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Lake Park takes first at UEC Valley
Updated: May 12, 2011 10:41PM
The inaugural Upstate Eight Valley championship meet held at Lake Park was not your typical track meet.
Sure, the usual suspects were at the top as Lake Park defended its home track by winning the event with 153 points. Neuqua followed with 141 and Waubonsie took third with 125. Also, to little surprise was the weather as the teams sat through a 40-minute rain delay because lightning was spotted.
However, there were some new events rarely seen. Right before the 300-meter hurdle event, the lights went out and caused a brief delay and all seven participating teams altered their lineups due to the new division format.
“All the coaches did things differently because you have just seven teams here,” Waubonsie coach Kevin Rafferty said. “The whole conference isn’t here which is a shame. There was little emphasis placed on relays because with this few teams everyone is going to score points. I am proud of my guys today and I thought overall we raced good races and we will gear up for sectionals.”
David Groeber made a statement for the Warriors in the 3,200, winning the event by over two seconds. Groeber hung with the pack for the first four laps then made his move and opened up a 10-meter lead by the sixth lap and a 15-meter lead going into the bell lap.
“The pace was really slow and that benefitted me a lot today. I had to just run my race and keep myself under control,” Groeber said. “The goal for me was to open up a 10-meter lead between me and second place right after the midpoint of the race and I did that.”
Waubonsie got a key 1-2 finish in the 800 as Eric Pembrook took the lead on the final straightaway and was able to hold off teammate Joe Brant for the victory.
“I feel great to place one-two in the event and really I didn’t know he (Brant) was behind me until the very end,” Pembrook said. “I thought I was giving it my all. I found a little extra there at the end. It feels special to win a race like this because this is my first full year on varsity and I’m just a junior competing in this race.”
Despite not having a senior class, Metea Valley finished in fourth with 59 points. East Aurora was in seventh with three points.
“We knew it was going to be difficult to place high at this meet and everyone knows that we don’t a have a senior class,” Mustangs coach Aaron Lewis said. “Overall though I thought we put ourselves in good position for next week’s sectional meet. I told our kids from the beginning of the year that to be the best you have to face the best and between Lake Park, Neuqua and Waubonsie, we did today.”
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