Our varsity track and field athletes traveled to Vandetta Stadium Saturday for the Batavia Invitational. 

Our girls squad placed 6th overall out of 19 scoring teams.

The girls started their day with a huge 1st place finish in the 4x800-meter relay as Maria G., Sophia P., Emma G. and Kaelyn M. teamed up for a time of 9:59.07, breaking the 10-minute barrier and beating their time from last season. The team is now only 6 seconds away from setting a new school record!

8th grader Emma G. returned to the podium with a 3rd place finish in the 2,000-meter steeplechase (7:49.96). Not too shabby, especially considering it was Emma’s first time ever competing in the event.

The freshman/sophomore sprint medley relay team of Emma G. (800-meter leg), Elena G. (200-meter leg), Abigail C. (200-meter leg) and Kaelyn M. (400-meter leg) finished out the night with another huge, first place finish, running a time of 4:37.87. 

The highlight of the day came in the girls 3,000-meter run where senior Maria G. took 2nd place and broke a school record that’s stood for the past 40 years. Maria’s new record time of 10:55.13 broke the former record of 11:10.24 set by Sue Reibson in 1986 by more than 15 seconds. 

The boys also had a big day with multiple podium finishes and ended up in 13th place among 21 competing teams.  

Freshman Owen H. started things off for the boys with a 6th place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a career best time of 11:23.65.

Elijah R. also earned a 6th place finish for his performance in the 400-meter run with a career best time of 54.58 seconds.

Ending the night, and following in the girls footsteps, the boys freshman/sophomore sprint medley relay team of Francesco M. (800-meter leg), Mahki G., (200-meter leg), John D. (200-meter leg) and Dylan H. (400-meter leg) secured the 1st place finish with a sweltering 3:58.36, besting their time from last year at Batavia by over 10 seconds.

The Hawks are next in action Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9 at the Flower City Invitational at Rush Henrietta High School. Events begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday. 

Photos courtesy of Samantha Walker