Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School has the best distance relay teams in the nation.
The southern Saratoga County school produced two winning girls relays and one winning boys relay at last weekend’s National Scholastic Indoor Track and Field Championships in New York City.
The quartet of Sam Roecker, Molly Pezzulo, Meaghan Gregory and Rachael Cyrus was responsible for both of BH-BL’s wins in the girls relays. They took first place in the four-by-1-mile relay in a time of 20:23.06, and they won the distance medley relay in a time of 11:52.61.
Roecker, Pezzulo and Gregory also teamed up with Kendra Adams to place fifth in the 3,200-meter relay in a time of 9:21.92.
BH-BL’s boys distance medley relay team of Chris Fernandez, Kent Harlow, Scott Maughan and Otis Ubriaco claimed the national title with a time of 10:17.76.
Two BH-BL freshmen made their presence known in the girls and boys mile races. Alyssa Drapeau placed 13th in the girls freshman mile with a time of 5:43.03, while Dan Fernandez took 19th place in the boys freshman mile with a time of 4:52.64.
While BH-BL competed at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in New York City, Saratoga Springs and Shenendehowa sent athletes to the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston.
The top performance came from Shen’s girls distance medley relay team. The quartet of Alex Burtnick, Kathleen Klein, Lizzie Predmore and Danika Simonson finished second in a time of 11:46.05.
Saratoga’s A team of Brianne Bellon, Amanda Borroughs, Colleen Hollowood and Sydney King placed ninth in a time of 12:14.40, while its `B` team of Margaret MacDonald, Alison Treichel, Keelin Hollowood and Cassie Goutos finished 13th in a time of 12:25.58.
Saratoga was also strong in the girls four-by-1-mile relay. The `A` team of Bellon, Borroughs, King and Keelin Hollowood was fourth in a time of 20:57.41, and the `B` team of Goutos, Madison Carr, Colleen Hollowood and Meredith Hungerford finished seventh in a time of 21:34.49. Shen’s team of Nicole Irving, Cara Janeczko, Patty Massa and Gina Stalica was sixth in a time of 21:21.36.
Shen’s 3,200 relay team of Burtnick, Janeczko, Premore and Simonson took fifth place at nationals with a time of 9:09.34. Saratoga’s team of Bellon, Borroughs, Goutos and Colleen Hollowood was eighth in a time of 9:21.12.
The top individual performance came from Saratoga’s Madalayne Smith, who placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.58 seconds. Jasmin Stowers of Liberty, S.C., won the event in a national sophomore record time of 8.30 seconds.
Several more individuals had strong performances. Saratoga’s Katie Treichel finished sixth in the girls freshman mile with a time of 5:21.78, while Saratoga’s Alexis Broz tied for sixth place in the high jump after clearing the bar at 5 feet, 4.5 inches. Shen’s Michelle Quimby finished 10th in the pole vault after clearing the bar at 12 feet, 2.5 inches.
On the boys’ side, Shen’s distance medley relay team of Brian Campoli, Stuart Charbonneau, Jamie Glover and Alex Leuchanka finished seventh with a time of 10:14.44, while Saratoga’s DMR team of Adam Coolong, Tim Mount, Sam Place and Demetri Goutos placed 19th in a time of 10:37.98.
Campoli and Charbonneau also teamed up with Zach Hildebrandt and Adam Jacobs to help Shen finish 15th in the 1,600 relay with a time of 3:27.92.
Shen’s Evan Palmer was the top individual performer on the boys’ side. Palmer finished 12th in the weight throw with a toss of 61 feet. 11.5 inches.“
