Both the girls and boys track teams will be sending members to the state Group championship next weekend after strong performances at the Group 2 Sectional championships held on Friday and Saturday. In the Sectionals, athletes must have a sixth place finish or higher to qualify for Groups, and nine Verona High School girls and six boys qualified.
Isabella Freda led the girls team with a first place in shot put on a throw of 31’3.75”. The 4 x 800m relay team of Alana Holton, Jess Day, Emma Zalewski and Veronica Valera earned a second place medal.
Lauren Kobernick took fourth in the 400m hurdles in 1:10.29 and fifth in the 100m high hurdles in 16.61. Aimee Griffin earned a fourth place in discus with a throw of 83’8”.
Amanda Caldera took sixth place in high jump with a jump of 4’8”, while Abby Cleary earned sixth place in both shot put and discus. Her shot put effort was 27’0” and her discus throw was 82’10”.
VHS girls also competed in these events at Sectionals:
400m: Jacqui DeVivo, Sarah Knoetig, Shea Haggerty
800m: Alana Holton
100m high hurdles: Karen Andre
Javelin: Emily Wynne and Isabella Freda
Discus: Isabella Freda
Long jump: Amanda Caldera, Jacqui DeVivo, Alana Holton
High jump: Karen Andre
Among the boys, Cole Martin earned the top spot in pole vault, clearing 12’6 and Alec Hamson took fifth in pole vault. Joey Visone and Noah Hayden both made it to the finals of long jump, with Hayden jumping a personal best 19’4.
Beautiful day for pole vault. Go Cole! pic.twitter.com/yIvZ84FfSs
— @VHSBOYSXC_Track (@VHSBoysXC_Track) June 5, 2021
And a special nod to senior Evan Fersch who finished out his season with a personal best throw of 125’ in javelin.
Andrew Hunt getting started at High Jump! pic.twitter.com/Umnypt0xZ8
— @VHSBOYSXC_Track (@VHSBoysXC_Track) June 5, 2021
Andrew Hunt took second place in high jump with a jump of 5’10. Rounding out the boys team headed to Groups was a sixth place finish for freshman Ian Zalewski, who ran a 4:38.83 in the 1600m.
