Indoor Track
South freshmen trio head to states
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Several personal-best times were set for Williamsville South at Saturday's Section VI Indoor Track Championships.

Coach Sam Hasan took seven girls and one boy runner to sectionals, which were held at Fredonia State College, and is sending three freshmen girls - Allie Van Buren, Jenny Mooney and Amanda Breymeier - to states on Saturday at Cornell University. Competition begins at 8:30 a.m.

Van Buren won the section title in the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 8.98. Mooney dropped 21 seconds off her 1500 racewalk and broke her own school record in 8:28.85 to place second.

Breymeier high jumped a personal best 4-10 for second.

Another two girls - - sophomore Ashley Ferenczy and senior Jenna Hasan - just missed qualifying. Ferenczy was eight hundredths of a second off of advancing in the 600, finished fourth in 1:44.09, a personal-best by two seconds. Hasan, who just had a cast taken off her left broken hand, leaped 33-3¼ in the triple jump for fourth.

Van Buren's first place finish marks the eighth time in nine years a South girl has won the hurdles.

"After she won, she looked at me and said I did this for you," said coach Hasan. "I said 'don't do it for me do it for yourself'. She was in tears."

Coach Hasan said Mooney's finish was the most shocking.

"I thought she was going to be fourth but two girls from West Seneca West were disqualified," he said.

Breymeier was off her personal best in the 600 by .13, taking sixth in 1:46.7.

Breymeier then teamed up with Mooney, Ferenczy and Colleen Hurtubise to finish sixth in the 4x800 relay in 10:50.13. Coach Hasan said each girl ran a personal best leg on each split.

Wildcards Peter Galbo and Rachel Zucker had personal-best times in the 600 and 300, respectively.

"Everyone that raced basically had personal best times," coach Hasan.

Jennifer Lopez was sixth in the shot put.

Coach Hasan is proud of his team.

"This indoor season was very successful," he said. "I was very pleased with how the young kids are developing."

Amherst Central

The Tigers had two first-year runners leave sectionals with championships.

Senior Willie Jones high jumped 6-6 and freshman Brenna Symoniak ran the 3000 in 10:42 to win titles.

Coach Bob Lefauve said Jones has leaped 6-7 this season and is only an inch off the top mark in the state.

"He's been fighting a heel bruise since December so if that clears up in time, he's got a chance to win a state title," he said.

Jones also qualified for the Nike Indoor Nationals in March. His father is former NBA player Willie "Hutch" Jones.

Senior team captain Celia Alterio finished fifth in the 1000 but set a school record in 3:11.9. The old record was 3:13.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com