Gladiators earn 24 medals in Colosseum Classic

The spring track season got under way in Goshen on April 4, as the Gladiators hosted 16 teams in the Colosseum Classic and earned 24 medals in 10 events. Gold medals were earned by Joy Sawyer in the 100- and 200-meter dash with times of 12.61 and 25.73 respectively. Sawyer also led off the 4x100m relay team of Sawyer, Jurnee Edorisiagbon, Ellis Orcchio and Olivia Sawyer. Olivia got the baton in fifth and sprinted home finishing in second place. Logan Willems also brought home the gold in the pole vault with a personal best vault of 13 feet. Laila Logan picked up where she left off by winning the high jump with a leap of five feet, two inches and Braiden Zayas won the last event of the day, the javelin with a throw of 115’ 05.”

The 400m saw the Glads place third in both boys and girls, as Thomas sped around the track in 51.35, while Maggie Lu clocked 62.95. But it was in the relays, the essence of track and field where the most medals were earned. The boys 400m relay team of Willems, Germain Campbell, Santos Avila and Jayven Hernandez placed third in 44.37. Both boys and girls 3200m relay teams placed second with excellent season opening times.

The meet started with the boys 3200m relay with Wallkill loaded up and looking to make the qualifying standard for Penn relays of 8:10. The Gladiators were in challenge mode and put their best four 800m runners in the relay. Wallkill had the lead by .18 seconds on the first handoff as Wallkill’s Jamison Warren split 2:00.25, while Goshen’s Jackson St. Lawrence split 2:00.43. Next, Logan Diglio sat on Joao Santos and then exploded into the lead on the home stretch with a fine 2:04.7. Santos clocked 2:09.7. Tristan Newcomer had the lead and ran the race of his life in 2:11.5, but Ryder Killpatrick of Wallkill regained the lead with a 2:03.6 third leg. On Anchor Wallkill had their state champion Nate Deimos and Goshen had Shaun Brenner. Deimos ran through the 400m in 55.7 and Brenner, always a tough competitor went with him in 55.9, but Deimos pulled away in the final 150m to run 1:54.9.Brenner ran a personal best 2:01.1. Wallkill’s time of 8:08.65 earned them provisional entry into the Championship of America 4x800m at the Penn Relays. The girls 4x800 also ran their best time of the season and placed second in 11:10.34. Logan ran a fine 2:38.6 leadoff and Zoey Zheng, Bella Cruz and Brielle Jurik all split right at 2:50.

Next up for the teams is the Green Dragon Relays Saturday, April 11, in Cornwall. The freshman/ sophomore perform in the morning and the varsity perform in the afternoon.