Thursday, May 18, 2023
Track Senior Day
Photo: Senior Class members of Gowanda’s boy & girls track teams. Girls (left to right) Lea Mohawk, Emma Cross and Crissa Scanlan. Boys (left to right) Edoardo Comegna, Braydon Boler, Tim Rasey, Ethan Bachek and Samuel Latimore.
May 16 was a busy day for Gowanda Varsity sports. It was Senior Night for the track teams with baseball and both lacrosse teams also having games.
Starting at the track Senior Night with Gowanda hosting Portville. It vas a very competitive day for the Gowanda boys track team who squeaked out a 2-point 65-63 win. Senior, Tim Rasey had a highlight day with two 1st Place finishes (100m, 12.2 and shot put, 34-3) plus a 2nd Place in the 200m (25.9) losing to Edoardo Comenga by a fraction of a second. Rasey was also on the 1st Place (12.3) 4×100m relay team with Sam Latimore, Aiden Ackley and Ethan Bachek. Those were all season best marks for Rasey. In addition to edging out Rasey for 1st Place in the 200m, Comega also took 2nd in the long jump (15-0). Also with a big day for the Gowanda boys was Mason Williams with a 1st (400m hurdles,1:08.3) and two 2nd Place finishes (110m hurdles, 19.5 and 3200m, 14:07.4). Rounding out the top performances for the boys on the day were Chase Bolen (1st, 1600m, 5:06.6 and 2nd, 800m, 2:19.9) and Aiden Ackley (1st, discus, 94-8.5).
The Gowanda girls track team came up short 58-77 despite 14 personal best performances. Among those personal best efforts were Alyssa Ruziicka (1st, long jump, 14-1 and 1st, triple jump, 30-9), Liz Malek (2nd, 100m hurdles, 19.0), Rhianna Woods (2nd, 100m, 13.5), Calie Hudson (2nd, 800m, 2:490.6) and Christina Wilder (2nd, discus, 64-2.5 and 2nd, shot put, 25-6.5). Crissa Scanlan took 1st Place in discus with a throw of 80’ 9”.
May 16 also found the Gowanda Varsity baseball team busy at Dunkirk. Going into the game, Dunkirk was in 2nd Place just one game behind Gowanda. Off to a quick start, Gowanda grabbed a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. A 3-run 2nd inning put Dunkirk out in front 3-2. Through the next two innings, the score would move to 4-3 as the teams each scored single runs. Two scoreless innings followed. In the 7th inning, Gowanda managed to tie things at 4 in the top of the inning, but Dunkirk matched that production to grab a 5-4 win. That set up the May 18 rematch at Gowanda to be for the conference title. Top performances for Gowanda came from John Ondus (2 runs and a 1 triple) and Blake Herman (1 run, an RBI and a double).
Both Gowanda Varsity lacrosse teams were away. The boys were at Newfane for an easy win. In a game that was nearly a carbon copy of the meeting at Hillis Field, Gowanda came away with a 24-0 win. In a personal highlight moment, Gowanda’s Winter Rivera had one goal and 7 assists for 8 points putting him over 200 points in his Varsity career. Scoring multiple goals for Gowanda were Ethan Steep rock (6 goals, 3 assists), Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens (3 goals, 3 assists), Winter Mentley-Peters (2 goal, 1 assist), Kallan John (2 goals), Nakotah Jackson (2 goals) and Hodaweo:je’ Wisniewski (2 goals). Jordan Smith, Kaiden Spruce, Jaxstin Johns, Nate Warrior, Ruben Rivera IV and Cashis Montour all scored single goals in the game.
The Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse team was at East Aurora. They fell into an 8-2 hole by halftime on the way to a 15-5 loss. Leading the Gowanda offense with 4 goals was Ke’ya Stevens. Cadence Luther scored the other Gowanda goal. Once again Gowanda goalie, Nina Coulon was bombarded in the net facing 27 shots and making 12 saves.