Our varsity track and field athletes headed to Dansville last night to compete in the Section V Class C1 Championships. Our girls squad took 10th overall - an improvement on its 12th place finish last year - while our boys team took 4th, its highest finish since it took 2nd place in 2017. 

The girls were led by the 4x800-meter relay team of Sophie P., Emma G., Kaelyn M. and Emma G., who placed 2nd with a time of 10:02:38, a season’s best time by 26 seconds, and Mollie G., who took 2nd in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.5 - likewise a season’s best. 

“The girls put all they had into this meet and you can’t ask for more than that,” said Head Coach Josh Williams. “Some really close finishes, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s not for the faint of heart and it takes courage to compete. Congrats to all the athletes and Coaches in C1.”

In addition to the 4x800 relay and 100 hurdles, the Hawks also scored top 6 finishes in the 1,500-meter run (Emma G., 5:22.64), the 3,000-meter run (Sophie P., 11:38.84) and pentathlon (Kayla C., 1,576 points). 

The 3,000-meter run featured three River Hawks, with Sophie P. making a push to qualify for the state qualifier meet with a season’s best time of 11:38 and a 6th place finish. Megan K. (12:21.42) and 7th-grader Lilianna B. (12:32.84) also had strong performances.

After this weekend’s results in the other Class C contests later this weekend, they will find out who moves on to the State regional qualifier meet next Saturday in Bath.

"Great night of racing, we all learned a tremendous amount, especially myself in my first year of coaching track," said Williams. "We are building a program to compete year after year and it's looking good moving forward. I’m grateful to all the other coaches for their help and to our athletes for giving all they had last night.” 

Our boys squad started off the night with an incredible performance by our 4x800-meter relay team of Luigi M., Francesco M., Finn S. and Jordan M., who ran a new Avon school record of 8:29.85, breaking their own record they ran just last week by 4 seconds to take the win, earning themselves sectional patches. 

Finn S. then went to take on the 1,600-meter run, getting boxed in and pushed around (even pushed off the track) right at the first 100 meters of the race, putting him in the very back of the pack. Finn was not to be denied however as he worked himself to the front of the runners, securing the win with a time of 4:40.84 and getting himself yet another sectional patch for the day.

In total, our boys took home 17 ribbons and 5 sectional patches. 

It was a tight battle, with Bath scoring 88 points, followed by Aquinas with 77, Wellsville with 75, and Avon with 74. 

The boys finished out the night with the 4x400-meter relay team of Blayden B., Elijah R., Finn S., and Jordan M. breaking their own school record set last week by 1 second with a time of 3:37.20, finishing in second place.

Also scoring for the boys in Dansville were:
• 4x100-meter relay team of Blayden B., Bobby R., Brice B. and Elijah R.: 5th place with a season best time of 46.35 seconds.
• Blayden B.: 4th place in 110-meter hurdles with a career best time of 16.80 seconds.
• Luigi M.: 3rd place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:56.57 and 4th place in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:47.27.
• David O.: 4th place in the 400-meter hurdles with a career best time of 1:01.24.
• Finn S.: 2nd place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:10.27.
• Bobby B.: 5th place in the long jump with a distance of 19 feet, 6.75 inches.
• Jordan M.: 4th place in high jump with a height of 5 feet, 10 inches. 
• Brice B.: 4th place in the triple jump with a distance of 39 feet, 3.75 inches.
• Hunter R.: 2nd place in the pentathlon with a career best result of 2,468 points.

“We knew it was going to be a battle to win sectionals as a team going into the night as there were 5 incredible teams in the running for the trophy, with Avon being one of them,” said Head Coach Samantha Walker. “All of our boys did amazing and put all they had into every event, scoring even more points than predicted. They left with nothing but puke on the turf and smiles on their faces. We're looking forward to competing at state qualifiers next week!”