Only a handful of points — one good finish in one event — separated the Oneida boys track and field team from claiming the Tri-Valley League Championship meet on May 22 at Rome Free Academy Stadium. Overall, the Indians, getting a string of individual victories, earned 151 points. However, Holland Patent edged them out, finishing with 154 points as New Hartford (146 points) had a strong third-place showing. Vernon Verona Sherrill finished fourth, with 72 points. By himself, Pat McLaughlin would account for 36 points. He won the long jump by going 21 feet 5 inches, then roared through the 110 high hurdles in 14.81 seconds, not far from his Section III-best season clocking of 14.7 seconds. McLaughlin landed a triple jump of 42 feet 2 1/2 inches, but HP star Dan Fruscella (42 feet 5 inches) beat him to avenge a runner-up finish in the long jump. And in the high jump, McLaughlin also finished second with a clearance of 5 feet 10 inches. Mike Rabbitt soared above everyone else in the high jump, setting a new personal mark with 5 feet 4 inches, just one of three victories Rabbitt would pull off at this meet as he got 36 individual points. In the 200-meter dash, Rabbitt won in 22.64 seconds, holding off VVS’s Tyler Curtis (22.83 seconds) at the wire. The 400-meter dash proved even closer, but Rabbitt, in 49.70 seconds, nipped New Hartford’s Greg Shlotzauer (49.72 seconds) to prevail. In the long jump, Rabbitt went 20 feet 2 inches for third place. Jeff Barres was second to McLaughlin in the 110 hurdles (15.94 seconds), but would dominate the 400 hurdles, winning in 57.68 seconds, more than two seconds ahead of the field, including teammate Eric Riley (59.96 seconds) in third place. Barres also claimed fourth in the triple jump (38 feet 8 1/2 inches), just an inch and a half ahead of Riley in fifth place. Elsewhere in field events, Matt Gilmeiseter took second in the shot put, tossing it 43 feet 9 inches, and also claimed fifth in the discus behind teammate Justin Ward, who was third with a throw of 122 feet 9 inches. Kyle Mosack cleared 10 feet 6 inches for fourth in the pole vault. No doubt, HP helped itself by finishing first or second in every single relay, plus a 1-2-3 sweep of the pentathlon as Zach Stark (2,586 points) won. James Moyer took fifth with 2,142 points, behind the HP trio of Stark, Chris Kain and Dennis Ofault. By contrast, Oneida ‘s best relay effort was a third in the 4×800, where Jeb Stewart, Bryan Rose, James Barr and Conor LoMonaco posted a time of 8:53.71. Stewart, on his own, ran to third in the mile in 4:38.94, while Rose got fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:13.25. VVS saw Curtis, second in the 200, beat everyone in the 100-meter dash, winning in 11.46 seconds, while Matt Femia (50.40 seconds) and Neal Fahey (52.20 seconds) took third and fifth, respectively, in the 400 behind Rabbitt. Curtis, Dylan Guider, Luke Lagoy and Nash Robb got second place in the 4×100 relay in 45.63 seconds, just behind New Hartford (45.16 seconds), while Mike Eichenlaub gave the Red Devils a second-place effort in the 3,000 steeplechase (10:46.18). Aaron Owens had the best VVS finish in a field event, a third in the pole vault as he cleared 11 feet, with Rob Drozynski fourth (16.59 seconds) and Robert Romeo fifth (16.61 seconds) in the 110 high hurdles. James Finley was sixth in the pole vault and James Gorton sixth in the 400 hurdles. Guider, Gorton, Ryan Dugan and Marcus Grossman and James Gorton took third in the 4×400 relay in 3:41.19, with the Red Devils fourth in the 4×800 in 8:58.37 as Eichenlaub, Bobby Mumford, Matt Abbuhl and Tom Visalli all took part.