BUFFALO – It was certainly a memorable, historic day as Altoona-Midway Middle School hosted its annual invitational track meet here Monday.
While there were many outstanding performances turned in at the district’s Frank Kennedy Filed and Track, it might be hyperbole to describe the results as historic. But making the event unquestionably memorable was the fact the athletes from a dozen schools together witnessed the 2024 Great American Eclipse in the middle of the competition.
“We started the meet at 1:00, and the athletes from 12 teams were able to experience the solar eclipse together shortly after that,” noted Chary Weilert, co-head coach of the AMMS track squad. “That made the day pretty special.”
But while the moon passed in front of the sun on Monday afternoon – absolutely no one was passing in front of Altoona-Midway’s Chance Mustain by the end of the 3200-meter run.
Mustain claimed the only first-place medal for AMMS, breaking the tape in 12:44.33, a personal best for the 3200.
The Altoona-Midway eighth-grader just barely missed claiming double gold in the distance races. Mustain finished second in the 1600-meter run in 6:05.63.
“Chance Mustain continued a very dominating distance campaign with another PR and gold medal in the 3200m run, shaving 52 seconds off his previous best,” said David Batzer, AMMS’ other co-coach. “He also finished 2nd in a very competitive mile run.”
Mustain also tied for fifth place in the high jump at 4-8. Only the top six finishers in each event earned team points, and the Jet thinclad individually totaled 19.5 points (10 for first, 8 for second, and 1.5 for high jump) of the AMMS total of 23.5 for the Boys’ A Division.
The other four points for the Boys’ A Division were picked up by Chance Carter, who placed fourth in the shot put with a heave of 36-1. Carter just missed adding points in the discus, finishing eighth.
“Chance Carter had a great throw in the shot put – 36-1 was a PR for him,” Weilert noted. “It was really close to a medal. As for his discus, he might have placed there as well, but he scratched 2 of his 3 throws.”
Sandra Morales helped account for all 10 points recorded by the Lady Jets in the Girls’ A Division.
Morales grabbed a silver medal in the girls’ discus with a toss of 69-9. She was also part of the AMMS 4x200 relay squad that finished in 2:34.08, good enough for fifth place. Other Lady Jets on that relay unit were Sophie Sweigart, Katherine Tindle, and Emily Burch.
And while it didn’t result in team points, Morales also had a personal best in the shot put at 28-9, placing eighth.
Altoona-Midway had two male athletes collect points in the Boys B Division. Eliot Ard took silver in the the 3200-meter run with a personal best time of 14:43.77, and Zach Good was third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 21.45.
Good just missed points in two other events, taking sixth in the long jump and seventh in the 200-meter dash.
Eliot was impressive in the 7th grade 2-mile where he set a new PR that was 1:43 faster than his last race,” Batzer said. “And Zach continues to find points in the 7th grade division with strong showings in the 100m hurdles and long jump.”
The best Lady Jet finish in the Girls B Division was turned in by Emily Burch, who was seventh in the 800-meter run.
“I thought this meet was a step up in competition, and we competed very well,” Batzer said. “From top to bottom we are really starting to find our footing.”
Weilert added: “The kids are continuing to get better conditioned – they are not nearly as sore as they were for the first three weeks, so we are looking forward to seeing more PR's next week at Yates Center.”
Oswego Junior High came away as the team champion in both A divisions. In the Boys’ A Division, Oswego squeezed past Cherryvale for the team title, followed by Thayer and Altamont.
In the Girls’ A Division, Oswego easily outdistanced runner-up Altamont while St. Patrick’s Middle School finished third.
Thayer captured the team title for the Boys’ B Division, while Cherryvale took second and Yates Center claimed third. Cherryvale earned the Girls’ B Division team crown, ahead of Oswego and Altamont.