SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY—Althea Gibson’s quote (at right) says it all. To become a champion takes enormous sacrifice, dedication and the unflagging nurturing support from coaches, teammates and loved ones along the way. In track and field it’s hard enough to win an event; harder yet for a team to marshal a team title. But to do so for years on end is simply uncanny. Such is the achievement of the Eldred girls and boys track teams, which garnered their seventh and sixth consecutive Section IX Class D championships this past week. For the better part of the last decade, Eldred has ruled Division V, but Section IX is far more daunting, even at the Class D level. A full listing of all of the medalists (first to eighth place) from all of Sullivan County schools would take this entire column space, so just check out the article titled, “County Fare,” on www.sportsinsightsny.com.

One day prior to the Eldred feat at Faller Field in Middletown, the Class B and C schools vied at Kingston’s Dietz Stadium. In this year’s quest, Eldred prevailed over the other four “D” teams. Class C featured 11 girls and 12 boys teams, while even more challenging “B” had 11 and 10 respectively. The Tri-Valley’s girls team was finally ousted after its seven years of “C” world fame as Onteora won both the boys and girls “C” crowns. But over the two days individual boy and girl standouts from Eldred T-V, Sullivan West, Monticello, Fallsburg, Liberty and Livingston Manor were crowned champions. Sullivan West’s Mitch Paciga was clearly the star of the Class C encounter. In the most iconic victory of his career, Paciga edged out Burke Catholic’s Matt Pryzbocki in the 110 hurdles with a personal best 15.60. He then went on to beat the Burke star in the high jump by equaling his former PR of 6-4. A second place finish in the 400 hurdles at 59.9 was another personal record, and to ice the cake he took third in the pole vault at 10-6. In all he amassed 34 points of the Westies’ 74.5 fifth place tally. Tri-Valley’s boys were third with 104 points while the girls finished fourth with 95.5. Fallsburg’s girls (68) were fourth, Liberty (34.5) was seventh and Sulllivan West (32.5) was eighth. In the ‘B’ clash Monticello’s boys were third with 96 points (New Paltz won), while the Lady Panthers were eighth (38 points) in the meet won by Rondout Valley. Here are the individual champions: Class B boys: 200:Terry Duncan (M) 22.43. Class C boys: 110 hurdles: Mitch Paciga (SW) 15.60; high jump: Paciga (SW) 6-4; discus: Anthony Rydell (SW) 135-8; pole vault: Adam Hurwitz (F) 12-0; pentathlon: James Tierney (T-V) 2,367 points. Class C girls: 100: Candhace Forrest (F) 12.70; 200 Forrest (F) (26.60).This was the third consecutive year Forrest has swept these two events. She is a junior. Discus: Colleen Jones (T-V) 112.5. Class D boys: 1600: Jake Willougby (Eld) 4:48.18; 400 relay: (Eld) Julian DeLeon, Julian Gottlieb, Andrew Halloran and Charlie Clouse, 47.30; 1600 relay: (Eld) Brendan Kelly, Noah Clemmons, Christina DeAngelo and Jake Willoughy, 3:56.77; 3200 relay: (Eld) Jared DeLeon, Kevin Maas, Noah Clemmons and Sal Smyth, 9:49.07; High jump: Terrence Lockhart (LM) 5-2; triple jump: Peter Vorstadt (Eld) 38-11; pole vault: Dimetrius Miranda (LM) 11-0; javelin (non-scoring): Ty Kunkell (Eld) 84-2. Class D girls: 3000: Kayla Maas (Eld) 12:25.05; 400 relay: (LM) Ami Calo, Annaliese Gorr, Farrah Mills and Fern Mills 55.75; 1600 relay: (Eld) Erin Startup, Haley Tufano, Jasmine Lane and Charley Bertolino 5:34.52. In baseball, Tri-Valley staged a dramatic double-header sweep with wins over Fallsburg and Sullivan West by the scores of 10-3 and 8-4 to clinch a berth in this week’s Section IX Class C baseball sectionals. The number five Bears faced number four Webutuck in the opening round. In Class B number four Sullivan West hosted number five Highland. In Class A number six Monticello travelled to number three Walkill and in Class D number one Livingston Manor looked to defend its title against number two John A. Coleman Catholic. In Class A Softball, number eight Monticello visited number one Marlboro. In Class B, number two Fallsburg hosted number seven Rhinebeck. In Class C, number five Tri-Valley travelled to number four Tuxedo, while in Class D number one Eldred hosted number two Chapel Field for the title. In boys golf, Eldred’s David Powers made it to states with his seventh-place finish in Section IX (77-80-157). In girls golf, Fallsburg’s Madison Levine will head back to states behind her third place finish (88-82-170) tally in Section IX.

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