SHENENDEHOWA REIGNS IN RAIN AT COLONIE.(SPORTS)

Byline: CHRIS CONNORS Staff writer

COLONIE -- On a day better suited for galoshes than running shoes, the Shenendehowa boys' and girls' track teams managed to defend their titles Saturday at the 31st annual Colonie Relays.

Shenendehowa's boys were victorious in the 3,200 relay, the distance medley and the pole vault to help the Plainsmen tally 82 points, 13 better than second-place Albany High.

Scott Wirgau paced the winners, running the anchor leg in the distance medley and setting a personal best 800 time of 2:01.4.

``We brought a lot of kids with us to this meet, and our group of young distance runners did a great job today,'' Plainsmen coach Matt Jones said. ``This is a traditional meet for us to go to, and the uniqueness of a relay meet makes it interesting.''

Strong individual performances were turned in by Averill Park's Ben Wright and Tony Tanksley.

Wright won the invitational 1,600 in a time of 4:23.6 and anchored the winning 6,400 relay team with a split time of 4:31.0.

``I ran in three races on Thursday at the Schenectady Invitational, and it took a little out of me,'' Wright said. ``I was happy with my first time, but in the second race my shoes were so wet that they weighed a ton and they slowed me down some.''

Tanksley won the invitational 100 in 10.8, which was just off his personal best of 10.7, set earlier in the week at Schenectady.

``I was able to put the weather out of my mind and concentrate on running a good race,'' Tanksley said. ``I was happy with my time, but I was more in tune for the Schenectady meet.''

The Shenendehowa girls were victorious in the shuttle hurdles, shot put, long jump, high jump, discus and set a meet record in the distance medley to finish 24 points better than second-place Colonie.

The Plainsmen's Becky Cusack was a member of the winning team in the shuttle hurdles, long jump and high jump.

Teammate Amber Jones set a meet record with a throw of 134-5 in the discus.

``We have a lot of depth and this meet caters to a team like that,'' said Shenendehowa girls' coach Gracelee Gratto. ``Our girls all gave us points and that was enough to win.''

Michelle LaPointe's 4:40.4 in the invitational 1,500 was a meet record and was two seconds faster than second-place Dana Ostrander of Shenendehowa. Ostrander seet the previous meet record in 1994 with a time of 4:40.6.

BOYS Team results: Shenendehowa 82, Albany 69, Bethlehem 64, Averill Park 49, Colonie 44, Burnt Hills 42, Schenectady 30, Ichabod Crane 25, CBA 24, Shaker 22, Saratoga 13, Lansingburgh 10, Bishop Maginn 10, Columbia 9, Albany Academy 2. Individual results: Shuttle hurdles -- Albany (Burke, Moore, Thorpe) 49.11, Bethlehem 49.51, Shenendehowa 50.54; 3,200 relay -- Shenendehowa 8:22.1, Colonie 8:22.7, Albany 8:28.5; 100 -- Tanksley (AP) 10.8, Mooney (Beth) 11.3, Cowan (CBA) 11.5; 1,600 -- Wright (AP) 4:23.6, Bonner (BH) 4:25.1, Lorene (BH) 4:27.3; Discus -- Colonie (Craft, Smith, Mariapain) 377-8, Burnt Hills 347-4, Averill Park 322-7; Long jump -- Albany 58-6, Bethlehem 55-4, Saratoga 53-8; 800 relay -- Bishop Maginn (Cerrone, Caraway, Braxton, McLean) 1:34.6, Albany 1:34.9, Colonie 1:37.3; Distance medley -- Shenendehowa (Hagstrand, Coleman, Kennedy, Wirgau) 11:06.3, Colonie 11:25.6, Schenectady 11:25.9; Sprint medley -- Albany (Sullivan, Montejano, Miller, Burke) 3:45.3, Shenendehowa 3:50.2, Burnt Hills 3:53.8; 6,400 medley -- Averill Park (Wright, Catalano, Barshield, Wright) 18:55.1, Shenendehowa 19:03.0, Burnt Hills 19:06.2; High jump -- Ichabod Crane (Gardner, O'Donnell, Smith) 17-2, Shenendehowa 16-6, Schenectady 16-6; Shot put -- Shaker 127-0, CBA 126-4, Ichabod Crane 122-3; 400 relay -- CBA (Frierson, Cowan, Cowan, Higgen) 46.1, Averill Park 46.3, Albany 46.6; 1,600 relay -- Albany (Montejano, Gates, Angus, Burke) 3:33.5, Shenendehowa 3:39.1, Colonie 3:41.7; Pole vault -- Shenendehowa (Hess, Irwin, Sala) 28-6, Bethlehem 24-6, Lansingburgh 23-0; Triple jump -- Bethlehem (Meleher, Kind, Umar) 116-7, Shenendehowa 113-0, Albany 112-7. GIRLS Team results: Shenendehowa 113, Colonie 89, Shaker 68, Albany 44, Bethlehem 32, Averill Park 30, Guilderland 26, Lansingburgh 25, Holy Names 14, Schalmont 11, Burnt Hills 10, Ichabod Crane 2, Mohonasen 1. Individual results: Shuttle hurdles -- Shenendehowa (Bradt, Cusack, Scanlon) 51.45, Lansingburgh 52.01, Shaker 52.31; 3,200 relay -- Colonie (Dott, Sacco, Wiedl, Dott) 9:57.2, Shaker 9:57.5, Holy Names 10:21.8; 100 -- Thomas (Colonie) 12.5, Williams (Alb) 12.5, Walker (Colonie) 12.9; 1,500 -- LaPointe (BH) 4:40.4, Ostrander (Shen) 4:42.9, Kramer (Colonie) 4:51.5; Shot put -- Shenendehowa 89-8, Albany 87-4, Bethlehem 78-3; Long jump -- Shenendehowa (Cusack, McGrath, Woodrow) 43-2, Shaker 43-, Colonie 42-3; 800 relay -- Colonie (Walker, Thomas, Seibert, Kramer) 1:49.0, Albany 1:49.8, Shenendehowa 1:51.2; Distance medley -- Shenendehowa (Macander, Bradt, Padula, Shapiro) 12:50.8, Guilderland 13:05.2, Shaker 13:41.3; High jump -- Shenendehowa (Cusack, Bradt, Tremoleth) 14-4, Bethlehem 13-0, Shaker 13-0; Sprint medley -- Colonie (Dott, Walker, Thomas, Kramer) 4:28.4, Shenendehowa 4:28.9, Holy Names 4:32.5; 6,000 relay -- Averill Park (Ernst, Gagnon, DeFrancesco, Pollock) 20:44.9, Shaker 21:34.9, Colonie 21:42.7; 400 relay -- Colonie (Walker, Seibert, Mondun, Thomas) 53.0, Shenendehowa 53.5, Shaker 53.8; Triple jump -- Albany 97-, Schalmont 88-3, Shenendehowa 88-; 1,600 relay -- Guilderland (Rossettini, Hendricks, Sichlu, Graham) 4:12.9, Shenendehowa 4:18.6, Bethlehem 4:22.6; Discus -- Shenendehowa 284-11, Shaker 239-4, Albany 225-6. Kiwanis Relays Fonda's girls' 800-meter relay squad set a meet record to highlight the action at the Kiwanis Relays at Fonda.

Sara Kierpiec, Erin Dorman, Joelle Wilder and Tantra Daley combined to set the new standard of 1:50.4.

Kierpiec was also a member of the winning 300-meter high hurdles team and 1,200-meter intermediate hurdles team. Dorman also helped the triple and high jump teams to victory, while Kate Kierpiec also helped the hurdles teams to wins. KIWANIS RELAYS (at Fonda) BOYS Shot put -- 1, Greenwich (Rowse, McShane) 92-7; 2, Watervliet 84-8; 3, Johnstown 83-1; 3,200 relay -- 1, Duanesburg (Roberts, Lindh, Hoffman, Murray) 8:43.7; 2, Galway 9:10.4; 3, Herkimer 9:13.3; 400 relay -- 1, Fonda (Alexander, Geneti, Crouse) 47.7; 2, Mechanicville 48.3; 3, Little Falls 48.6; 1,200 IH -- 1,Fonda (Petersen, Smith, Wemple) 3:13.9; 2, Galway 3:16.6; 3, Northville 3:18.6; Discus -- 1, Greenwich (Rowse, McShane) 248-11; 2, Watervliet 236-3; 3, Johnstown 220-4; 1,600 relay -- 1, Greenwich (McShane, Barnhart, Sawtelle) 3:45.7; 2, Amsterdam 3:54.0; 3, Herkimer 4:00.9; 6,400 relay -- 1, Chatham (Kolesnikoff, Miller, Asmussen, Sarro) 19:43.3; 2, Galway 19:49.2; 3, Fonda 19:53.7; 800 relay -- 1, Fonda (Alexander, MacNaughton, Geneti, Christman) 1:36.3; 2, Amsterdam 1:37.6; 3, Johnstown 1:39.2; 330 HH -- 1, Fonda (Petersen, Melious, Smith) 50.2; 2, Duanesburg 55.0; 3, Gloversville 56.8; Triple jump -- 1, Little Falls (Yerina, Welah) 74-2; 2, Fonda 72-5; 3, Mayfield 72-4; High jump -- 1, Amsterdam (Brown, Cudmore) 11-1; 2, Galway 10-6; 3, Johnstown 10-6; Long jump -- 1, Fonda (McRedmond, Crouse) 37-4; 2, Johnstown 34-3; 3, Mayfield 33-6; Distance medley relay -- 1, Chatham (Sarro, Sherwood, Miller, Asmussen) 11:29.0; 2, Duanesburg 11:48.8; 3, Fort Plain 11:52.1; 1,600 relay -- 1, Fonda (Petersen, Christman, Alexander, Furnare) 3:37.4; 2, Chatham 3:43.4; 3, Johnstown 3:47.6; Sprint medley relay -- 1, Chatham (Sherwood, Ortiz, Kolesnikoff, Sarro) 3:36.4; 2, Johnstown 3:48.4; 3, Cohoes 3:50.7. GIRLS 300 IH -- 1, Fonda (S. Kierpiec, K. Kierpiec, Dorman ) 49.6; 2, Cohoes 53.8; 3, Herkimer 58.7; Triple jump -- 1, Fonda (Dorman, Janetsky) 65-9; 2, Gloversville 63-2; 3, Herkimer 62-11; High jump -- 1, Fonda (Dorman, K. Kierpiec) 10-0; 2, Columbia 9-8; 3, Greenwich 8-6; Sprint medley relay -- 1, Columbia (Amyot, Pieper, Miller, Casey) 4:24.8; 2, Johnstown 4:25.2; 3, Greenwich 4:29.5; 3,200 relay -- 1, Fonda (Carpenter, Jascwecz, Jantesky, Scott) 10:24.2; 2, Chatham 10:10; 3, Galway 10:40; Discus -- 1, Amsterdam (Martin, Lias) 204-3; 2, Greenwich 197-3; 3, Columbia 181-7; 6,400 relay -- 1, Chatham (Kelly, Townsend, Sarro, Hudson) 22:46.3; 2, Cohoes 22:53.5; 3, Galway 23:06.7; 800 relay -- 1, Fonda (S. Kierpiec, Dorman, Wilder, Daley) 1:50.5 (new record); 2, Johnstown 1:52.5; 3, Greenwich 1:53.1; 400 relay -- 1, Columbia (Metzger, Amyot, Pieper, Elliott) 51.9; 2, Herkimer 53.7; 3, Duanesburg 54.9; 1,200 IH -- 1, Fonda (S. Kierpiec, K. Kierpiec, Janetsky) 3:41.4; 2, Little Falls 3:51.5; 3, Columbia 3:59.0; Long jump -- 1, Herkimer (Rockwell, Buck) 28-4; 2, Fonda 28-4; 3, Columbia 27-8; Distance medley relay -- 1, Chatham (Kelly, Townsend, Hudson, Sarro) 13:30.1; 2, Fonda 13:40.9; 3, Schenectady 13:57.7; Shot put -- 1, Amsterdam (Martin, Lais) 72-0; 2, Greenwich 59-5; 3, Galway 56-9; 1,600 relay -- 1, Johnstown (Nguyen, Barozzi, Underwood, Royer) 4:18.1; 2, Fonda 4:21.1; 3, Columbia 4:22.7. BOYS' LACROSSE CBA 8, St. Joseph's 1 The Brothers (8-4) won their sixth straight with a victory over St. Joseph's club of Pittsfield, Mass.

Ed Slavis paced CBA with three goals, while Todd Heim and Mike Coley had two each. St. Joseph's 0 0 1 0-- 1 CBA 2 1 4 1-- 8 Scoring: St. Joseph's -- Nolan 1-0. CBA -- Heim 2-0, Feliciano 0-2, Coley 2-1, Regan 0-1, Slavis 3-0, Field 0-2, Dougherty 1-0. Saves: St. Joseph's -- Rochelo 16. CBA -- Amash 15, Zacharewicz 5. GIRLS' LACROSSE Girls Academy 12, Columbia 9 Girls Academy 7 5--12 Columbia 2 7-- 9 Scoring: Girls Academy -- DePaula 4-0, DeRosa 1-0, Casano 3-2, Riitano 1-1, Weafer 1-0, McHugh 2-0. Columbia -- Priester 2-0, Bolton 4-0, Shear 0-1, Struss 0-1, Hayes 2-0, Yund 1-0. Saves: Girls Academy -- Milot 23. Columbia -- Van Valkenburg 28.

CAPTION(S):

Times Union/LUANNE M. FERRISCOLONIE'S JESSICA DOTT (LEFT PHOTO) and Shenendehowa's Scott Wirgau have something in common Saturday as they complete victories for their respective teams in the girls' and boys' 3,200-meter relays. Times Union/LUANNE M. FERRISRUNNERS GET SET TO EXCHANGE the batons during the running of the boys' 3,200-meter event Saturday at Colonie High.