Big efforts lead track

By Derek Liebig

Whitehall was paced by several strong individual performances during last weekend’s Anthony Luciano Invitational in Hudson Falls.

Head coach Justin Culligan said earlier in the week he would look for some of his stronger athletes to turn in a strong performance in a meet that had too much fire power to be competitive as a team.

On the boys side, Jared DeRusha continued a strong season in the pits winning the long jump event with a leap of 19-5 ½, one inch further than the next runner up.

He narrowly missed a sweep of the jumping events, finishing second in the triple jump.

Jake Evans also had an impressive performance, racking up 2,594 points in the pentathlon, good for third place.

Zach Diekel placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 125-2.

On the girls side, Kelsie Benjamin experienced some of her first real competition of the season but still managed to pace the field with her winning throw of 35-3 in the shot put.

She also added a pair of fourth place finishes in the discus and javelin.

Earlier in the week, the Railroaders held their first home meet of the season.

The boys lost a close contest to Greenwich, losing by five points while the girls picked up two wins losing only to Greenwich. 

DeRusha won the triple jump, long jump, and 400 while Evans captured the 110 and 400 hurdles, as well as a second place finish in the 100 meters and a third place finish in the long jump.

Diekel swept the throwing events, PJ Ferguson won the 3200 meters and Tyler Sweenor won the pole vault.

Toran Tracy finished second in the 1600 meters, Mike Mattison took second in the 800 meters, Sam Merriman finished third in the shot put and Danny Low took third in the 400 hurdles.

The girls were led by Benjamin who swept the throwing events and Rebecca Lavin who won the long jump and triple jump.

Marion Gendron and Taryn Tracy added a pair of second place finishes in the 400 and 800 meter respectively, Madison Winters finished third in the 800 meters and Emily Sweeney finished third in the long jump.

Boys

Greenwich 67, Whitehall 62

Whitehall 90, Cambridge 24

Whitehall 93, The Waldorf School 24

110 hurdles-1.Evans-16.9

100 meters-2.Evans-12.0

1,600 meters-2. Tracy-5:45.4

400 meters-1. DeRusha-58.7

400 hurdles-1. Evans-1:04.6; 3. Low-1:10.3

800 meters-2. Mattison-2:51.0

3200 meters-1. Ferguson-11:35.5

Long jump-1. DeRusha-19-11; 3. Evans-18-1

Triple jump-1. DeRusha-39-9

Pole vault-1. Sweenor-8-0

Shot put-1. Diekel 43-7; 3. Merriman 36-11

Discus-1. Diekel 117-3

Girls

Greenwich 88, Whitehall 33

Whitehall 59, Cambridge 20

Whitehall 60, The Waldorf School 10

400 meters-2. Gendron 1:10.3

800 meters-2. Tracy 2:58.10; 3. Winters 3:18.5

Long jump-1. Lavin 13-6 ¼; 3. Sweeney 10-8 ½

Triple jump-1. Lavin 29-3

Shot Put-1. Benjamin 35-1

Discus-1. Benjamin 102-10