Led by Pat McLaughlin and Mike Rabbit, the Oneida boys track and field team nearly got to the top spot during last Friday’s 28th annual Ryan Wells Memorial Madison County Championships at Canastota High School.
The Indians finished with 185 points, just behind the host Canastota Raiders, who pulled to the front with 201 points.
McLaughlin first struck in the 110-meter high hurdles, setting a new meet record with a time of 14.7 seconds as teammate Mike Rabbit (16.2 seconds) took the runner-up spot. And in the triple jump, McLaughlin won by going 44 feet 9 inches.
Rabbit gained his own title in the 400-meter dash in 50.5 seconds, with McLaughlin (53.1 seconds) claiming second. In the high jump, Rabbit cleared 5 feet 10 inches and won that event, too.
Combined, Rabbit and McLaughlin helped Oneida’s 4×100 relay team go to the front with a time of 45.7 seconds. Oneida was also second in the 4×400 (3:57.7) and 4×800 (9:27.7) relays, both times behind Canastota.
Eric Riley showed his versatility, earning 2,581 points in the pentathlon for first place as Dave Gillmeister threw the shot put 44 feet 9 1/2 inches to win there. Rick Rossi earned second in the pole vault as he cleared 10 feet 6 inches.
Pat Barres stepped in to finish second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.2), third in the triple jump (39 feet 10 1/4 inches) and third in the 200-meter dash (24.6 seconds), while Ricky Stewart got second in the 800-meter run (2:07.9) and third in the mile in 4:51.4.
In the girls edition of the Madison County meet, Oneida had a solid third-place showing with 114 points, barely half of what Cazenovia did (221 points) to win.
Taylor Youngkrans earned the Indians’ lone individual title, in the discus, with a toss of 92 feet 11 inches. Oneida also won the 4×400 relay with a time of 4:31.7, nearly two seconds better than Cazenovia, while getting second in the 4×100 and third in the 4×800.
Robin Wuest ran to second place in the 400-meter dash (1:05.4), while McKenzie Lynch was third in the 800 (2:35.2) and Sarah Rifendifer got third in the 1,500-meter run in 5:48.3.
Morgan Bernier was third in the 400 hurdles in 1:20.2, with Ashley Curtain third in the discus (68 feet 2 inches) behind Youngkrans, Courtney Casler third in the high jump and Vivian Thurson third in the pole vault.