HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRACK AND FIELD: HAWKS WIN TITLE AT STATE QUALS AS THEY TURN IN DOMINANT DAY (24 PHOTOS) (2023-06-01)

Southern Tier Sports Report
ENDICOTT —It was a strong second day for the Corning Hawks at the Section IV Track and Field State qualifier as they won the title at Union-Endicott High School on Thursday with a team score of 118 points.

The Hawks had 47 points more than runner-up Ithaca.

The Corning Hawks 4x800 relay won a state title last year and this year they are back under eight minutes on Thursday as they won the title with a time of 7:58.89 with a team of Gabe Cornfield, Marcus Homa, Jaxyn Mahoney and Tevin McLaren.

For Corning they knew they were capable of a fast time.

“I mean, honestly, we’ve got four fast guys,” Homa said. “We’ve been training together all season. Three of us pumped out a fast 800 together at an invitational not too long ago. We just really train as a unit. We’ve got five guys that can go under two right now. It’s just been going right this season.”

It was a hot day, but that didn’t slow down the Hawks.

“Coach, all week, has been saying drink lots of water, obviously, but we’ve also got to get those electrolytes in, like liquid IV, Gatorades, all that,” McLaren said. “They’ve been harping that to us for like two weeks now and I think it really paid off because we definitely listened to that. It helped. Great with hydration.”

There was a big lead early in the race and the other Corning players just wanted to hold onto that lead.

“I knew our kind of advantage over Vestal, we’re a little bit more balanced, whereas they have two real heavy hitters, and so when he handed off to me, I knew I was going to be in the lead, so I asked my teammates to get my splits and I kind of know myself pretty well. I’ve been running 800s, racing out for the last two, three weeks, so I kind of knew what my split should be, came through, really pushed the last lap and just kind of made sure I at least kept the distance, if not added on,” Mahoney said.

Cornfield just wanted to make sure he ran a good leg and helped the team make states.

“One of my main focuses was trying to get my teammates to state and just trying to win this thing together so we can all go,” Cornfield said “I knew I had a bit of a lead, but I knew the fast guy from Vestal was pretty fast so I knew I couldn’t let it go, and I just wanted to get out fast, keep is smooth throughout the entire race.”

Ashton Bange is also back on the podium as a champion in the 1600 meters. An injury during indoor season had his opportunity to run the event this outdoor season in doubt, but on Thursday he put up a top-25 time in the state this year to get back to the state meet, winning with a time of 4:19.86.

For Bange he just wanted to run his race and then finish strong.

“I did it in my plan,” he said. “I was told to go out smooth, make it happen at the end, and that’s what I did. I just followed the plan.”

The heat was tough for all the runners on the day.

“Yeah, I could feel it a little bit on my feet,” Bange said. “I was kind of thinking like the faster I’m done with this, the faster I get out of the heat.”

Bange is getting his times back to where he wants and he was happy with how Thursday went.

“Yeah, honestly, I heard somebody say like 4:14 at the 1200 and I was like, all right, so if I kick hard enough I might be able to hit 4:17. I missed it by a couple seconds, but it sets me up. Coming off an injury I’m happy with that.”

DJ Cornfield was eighth in the 1600 in 4:38.13. Gregory Homa was 13th in 4:42.73 followed by Charles Warner (4:43.23) and Sebastian Boutwell (4:43.33). Joshua Beres was 23rd in 5:06.65.

Gabe Cornfield won the steeplechase in 9:38.79 to make states. His time was a top 25 time in the country this year. Joshua Beres was fourth in 9:49.22.

The Hawks won the 1600 relay in 3:24.98 to qualify for the state meet.

Hugo Mazzali made states in the triple jump with a leap of 42-feet, 10 1/2-inches, third overall and tops in Division I.

Dylan Rose made states in the high jump at 6-feet, taking third overall and first in Division I.

Brady Hughes took third in the pentathlon with a score of 2,966. He was second in the 110 hurdles (15.95), won the shot put (12.12 meters), was fourth in the high jump (1.70 meters), second in the long jump (5.91 meters) and seventh in the 1500 in 5:10.17.

Zuri Ruffin was fourth in the 200 in 22.37. Cabe Hogue was 10th in the shot put at 40-feet, 2 1/4-inches.
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IN TOP PHOTO: Corning’s Ashton Bange on the podium for winning the 16000. . . PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY, TIM TAYLOR AND CRISTINA ROSSI.