More than 500 track and field athletes from 15 area schools will descend upon Kane High School Saturday morning, but eyes will surely gravitate to a few notable competitions.
Bradford High, meanwhile, will be in the thick of things in both boys and girls team scoring.
“We have only had a few meets so far,” Owls head coach Tom Tessena said, “so we don’t really know how good we are going to be. This meet will give us an opportunity to see where we are right now.”
Lady Owls head man Larry Stillman said he’s excited to see how his team fares against the other schools, with the field made up of both Class AA and AAA teams from District 9. Eisenhower and Warren from District 10 are also competing Saturday.
“We are looking forward to competing in Kane with many of our area teams,” Stillman said. “It is good to see many of the quality athletes in our area and be with the coaches, many of whom are longtime friends.”
On the boys side, two races could come down to the sprinting abilities of Bradford High’s Mitch Vleminckx and Brookville sprinter Ryan Thrush.
The boys 400 dash might be the top race of the day. Thrush, the reigning state champion in the event, ran a 49.26 time two weeks ago at his home invite, which is the top time in the state among both Class AA and AAA competition this season.
To Thrush’s right in lane 3 Saturday will be Vleminckx, seeded second at 51.60, while Kane’s Ray Maze, with a 51.70 seed, is the third seed. The meet record of 50.20, set in 2001 by Clarion-Limestone’s Dan Alderton, is vulnerable to say the least.
Thrush will also have his eyes set on the 800 meet record from 1998 (2:00.40), as he’s seeded at 1:58.
Thrush and Vleminckx will meet again later in the day in the 200, an event where Vleminckx (22.70) holds the top seed narrowly by .07. All six competitors, including Maze and Bradford High’s Matt Stafford, are seeded within .88 of each other.
Vleminckx will also run in the 100 dash, an event that could feature as many as three Owls in the finals if the seedings hold. Vleminckx enters with the top time, but teammates Donny Pattison and Mike Bosworth have both run 11.50, which is the third-fastest seed time.
In the long jump, Vleminckx is seeded more than a foot better than Coudersport’s Michael Kane and could rewrite the history books. The 25-year-old meet record is 21-08.50, three inches shorter than the Owl senior’s best jump this year.
Matt Stafford has the top time in the 110 hurdles, while Jaron Ambrose is a contender in the 300s. Logan Caruso is the second seed in the 3200.
Throwers John Eakin, Nathan Gehm and Ryan Whittemore are poised to make some noise, with Eakin and Gehm seeded one-two in the shot put and Whittemore second in the javelin behind Kane’s Austin Labesky.
Tessena said he feels Eakin and Whittemore are poised for some big throws, while fellow field men Jeremiah Fitton and Jack Kellam, the top two seeds in the pole vault, should also do well.
“We feel our relays will do well with all the competition,” Tessena added.
On the girls side, Adrian Page of Coudersport and Kane’s Trinity Clark are top contenders in the throwing events. On the track, Northern Potter’s distance trio will try to make their mark on the competition.
The three –– Amanda Ford, Emma Ford and Danielle Perry –– are seeded second, third and fourth in the 1600, while Amanda Ford (first) and Emma Ford (third) are contenders in the 3200.
Bradford High will be led by the McGriff sisters –– senior Brooke and junior Ashton –– while getting plenty of depth from the rest of the track events and from the field.
Ashton McGriff is the top seed in the 300 hurdles, running a season-best time of 47.57 Tuesday against Brookville. She’s also a contender in the triple jump, 200 dash and on the Lady Owls 1600 relay team (with Payton Kloss, Brooke McGriff and Logan Sunafrank).
Brooke McGriff is top-seeded in the 100 hurdles and also tops in the pole vault with Port Allegany’s McCauley Fox.
Freshman sprinter Regan Johnson is seeded No. 2 in the 100 and 200 dash, behind Ashton McGriff. Mikayla Bond is seeded second in the high jump.
The Lady Owls’ relay teams are also medal-stand contenders, with the 400 relay team seeded second, the 1600 third and 3200 fourth.
Elsewhere, the long and triple jumps contenders include Cameron County’s Kamme Guisto, Coudersport’s Kiara Perkins, Elk Catholic’s Maddie Kear and Kane’s Alyssa Zampogna.
Action starts at 10 a.m. on the track and in the field.
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The top seeds for each event, their school and seed time/distance are listed below.
BOYS
100: Mitch Vleminckx (Bradford) 11.10, 200: Mitch Vleminckx (Bradford) 22.70, 400: Ryan Thrush (Brookville) 49.26, 800: Ryan Thrush (Brookville) 1:58, 1,600: Blake Ristau (Warren) 4:35, 3,200: Zach Wortman (ECC) 10:02.03, 400 relay: Brookville 44.90, 1,600 relay: Elk Catholic 3:37.54, 3,200 relay: Elk Catholic 8:30.91, 110 hurdles: Jaron Ambrose (Bradford) 16.00, 300hurdles: Noah Vokes (DCC) 41.99, longjump: Mitch Vleminckx (Bradford) 21-11.50, triplejump: Seth Ray (Brookville) 42-07, highjump: Seth Ray (Brookville) 6-00, pole vault Jeremiah Fitton (Bradford) 13-00, shotput: John Eakin (Bradford) 53-04, discus: Dereck Nowacki (Warren) 141-08.50, javelin: Austin Labesky (Kane) 176-00,
GIRLS
100: Terry Lee Talasky (Eisenhower) 12.64, 200: Terry Lee Talasky (Eisenhower) 25.99, 400: Amanda Williams (Johnsonburg) 1:02.18, 800: Emma Ford (Northern Potter) 2:28.35, 1,600: Naomi Hahn (Warren) 5:29, 3,200: Amanda Ford (Northern Potter) 11:39.17, 400 relay: Johnsonburg 51.03, 1,600 relay: Elk Catholic 4:18.24, 3,200 relay: Northern Potter 10:16.63, 100 hurdles: Brooke McGriff (Bradford) 16.24, 300hurdles: Ashton McGriff (Bradford) 47.70, longjump: Danielle MacBeth (Brookville) 15-11, triplejump: Kamme Guisto (Cameron County) 35-04.25, highjump: Haley Frey (DCC) 5-02, pole vault Brooke McGriff (Bradford), McCauley Fox (Port Allegany) 9-06, shotput: Sammy Dyson (Punxsutawney) 36-07, discus: Adrian Page (Coudersport) 124-06, javelin: Trinity Clark (Kane) 136-00
