A select group of track participants traveled to Dallastown for their annual invitational on Friday, April 24.

The team had at least one person qualify for all eighteen events that were present in the invitational. There were 8 teams present at the invitational; the Warriors were competing against teams from both Division I and Division II.

The invitational was highly competitive, as Susquehannock was up against high ranking teams such as Dallastown, York Suburban, and West York.

On both the boys and girls teams, Susquehannock put up quite a fight and ended up with sixteen place winners in various events.

Coach Steve Stough was unsure about how the team would finish.

“There were individuals that I thought were going to do well, and there were individuals I thought needed to run to improve their times,” said Stough.

The night kicked off with the 100/110m hurdles. Competitors in both teams ran well, but  unfortunately no one from Susquehannock made it to finals.

Next came the 100m dash where junior Nick Tannura finished first in his heat and then went on to run in the finals.

Then came the mid-distance relay, the 4×8 relay. The boys team, which consisted of senior Clay Ayres, sophomore Alex Kettinger, sophomore Nick Stem, and junior Nathan Shelley, placed second and won a silver medal.

Shelley significantly helped in the relay, sprinting past one of his competitors.

“The 4×8 was fun,” said Shelley. “I got to run two laps, and I was done.  That’s a whole lot more fun than the mile and two mile, and we got a medal.”

The rest of the track races went by with solid performances all around.

Junior Rachel Banchiere and the rest of the distance team did not have as successful of a meet as they had planned.

“I didn’t do as well as I hoped I would,” said Banchiere.  “But it’s always a fun invitational, and the team as a whole did pretty well.”

As the track events were going on, senior Tyler Buckley was tearing it up in the triple jump and long jump.  He placed first in both, receiving two gold medals.

The throwers also had a few solid performances.  Coach Stough is always happy when most of the team performs well.

“I would have to say I was overall pleased with everyone’s performances,” said Stough.  “I didn’t drive away disappointed, so that’s something.”
Overall, the Dallastown Invitational was successful for many members of the Susquehannock team, and everyone is excited for the postseason to come.