Abbie Leavitt with a time of 5:31.26 and freshman Maddie Foss came up with a time of 5:12.72 making her the only freshman out of boys and girls to qualify for sectionals.
Although neither teams won, they still had great individual success. Payne said that her goal for this year is to “win states.” She is already one step closer by qualifying for sectionals. Rowles said the first meet was “great” regardless of the outcome. “Lot of PRs, lot of sectional qualifiers; that’s a good start to the season,” said Rowles. The track team has been very successful over the past decade and they hope to continue their success this year by making their goal of winning sectionals.
The Jamesville DeWitt High School/Christian Brothers Academy/Westhill High School/Solvay High School Varsity Wrestling team is undefeated so far in the season at 8-0. They have decimated all of their opponents so far, including a 69-9 win over Fayetteville Manlius and a 65-15 win over Auburn. The head coach is Paul LaBlanc and it is his fifth year coaching.
The wrestling team is led by undefeated wrestlers Senior Jake Wright and Junior Adam Honis. Honis was very successful earlier in the season before tearing a ligament in his knee. Regardless of his injury he is still staying in shape by working out frequently in the fitness center. Honis will be returning to the team around mid january and knows that he needs to stay in shape so that he can help accomplish the team’s goal for the year. “Sectional championship, nothing else needs to be said,” said Lablanc.
The wrestling team prepares for each match one match at a time. The day before a match they focus on their opponents strengths and how to counter them. Each practice they work on different takedowns and then get individual instruction from the coaches. Lablanc agrees that the matchup against Fulton will be “the real test.” But he is not worried. “With the lineup we have this year this is probably the best chance we’ll have to upset them,” said Lablanc.
On Dec. 13 the two schools were scheduled to have a match that was cancelled due to a snow day. “Everyone was disappointed,” said Honis, “but it is kind of a good thing because after Christmas everyone is allowed two more pounds so they can wrestle without having to worry about weight.” Freshman Mo El-Hindi, who occasionally wrestles up on varsity, said that the match against Fulton “Is going to be a crazy match (that) everyone better come out to see.” The two teams are now set to square off on Jan. 4.
After the Jan. 4 match against Fulton, the wrestling team will look forward to the sectional tournament. There, each player will be placed in a bracket determined by their weight class and “duel it out,” said Lablanc. The higher a wrestler finishes in their bracket the more points the school is awarded. Wright is eager to win it. “We have never won a sectional championship before and it would be amazing to highlight my last year with our first sectional win ever,” said Wright.