NEW YORK STATE BOYS TRACK & FIELD: OWEGO'S BOWERS, SELOVER, SZABO HAVE SOLID PERFORMANCES (6 PHOTOS) (2019-06-06)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — The competition was tough, but Owego posted a solid day at the NYSPHSAA Track & Field Championships here Friday.

Senior distance runner Nate Bowers placed third in the 3200-meter run and classmate Colby Selover qualified for the finals in the discus. Cameron Szabo, also a senior, would have a strong showing as well, although maybe not up to his own standards.

Bowers placed third in the 3200 with a time of 9:27.84, the third time this season he’s broken 9:30.

“I’m happy with the race,” Bowers said. “I was a little disappointed with how I ran it because it was very tough and I didn’t feel totally in control the whole time, but I think that was because it was just a more competitive race with higher level athletes, which I expected.

“It was a very tough race, but I’m still happy with how I did though. It definitely feels pretty good to get third place.”

Szabo came in as the No. 9 seed with a time of 1:56.92. He clocked 1:57.26 in the humidity, but placed eighth.

“In Nate’s race, I though he got out well,” said Owego assistant coach John Heath. He’s right. This was definitely a real physical race. You could see in the first three laps he was getting knocked around lot, chopping his stride. He looked good. He tagged along with the pack. He came through the first mile in 4:38. I think lap five an six got a little rough-going for him, but what was awesome is he came back to negative split on lap seven and eight, and I think that’s what really allowed him to secure that third position for D-2 and breaking 9:30 again, so I thought he had a really great race today.

“Cam as well. Cam was a little disappointed in his time. He was really hoping for low 1:56, really hoping for 1:55s. The luck of the draw had him second seed in a small heat of eight. Nobody went out and took control of it, so he took control of it. He was really looking for someone to run a fast first 400, which he hasn’t had this year, to maybe help drop his time. But again, when he reflected on it later, he realized it was another solid performance for him, right off of his personal best. And he’s hungry. They’re both hungry for the relay.”

Bowers and Szabo will team up with Derek Sarrge and Lewis Race to compete in the 4x800 relay today, where they are seeded fourth.

Selover hit 141-9 on his first throw of the day and that would put him in the finals in eighth place.

“Colby, he made the finals,” Heath said. “He finished eighth and was seeded 10th, so he did even better than he was supposed to. He had a nice day today too.”

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IN PHOTO 1: Owego’s Nate Bowers. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.