By Mike Zummo
Nathaniel Diemoz and Mario Verruto went first and second in the boys’ 1,600-meter run, leading the Wallkill Panthers to a fifth-place finish at the Section 9 Class B track and field championships with 47 points on Friday at Goshen High School.
The Panthers finished 10th in the girls’ meet with 11 points. The Cornwall Dragons swept the Section 9 championships in both the boys’ and girls’ meets.
Diemoz won the 1,600-meter run in 4:36.58 and Verruto was right behind him with a season-best time of 4:36.80.
The boys’ 3,200-meter relay team of Diemoz, Verruto, Luke Fragetta and Josh Craypo finished second with a time of 8:41.07 and the girls’ team of Andie Psilopoulos, Ruth Weinmann, Emma Dilemme, and Emma Haughian was third in 10:23.10.
The boys’ 1,600-meter relay team of Uriel Wright, Jamison Warren, Josh Craypo and Finnian Reiter was third with a time of 3:39.90, and the girls’ team of Ella Russell, Dilemme, Miranda Padila and Weinmann was sixth in 4:30.62.
Aidan Kozereski was third in the boys’ triple jump, reaching 41-7.5 and Mason Birdsell was sixth with a jump of 40-6. Kozereski’s jump was a personal best. Birdsell was fifth in the boys’ long jump with a personal-best jump of 21-4.50.
Josh Craypo finished fourth in the boys’ 800-meter dash in 2:02.15.
Psilopoulos was fifth in the girls’ 1,500-meter run with a personal-best time of 5:06.60 and Haughian was fifth in the girls’ 3,000-meter run in 11:07.19.
The Panthers’ boys’ 400-meter relay team of Jayden Boafo, Warren, Jason Collazo and Birdsell were fifth with a time of 44.75 seconds.