By Heather Smith

Special to The Oxford Leader

The Oxford High School boys track & field team conquered over Rochester Adams by an impressive 80 to 48 points.

Wildcat athletes in the field events dominated at Oxford HS on Wednesday, March 28 in the first dual meet of the season. Sophomore Trey Townsend had an outstanding day setting new PR’s by jumping 6’2” at the high jump and 19’5’ at the long jump, placing first in both events.

Junior Anthony Romeo placed second in both of the jumping events with a 5’6” vault at the high jump and an 18’5” leap in the long jump. Oxford swept the men’s shot put as seniors Ben Krause (45’5”), Rick Galbraith (43’7”) and Parker Fleming (41’2”) placed first, second and third respectively. Krause (129’4”) and Galbraith (122’3”) also placed first and second in the discus throw.

Hurdlers sophomore Shane Ross and freshman Barett Coleman look to be a dynamic duo this season as they finished 1st (41.49s) and 2nd (43.70s) in the 300m hurdles and 1st (16.30s) and 3rd (17.66s) in the 110m hurdles.

Sophomore Scott Masterson (24.08s) and senior Peter Bagans (24.35s) placed 2nd and 3rd in the 200m dash while the 4X100m relay boys (46.80s) featuring seniors Mitchel Marowski, Matthew Mielnicki, Dakota Birr and Peter Bagans were edged out at the line placing second against the Adams Highlanders (46.43s). Junior Thomas Pletta (59.4s) placed third in the 400m.

The Oxford boys swept the top five places in the 1600m setting many PRs with senior Dominic Bruce (4:31) leading the way followed by senior Ulises Rodriguez (4:38), junior JJ Bagans (4:50), junior Adam Zyrowski (5:01) and sophomore Zach Allion (5:08).

Rodriguez and junior Hunter Green were first (10:08) and second (10:19) respectively in the 3200m.  The 800m also featured Bruce (2:04) and JJ Bagans (2:08) with 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Seniors Zachariah Smith and Dominic Bruce with juniors JJ Bagans and Hunter Green edged out Adams in the 4x800m relay placing first in 8:21.

For the girls, the Highlanders defeated the Wildcats 68 to 60. Oxford senior Ashley Vican was a veritable foe in the distance events setting new PRs in the 3200m (12:22) and the 1600m (5:39) placing first in both events. Teammate sophomore Rachel Whitt looked strong in the 3200m placing 3rd (12:43) while sophomore Maddie Lukens and freshman Emma Long joined Vican in the 1600m placing 3rd (5:45) and 4th (6:05) respectively. In the sprints, sophomore Antonia Vackaro (13.62s) placed second in the 100m dash while junior Ashley Hershman (13.96s) placed third.

Vackaro is on pace for a great season as she ran to victory in the 400m claiming 1st in 1:03 and had a 2nd place finish in the 200m in 28.01s. Senior Micah Dymond also had some great finishes placing first in the 300m hurdles (51.11s) and second in the 100m hurdles (17.83s).

In the field events, the Wildcat girls showed their strength with sophomore Gihon Maxwell placing first (27’1”) and senior Jessica Campbell placing second (26’11”) in the shot put. They reversed roles in the discus with Campbell throwing 99’5” for first and Maxwell throwing 75’5” for second. Sophomore Jillian Hagberg claimed first in the high jump with a 4’6” vault. The long jump also featured Oxford’s younger competitors as freshman Jordyn Beebe made 14’4” for first place and sophomore Maeghan Kroon made 12’9” for third.

The Wildcats will face the Lake Orion Dragons on Wednesday, April 11 at Lake Orion HS.