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Jenna Raepple led Grand Island to the girls title and sprint stars led Niagara Falls to the boys title at the Niagara Frontier League track and field championships Thursday at Grand Island.
Raepple won four events: the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and the triple jump.
Grand Island's girls finished with 160 points to easily take the team title ahead of second- place Lockport and third-place North Tonawanda.
The Niagara Falls boys took seven events to finish with 167 points. Second place was Grand Island with 119 and third was Lockport with 100.
Dale Stewart of Niagara Falls won the 100 meters in 11.57 seconds and the 200 in 23.26. Defending Section VI champion Cordell Johnson won the 400 for the Falls in 49.45. Niagara Falls' other winners were: Durelle Crittendon in the 100-meter hurdles (15.95), Byron Jones in the triple jump (43 feet, 6 inches), and Brandon Joyce in the high jump with a Western New York season-best of 6 feet, 6 inches.
Niagara Falls also took the 4X100 and the 4X400 relays.
Another multiple winner for the Grand Island girls was senior Maritina Tsembelis. She took first in the 1,500-meter race at 4:54.7, and in the 3,000 meters at 10 minutes, 51.73 seconds.
"I think the team did really well today," Tsembelis said. "After nine events, coach [Don Sauer] said we had 101 points, so I think we did pretty well. Personally, it wasn't my best race but I was really just doing everything for the team points as opposed to the individual time.
"Sectionals next week will probably be more of a timed race for me, but we're doing very well."
Raepple finished with times of 13.10 in the 100 meters, 27.42 in the 200, and 2:31.12 in the 800. She won the long jump with a height of 16 feet, 8.75 inches and the triple jump at 34-3.75. It was the Vikings' second straight NFL girls team title.
Kenmore West sophomore Jenna Panepinto set an NFL record in the 400-meter hurdles in 1 minute, 4.67 seconds.
"The 400-meter hurdles was actually my best time so I feel good," Panepinto said. "It feels good.
"The 4X800, we were close to a record for our school so we did really well too. We figured it was our last week so we all went hard."
Boys winners whose results were at or near Western New York season bests included: Kenmore West's Nick Cahill in the long jump (22-3.5), North Tonawanda's Scott Farrell in the discus (155-0), Dylan Kreuger of Lew-Port in the pentathlon (2,781 points).
North Tonawanda's Jared Quinn was a double winner, taking the 3,200 meters and the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Published: May 28, 2010, 12:04 am