by Jen Burhans
The Berlin Track team competed in the WASAREN League Championships on May 14 at Schuylerville. The boys team placed 11th, and the girls team finished in 10th. Laura Ryder was 2nd for the second year in a row in the discus. Meygan Delevan had a 3rd place finish in the 100 meter hurdles. Hannah French took 3rd place in the pole vault. Alex Flowers had an outstanding day, scoring in three events. Flowers was 3rd in the pole vault and 6th in the 400 meter sprint. He was part of the boys 1600 meter relay team that had their fastest time of the year and finished in 6th place, James Mayer, Evan Dawes and Ioann Popov rounded out that relay team.
On May 16 the team traveled once again to Schuylerville to compete against 13 other schools in the Classic Invitational. Meygan Delevan qualified for the finals in both the 100 meter dash and 100 meter hurdles and placed 8th and 3rd respectively. She was part of the 400 meter relay team, along with Juliena D’Alessio, Serena Rizzo and Hannah French, that got their best time of the season and earned 5th place. Serena Rizzo grabbed 5th place in the 400 meter run. Laura Ryder just missed by inches getting a 100 foot throw in the discus and took 2nd in that event. Alex Flowers and Ioann Popov, both freshmen, were 7th and 11th in a very fast group of runners from larger area schools. Jackson Burhans had no misses until he went out at 10 feet in the pole vault and tied for 3rd place in a field of 23 jumpers. The team will travel to SUNY Albany to compete at Sections on May 24 at 10 am.
BCS Track Wrap Up
The Berlin track and field team has quietly gone about its season this year and still fields questions about where the track is at Berlin. There is no track, but that doesn’t stop the top quality performances of the team. In past years Berlin has had many athletes go on to compete in the State Championships, in the cross country program as well. Many weekends and evenings are spent by team members honing their skills at other local tracks. The training facilities at Berlin HS, such as the weight room and the home made jumping areas, have allowed the team to stay competitive. Having the support of the Athletic Director, maintenance staff and the community in building and keeping up these areas lets the athletes know they are important even if they don’t have a regular track.
The Berlin 400 meter distance is an in-house joke to the runners as it is not really oval in shape. The run includes an extra curve since one needs to run around home plate and the baseball field. Still, this year all our runners have done well in this event and many expect to get top honors at Sectionals. Seven team members have been doing well in the league in the pole vault, 5 of whom are only freshmen. Five jumpers will be competing in Sectionals this Saturday. The team has only three graduating runners this year and includes members from the eighth through eleventh grades for a change. BCS was able to field a growing modified program for the second year.
Meygan Delevan, who has been saddled with injuries in past years, is making a run to win Class 5 Sectionals this year and hopes to compete for a spot going to the State Championship. Laura Ryder has been placing 1st or 2nd all season in the league in discus and is hoping to break the 100 foot mark and get to the State Qualifiers for the second year. The team is peaking right now and hopes for wins in the individual events at Sectionals on Saturday.
For the first time in the 20 years that the Berlin team has been under Coach Burhan’s training the team will compete closer to home. Section II, Class 5 Sectional competition will be held at 10 am at the SUNY Albany new Track and Field Complex on May 24. Come out and watch some of the best the area has to offer in track and field. The New Lebanon team will also be competing at this site and time.