Section V Indoor Track Meet of Champions: Top performers, what you need to know
High school indoor track standouts were encouraged to be "all about the team" during the Section V sectional meets.
Friday night, it is all about them during Section V's Meet of Champions where area athletes put a season's worth of effort into moving on to the state championships. The string of 17 events at Houghton College, begin at 4 p.m.
There could be as many as three individuals or relays in each event who could advance to the state meet, March 5 at Ocean Breeze Track & Field Athletic Complex on Staten Island.
First- and second-place finishers are automatic qualifiers. The third-place finisher also gets in if they have met a performance standard at any meet sanctioned or approved by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.
"We have a number of athletes who have met the standards already," NYSPHSAA girls indoor track state coordinator and Section V co-coordinator Dave Hennessey said.
Athletes to watch
Between 100 - 110 athletes will advance to the state championships. Below is a list that includes some of the top performers in Section V this season.:
Jayson Chichelli (McQuaid): Won the 1,000- and 1,600-meter races at the Section V Class A1 Championships last weekend.
Sierra Doody (Webster Schroeder): By far the area's fastest in the girls 1,000 and 1,500 long distance races.
Corintia Griffith (Webster Schroeder): A sophomore, she won the Class A1 girls 300 and long jump events.
Rhoan Kaulder (McQuaid): Eighth-grader performed like a veteran upperclassman at the Class A1 boys sectionals.
Elsye Klump (Keshequa): No one among girls in Section V has a longer jump (18 feet) this season. She is No. 2 on the triple jump leaderboard. Keshequa competed at the Class A4 meet for the smallest group of schools, in terms of enrollment.
Malik McCray (University Prep): Senior is at the top of the Section V boys 55 dash leaderboard, and is in the state top 10 leaderboard at athletic.net.
Maddie Pitts (Victor): Which events has Section V's most versatile and effective performer among the girls entered? She could be a No. 1 seed in the triple jump, a No. 2 in the 55 hurdles, 600 and long jump.
Laura Reigle (Hilton): No. 2 on the girls pole vault state leaderboard with a jump of 12 feet-9 1/2 inch jump at the Millrose Games. The leader cleared 13 feet on Feb. 16.
OJ Singletary (Rush-Henrietta): A junior, he won the Class A1 55 and 300 dash finals during sectionals.
Ekemini Udofa (Greece Odyssey): Scored 27 of her team's 33.66 points during the Class A2 sectionals, by winning the 55 (7.27) and 300 (41.63) dashes, and a runner-up finish in the high jump (4-11).
For spectators
Spectators at the Meet of Champions at Houghton College must wear a mask.
The $5 admission tickets can be purchased at the meet and after following a link at sectionvtrack.com.
Tickets to the state championships must be purchased on-line at: https://gofan.co/app/events/493294?schoolId=NYSPHSAA and spectators must provide proof of full vaccination.
Long time coming
Potential at Webster Schroeder turned into points, giving the school's girls team its first Section V Championship in 25 years.
"We’ve had so many members of the team take on events that they never done before or sacrificed favored events," Schroeder girls indoor track coach Dave Klehr said.
The adjustments paid off for the Warriors during the Section V Class A1 Championships at Houghton College, where Schroeder outscored runner-up Victor 117 points to 101 to win the team title for the group of the largest schools.
There were 15 Schroeder team members at sectionals, and 12 of those Warriors scored to turn back Victor, a team that ended a long dry spell between titles last season.
"It was very exciting, but not just to watch so many people score points, but to see them get a (personal record)," Schroeder junior Camryn Cole said. "You can see the excitement in their face and their eyes.
"It's exciting to see my teammates excel after all of the hard work. Even if we didn't win, I would still be happy for my teammates."
Corintia Griffith led Schroeder's scoring pack, delivering 28 points as an individual. Griffith placed first in the 300-meter dash (40.95) and long jump (17-9 1/4), and second in the triple jump (36-7 1/2), a new event for the sophomore.
"A bunch of us scored out the meet to see what events we should be able to score points," Griffith said.
Cole finished one place behind Griffith in the triple jump, while scoring 26 points. She also won the 55 hurdles race (8.56) and moved to the top of athletic.net's high jump (5-6) state leaderboard. This is Cole's first high school season as a high jumper.
"Listening to my coaches has worked out well, very much to my benefit," Cole said. "I see myself going to college for track now.
"It’s really worked out well for me.”
Schroeder senior Sierra Doody was "tactically perfect" while winning the 1,000 and 1,500-meter races, according to Klehr.
Doody, who plans to run with the SUNY Geneseo cross country and track teams next school year, Cole and Griffith are members of the 2021 Democrat and Chronicle All-Greater Rochester Indoor Track Team.
"I’m not sure if they knew when was the last time Schroeder won sectionals, they just really wanted the win," Klehr said. "They knew from the very beginning of the season that we should be in the hunt.
"That was kind of a little focus, to make sure that we are there.”
2022 Section V girls team champions:
Webster Schroeder (Class A1)
Canandaigua (Class A2)
Williamson (Class A3)
Honeoye (Class A4)
Magic for McQuaid
James Kuepper, Jayson Chichelli and eighth-grader Rhoan Kaulder each scored more than 20 points, including relay races, to help McQuaid win a sectional title for the third consecutive indoor season.
The Knights ended up on top of the Section V Class A1 boys team scoring with 115 points after involuntarily trading the lead with Rush-Henrietta (94) during the meet.
Kaulder and Kaeuper finished one-two in the long jump to help McQuaid clinch the team championship.
A jump of 22-1 by Kaulder, who fouled his first attempt, qualified him for a national indoor championship meet. Kaeuper went 22-1, a personal-best by 11 inches, capping what McQuaid coach Todd Stewart called a career night for the senior.
A second-place in the high jump, a third-place in the triple jump and Kaeuper's long jump performance scored a team-high 22 points for McQuaid.
"What was crazy was that James had a (personal-record) high jump by two inches two weeks ago," Stewart said. "He increased his high jump by six inches in the last two weeks.
"And then he had a triple jump that was his pr by a foot and a half."
Kaulder, who also ran the lead-off leg on McQuaid's first-place 800 relay and was runner-up in the 55 dash, scored 20.5 points for the Knights.
Chichelli scored 21.5, including running a 2:01 split on McQuaid's third-place 3,200 relay, after winning the 1,000 and 1,600 long distance races.
"He had his work cut out for him but he looked like an all-star," Stewart said. "He won the 1,000 and came back for the 1,600, he had only about 40 minutes in between and a fresh Anson Butler (a senior at Brighton) waiting for him."
Add in JV athletes, and there were 34 members of the McQuaid indoor track program this season, less than half of the normal number.
"A lot of them are new guys," Stewart said. "We lost some guys who were injured or focused on their other sports.
"We lost some guys along the way. Especially with COVID, it was a revolving door on the team. Trying to keep the pieces together was what all we could do."
2022 Section V boys team champions:
McQuaid (Class A1)
Batavia (Class A2)
East Rochester (Class A3)
Oakfield-Alabama (Class A4)
JAMESJ@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Section V Indoor Track Meet of Champions: Top performers, details
