Salamanca girls take eighth at Section 6 Class C Championship, boys finish 12th
HOUGHTON — Despite not being at its full strength, the Salamanca girls track and field team collected an eighth-place finish at the Section 6 Class C Championship.
Highlighting the meet for the Warriors was Summer Downey, who set a personal record in the 600m with a time of 1:55.68. The result, good for ninth place, also moved her into second all-time in program history in the event.
“She is such a dedicated athlete and hard worker and we have taken our focus off that event for a bit and it paid off,” Salamanca girls track and field coach Laurie Lafferty-John said. “She ran aggressively and confidently. It was so awesome to see her happy with herself.”
Other individual runners that contributed points for Salamanca were Kaylin Lemon, who took fifth in the 1,500m (5:54.31) and Gabriella Bly, who took seventh in the 1,000m (3:36.49).
As a team, Lemon, Bly, Izabella Milks and Downey finished fifth in the 1,600 relay with a time of 4:48.03.
In the field events, Milks took second in the high jump, clearing 4-10 and placed fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 32-03.50. Kylynne Day set a PR in the weighted throw with a distance of 23-4.75, good for eighth in the event.
“We were plagued with some of our key athletes with sickness and other personal commitments today so our overall scoring was not where we would have liked to be,” Lafferty-John said. “We had anticipated a top-five finish this season among the 15 schools in the small division, but it was not meant to be. We will be graduating some awesome seniors this year with Ryanna Brady, Izabella Milks, Summer Downey and Aubrey Domres. Next year will certainly be a rebuilding year for us in the overall team picture.”
As for the boys team, Evan Spruce led the way with a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a distance of 35-09.00. He also finished in 10th with a PR of 35-02.00 in the weighted throw.
“Evan spends a lot of time becoming a student of his event, watching film and learning how to break down his own attempts,” Salamanca boys track and field coach Michelle Hill said. “He recognizes what he needs to do to improve in his next attempt.”
Jackson Oram jumped for PRs in both triple jump (35-07) and long jump (18-00). He placed 10th and sixth respectively in the events.
Brock Johnson rounded out the boys field results with a 15th-place finish in the shot put with a distance of 23-08.00.
On the track, Preston Smith ran for two PRs in the 1600m (5:44.05) and 3200m (11:47.44) runs. Aiden George (3:17.43), Payton Bigler (3:17.52) and George Parsons (3:31.33) placed ninth, 10th and 12th respectively in the 1,000m.
Dakota Colts, George, Smith and Payton Bigler ran a season PR of 10:09.27 and placed sixth in the 3,200m relay and are now second in the program’s top-10 in the event. And lastly, Oram, Knox Johnson, George and Colts finished seventh (1:49.88) in the 800m relay.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Portville 71, Ellicottville 59
ELLICOTTVILLE — The Portville boys basketball team was able to bounce back from consecutive losses with a convincing win over Ellicottville on the road in a rescheduled non-league affair.
Aidan DeFazio headlined the affair with a staggering 34-point performance for the Panthers in which he drained 6-of-10 3-point attempts. He was helped along by a 15-point, 14-rebound double-double provided by Chase Armstrong.
Blake Smith, Rylan Benjamin and Dominic Polino each led the Eagles with 13 points apiece. Parker John tallied 10 points in the loss as well.
AT ELLICOTTVILLE
Portville (71)
DeFazio 10 8-9 34, Armstrong 5 4-4 15, B. Carter 2 4-4 8, P. Carter 2 0-0 6, Benson 3 0-0 6 Edwards 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 16-17 71
Ellicottville (59)
Benjamin 5 0-2 13, B. Smith 4 3-3 13, D. Polino 6 1-2 13, John 4 0-0 10, C. Smith 4 0-0 9, C. Polino 0 1-2 1. Totals: 23 5-13 59
Port. 19 34 53 71
Eville 20 34 44 59Three-point goals: Port. 9 (DeFazio 6, P. Carter 2, Armstrong), Eville 8 (Benjamin 3, B. Smith 2, John 2, C. Smith)
