OBSERVER Staff Report
The Marauders hosted their ninth annual Dunkirk Invitational at Point Gratiot on the shores of Lake Erie Saturday and the host team's Alex Gonzales won the boys' race while Fredonia's Lauren Reyda won the girls' race. Fredonia's boys and girls won the meet.
"It was another very nice race for him," Dunkirk coach Kurt Warmbrodt said, noting that it was the third year in a row Gonzales has won the Dunkirk Invitational. "That was kind of a motivator."
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Dunkirk invitational
Additionally, Gonzales won with a time of 17:08.71, bettering his winning time of 17:57 from last year.
"That's quite a drop," Warmbrodt said. "He had good competition, (Alex Schaffstall) from St. Francis, (Nate Smith) from Pioneer, (Josh Szukala) from Fredonia. The four of them ran together, but with a mile left, he just took off and they couldn't say with him."
Overall, the Fredonia boys' team won the 3.1 mile run with 44 points over St. Francis who finished second with 47 and were followed by Pioneer (51), Silver Creek (99) and Dunkirk (111). Randolph, Eden and Maritime Charter finished incomplete. Schaffstall finished the race in third place while Smith was fourth.
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OBSERVER?Photo by John?Conti
Fredonia’s Josh Szukala (143) and Dunkirk’s Alex Gonzales (105) compete in the Dunkirk Invitational on?Saturday at Point Gratiot.
Also improving his time from last year for the Marauders was Tom Warmbrodt, who was over a minute and half faster this time around, crossing the finish line at 20:16.81 in 25th place. Other runners for Dunkirk were Jon Fountain (32nd, 20:57.65), Jeremy Kozlowski (40th, 22:02.02), Ray Tarnowski (52nd, 25:07.02), Duke Menema (58th, 26:59.62), Tyler Mekus (59th, 27:03.96), Tyler Haynes (63rd, 28:37.49), Mike Sharp (64th, 31:05.78), Billy Bradley (65th, 31:33.40), Sean Dempsey (67th, 35:12.81) and Jake Haynes (68th, 35:14.96).
For the Hillbillies, Szukala came in second with a time of 17:22.43 while teammates Matt Meredith (fifth, 18:06.58), Alex Crise (sixth, 18:10.27) and Vincent Ippolito (13th, 18:58.96) were close behind to finish in the top 20.
Other runners for Fredonia were Zach Brooks (22nd, 20:02.96), Sterling Pratt (23rd, 20:03.46), Jack Fiorella (35th, 21:28.46), Eric Thomason (39th, 21:55.52), Jacob Foley (44th, 22:16.21), Kevin Pacos (46th, 22:51.74), Ryan Meredith (53rd, 25:42.46), James Hobbs (55th, 26:23.14), Tyler Farrell (61st, 28:05.46), Jacob Maslak (62nd, 28:05.84) and Walker O'Neil (66th, 32:22.93).
The top finisher for the Black Knights was Jarrid Ringer in 15th place with a time of 19:04.11 and Shane Carline just made the top 20, taking 20th place in 19:56.21. Also running for Silver Creek were Sam Parker (21st, 20:02.43), Jake Capitano (24th, 20:23.30), Tyler Steklasa (31st, 20:55.93), Adam Tanner (34th, 21:01.24) and Josh Pfleuger (36th, 21:43.14).
In the girls' race Lady Hillbilly Reyda broke 21 minutes, finishing in 20:46.68 and helping her team score 28 points for first place. Randolph was second with 63, Pioneer came in third with 64 and Silver Creek was fourth with 85. Eden, Maritime Charter and Dunkirk were incomplete.
Fredonia had six runners in the top 10, including Reyda. Michaela Tramuta was fourth with a time of 21:18.55, Jessica Swoyer crossed the line in sixth in 21:41.78, Brittany Campaign finished eighth in 22:20.49, Maitland Langworthy took ninth with a time of 22:39.27 and Alyssa Goot was 10th in 22:46.24. Other Fredonia runners were Jillian Kowalski (13th, 23:09.87), Skylar Salim (18th, 23:48.11), Claire O'Brien (20th, 24:17.84), Samantha Wecenske (21st, 24:29.27), Julie Vinciguerra (25th, 24:51.87), Haley Supkoski (33rd, 26:53.71), Becca Quandt (34, 26:57.21), and Katie Muldowney (35th, 27:09.87).
"Lauren Reyda ran a great race," Zirkle said of her eighth grader. "But we were most impressed today with Michaela Tramuta, she's really stepped up each race and has shown tremendous improvement and she's closing the gap between our first and second girl and that's important with counties and secitonals coming up."
For the Black Knights, Hannah Seiders took second place in a time of 21:04.40 and teammate Trisha Pfleuger was 17th in 23:47.65. Also running for Silver Creek were Sarah Adams (32nd, 26:16.87), Lauren Johengen (36th, 27:23.14), Bethany Kehrer (37th, 28:02.02) and Carol Pelz (40th, 30:02.49).
The Marauders only had two runners in the race, as Marion Huetter recorded a 28th-place finish in a time of 25:13.27 and Alyssa Loveland finished 42nd, crossing the line at 34:25.08.
"It was a great day for a race," Warmbrodt said. "It was nice to see the weather cooperate."
Dunkirk next runs at home on Tuesday against Gowanda and Falconer.
