Saratoga Springs’ Madalayne Smith and Shenendehowa’s Evan Palmer each won two individual events at Sunday’s Section II Indoor Track and Field Championships at the University at Albany.
Smith continued her dominance of the sprint events. The junior won the girls 55-meter dash in a time of 7.1 seconds, and she claimed first place in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.9 seconds.
Palmer claimed the boys shot put and weight throw titles. The senior threw the shot put a distance of 51 feet, 7.5 inches, and he had a throw of 57 feet, 8 inches to defeat Shen teammate Tyler Prendergast for the weight throw championship.
Shen’s boys and girls 3,200-meter relay teams also won at Sectionals. The girls team of Alex Burtnick, Cara Janeczko, Danika Simonson and Lizzie Predmore cruised to a first-place finish in a time of 9:23.9, while the boys team of Jamie Glover, Dan Harris, Alex Leuchanka and Mitchell Todorov won its race in a time of 8:25.8. Ballston Spa’s 3,200 relay team of Jake Flynt, Ryan Grandeau, Adam Custer and Justin Lynch was second in the boys race with a time of 8:28.3.
Simonson and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s Sam Roecker won individual events on the girls’ side. Simonson finished first in the 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:41.0, 1.1 seconds ahead of BH-BL’s Molly Pezzulo, while Roecker claimed the 3,000-meter title with a time of 10:03.6. Predmore was second in the 3,000 with a time of 10:04.7.
Shen’s Michelle Quimby and Elizabeth Grebe each finished first in field events. Quimby won the girls pole vault by clearing the bar at 10 feet, 6 inches, and Grebe took first place in the weight throw with a distance of 38 feet, 11 inches.
Saratoga Springs’ Haley Franco won the shot put with a throw of 39 feet, 5 inches nearly one foot ahead of teammate Marion Sephas.
Besides running on Shen’s boys 3,200 relay team, Leuchanka claimed an individual title by winning the 1,600 in a time of 4:28.1, less than one second ahead of Saratoga’s Demetri Goutos.
BH-BL’s Chris Fernandez and Otis Ubriaco also won individual races, as did Saratoga’s Tim Mount. Fernandez claimed the boys 600 title with a time of 1:26.7, Ubriaco finished first in the 3,200 with a time of 9:27.6 and Mount won the 300 dash with a time of 37.1 seconds.
All the first-place finishers from Sunday’s Sectional meet automatically qualify for this weekend’s New York State Indoor Track and Field Championships in Ithaca.`