North sends four athletes to states

With outstanding performances from the boys and girls teams, Williamsville North will be sending four athletes to the New York State Indoor Track Championships on Saturday at Cornell University in Ithaca.

Returning for a second time will be senior Matt Losi, who won the triple jump at Saturday's Section VI Championships at Fredonia State College with a leap of 43-4¼. Matt's brother, Greg, will be joining him in the triple jump after placing second at sectionals in 42-6¼. Greg Losi also qualified in the long jump, winning the event in 21-3¾.

Also taking the trip with the Losi's will be two-first timers from the girls' team.

Junior Emily Curry took second place in the triple jump with a 34-0, her personal best of the season and a new school record. Curry had pretty tough competition coming in. She was seeded third behind her friend, Williamsville South's Jenna Hasan, ranked second in the section, and West Seneca West's Morgan Billi, ranked first.

Another junior, Sarah Mikulski, will also make her first appearance at the state meet after taking second in the 55-meter hurdles.

"With a personal best of 8.99 FAT and a new school record, this was a remarkable race for her," said North coach Julian Blake. "Mikulski and her teammates (Amy Loud and Ashley Redino) have been battling all season long against the section's best in this event (Williamsville South's Allie Van Buren and Newfane's Brianna Steel ) but it was Mikulski who came from behind in lane one to lean across the finish line ahead of Steel and one-hundredth of a second behind first place Van Buren."

Other highlights at sectionals was the girls' 4 x 400-meter relay team of sophomore Lauren Triantafillou, juniors Michele Bauman and Meredith Kirby, and senior Kim Dohn who were third in 4:19.46 and the boys' 4x400 relay team of junior Steve Oehler and seniors, David Woods, Justin Casselmen, and Arthur Collins, who placed seventh.

Both the boys (junior Sean Felton, eighth grader Collin Preston and Matt and Greg Losi) and girls (senior co-captain Ashley Redino, senior Cristina Irizarry, Mikulski, and Loud) 4x200 relay teams finished sixth.

Sophomore Michael Thielmen took eighth in the boys 3200 run with a personal best time of 10:36.25 FAT. Triantafillou finished in the top eight in the 600 with a personal best 1:48.25 FAT. The girls 4x800 relay team of junior Kim Schueler, freshmen Molly Mitchell, eighth grader Ashley Fillmore, and sophomore Kim Berus improved their current school record time to 10:41.14 FAT to take fifth. Co-captain of the girls team, Meredith Kirby, finished sixth in the triple and long jumps. Collins took fifth in the high jump.