TAYLOR MADE: STRIKES, SPIKES AND SPLASHES (2019-03-18)
The state bowling tournament signaled the end of the winter season for Tioga County athletes and it wasn't a bad finish at all.
In addition to several successful campaigns in boys and girls basketball, and wrestling, there were impressive performances in bowling, boys swimming and indoor track and field.
Newark Valley's Kyle Pratt and Tioga's Kolton Pond represented Section IV in the boys Division II Composite tournament. Owego's Qwinten Adams was the alternate, giving the county three of the spots on the seven-man team.
Pratt finished his high school career with a 10th-place showing in a field of 66 competitors. Adams, a junior, and Pond, a sophomore, have an opportunity to return next year.
Pratt also won Class C and the overall sectional title, Pond was the Section IV Class D champ, and NV's Alex Umiker won the IAC tournament.
Also on the lanes, the Newark Valley boys won the IAC Large School title while the Tioga boys won the Small School division and the overall IAC championship.
On the girls side, Candor won the IAC Small School title and Waverly was the runner-up in the Large School division.
The Wolverines' Mackenzie Plouse, Victoria Houseknecht and Sarah Uhl carried the top three averages among Tioga County bowlers.
Tioga County athletes posted some quality efforts in indoor track & field as well with Owego sending a pair of distance runners to the state meet while Waverly qualified a trio.
Owego seniors Cameron Szabo and Nate Bowers ran in the 1,000-meter and 3200 races. Szabo bettered finished better than his seed while Bowers held his.
The Indians' Mikayla Worzel set the school record in the shot put three times.
Waverly would send three athletes to states. Isaac Chandler placed fifth in the pole vault, tying his own school record (14-6) and added a personal record in the 55-meter hurdles.
For the lady Wolverines, Sheridan Talada set a school record in the 3,000-meter run and Melina Ortiz added a PR in the 300-meter dash.
In the pool, the Owego boys posted some solid efforts despite having just three swimmers. The Indians bettered their seed times in every event at the Section IV Class B Swimming & Diving Preliminaries.
Brandon Lavo registered two top-5 finishes in the "A" finals and Noah Bingley won a pair of "B" finals. The teamed up with Joey Criscitello and Adam Gault to take fifth in one of the relays as well.
When you look back on what the local athletes did in bowling, indoor track & field, and boys swimming - and throw in some impressive boys and girls basketball, and wrestling showings (all of which I wrote about in earlier
Taylor Mades), it was pretty impressive winter season for Tioga County.
Now, things are going to heat up (so to speak) for the spring season and an exciting conclusion to the 2018-19 high school athletic campaign.
