In the News:
Bears Send 9 Runners to State Meet
In a fitting conclusion to the regular season, the Bears turned in one of their best performances of the season in the State Qualifier meet. Before a large crowd at Manley Field House, the Bears qualified 9 runners for the state meet to be held on March 4^th at the Carrier Dome. Only the top two individuals and top relay team in each event qualified for the state meet, a meet in which all classes were merged. Most impressive was the way that they qualified. The Bears left little doubt that they were the best in the races for which they qualified.

Starting out the night on a positive note was Sophomore Devon Scholl’s performance in the 600m run. Devon placed 5^th in an elite with a time of 1:27.4. Although failing to qualify, Devon’s performance bodes well for the future. Devon is an alternate on the state 4x800m relay team.  Joe Williams also turned in a nice 3200m run with a time of 10:42.

In the 300m dash, Nick Bendixen blow away the field finishing first with a time of 37.2. Nick’s explosive start put him in the lead from the opening gun and he grew it from there. Nick will finally be challenged in the state meet after easily defeating the local competition.  Nick's closest local competition, Brian Bladwin, resevered his strength for the teams attempt at qualifying for the 4x200m relay.

In the most controversial event of the evening, Mike Albanese advances to the state meet for the second straight year in the open 1600m run. The race opened in a pedestrian 73 sec 400m until Mike took command of the pace. Mike continued to run negative splits from that point to the finish looking comfortable the entire race. With 2 laps to go an official mistakenly fired the gun indicating 1 lap to go confusing some of the runners. At that point Mike’s lead had grow to 10m over second place Tom Poppenger of Skaneateles. With the sound of the gun, Poppenger thought that the last lap was occurring and went into a full 200m sprint trying to make up the huge differential. Planing for two laps, Mike held back for the final lap enabling Poppenger to overcome the deficit only to be discouraged by the fact that he had another lap to go. Officials waved the pair though the line for the final lap and Mike continued strong to win the event. Poppenger, having expended everything to make up the difference, finished 3^rd behind Taverna of Whitesboro. In fairness to Poppenger who would have certainly finished second, the top 3 runners in this event will advance to the state meet.

Qualifying earlier in the meet, Kyle Flanco made the finals of the 55m high hurdles. Kyle turned in a strong performance in the finals finishing third with a time of 7.8 seconds. Although not in the top 2 finishers, Flanco’s time met the state qualifying standard and will enable him to compete at the states. The fact that the third place time met the state qualifying standard is an indication of the level of competition of this event in Section III.

Next up were the relay events where most teams held back their best runners to provide an extra advantage in hope of qualifying. Chittenango was tested first in the 4x800m relay, an event that they haven’t lost this year with their top team. Ryan Wells opened with a strong 2:05 placing the baton in the hands of Mike VanDuesen a few meters from the lead. Mike turned in his best performance of the year running a 2:05 leg, a full 2 seconds faster than his previous best. Next up was Mike Albanese returning from the 1600m event. Mike was able to gain the lead running a strong 2:04 leg. With Cimino in the anchor position starting with the lead, there was little doubt that the Bears would win. Chris opened with a 58 second 400m and easily held on for the victory with his 2:04 leg. The team’s official 8:19.5 is a new indoor school record.

In a brilliant coaching move, the Bears dropped out of the 4x400m event in favor of the 4x200m relay. The relay team of Flanco, Kenyon, Bladwin and Bendixen were too much for the field winning the event in 1:35.0. Flanco and Kenyon handed off a close second place position to Bladwin. Bladwin didn’t take long to attain the lead and handed off to Bendixen for the finishing leg. Bendixen made sure that the race was never in doubt extending the lead over second place Corcoran.

Good luck to all at the State meet!

Chittenango Captures Section III Class B/C/D Title (21 Feb 2000)
The Bears once again easily outdistanced the competition to capture another meet title. The Bears never looked back nearly doubling the score of surprising second place Clinton and third place Skaneateles. The final tally gave the Bears 121, Clinton 71 and Skaneateles 62.

The scoring was paced by Section III Class B champions Nick Bendixen winner of the 55m, 300m and member anchor of the winning 4x200m team, Mike Albanese winner of the 1600m and member of the winning 4x400m team and Kyle Flanco winner of the 55m high hurdles and member of the winning 4x200m team. Other Section III champions include: Kenyon, Scholl, and Bladwin in the 4x400M; Goodel, and Bladwin in the 4x200m event.  It was a strong performance by all members and a great team victory.

Berger Captures Section III Class B/C/D 1000m Title (17 Feb 2000)
Beth Berger captured the only girls title with a victory in the 1000m run.  Beth's time of 3:13.1 placed her well ahead of her competition and positions her well for the upcoming state quals.  Congratulations to Beth.

Bears Capture OHSL Title (10 Feb 2000)
Paced by Mike Albanese, Nick Bendixen and Kyle Flanco, the Chittenango Bears easily outperformed second place Skaneateles 128-80 for the OHSL Class B/C/D title. Once again the Bears showed their depth taking first in six of ten running events and placing second or third in the other four. The Bears also compiled valuable points in the field events from Brad Thomas in the shot put and Joe Pitoniak in the long and triple jumps.   Second place Skaneateles was unable to match the depth of the Bears particularly in the 55m dash and 55mHH events where the Bear's 28 points went unanswered.