24 hours after incredible showing at Salamanca’s Super 8, Howard, Oswald, Scott set more records to help cap off historic weekend for Wellsville Track at 92nd Elks Spring Day, team places 2nd overall
WELLSVILLE — The Wellsville Elks Spring Day meet — one of, if not, the most historically prominent meets in all of New York State, had officially arrived. For those that have received the opportunity to witness such an extravaganza in all of its glory over the years, they most certainly know what it entails.
It is a track and field meet of the highest order, an event unlike any other and a sporting spectacle that has continued to rewrite its legacy in the Empire State for nearly 100 years. It is also an ultimate gauntlet that serves as the one of the final precursors leading up to Sectionals at the end of the month.
This year in particular, the Elks Spring Day was lined adjacent to another high caliber meet — the famed Super 8 Invitational in Salamanca. For two enormous meets to follow one another on back-to-back nights, it can most certainly raise many perplexing and onerous challenges of its own. For Wellsville’s long-time track coach Dean Giopulos, he comprehends how grueling the transition can be, and in the same swing, all of the rewards that patiently wait at the end of it.
“It's hard,” he said. “Track and field going back-to-back nights is really difficult. The Super 8 meet is the best of the best in all of the Big 30, basically from Jamestown to Wellsville and up into the Buffalo area. The new facility that Salamanca has is absolutely incredible, and it's a meet that recognizes the best of the best in our area. And then there's our meet that is New York State’s most historic, that is our pride and joy in front of our home fans. Between those two invitationals, it is as hard of a transition that you can possibly make.”
The two historic meets in Cattaraugus and Allegany County serve as the most perfect of tune-ups to start kicking the gears relentlessly for Sectionals, which are unequivocally right around the corner. Despite the long grind throughout the night to battle alongside some of the best of the best in Western New York, the Lions left their footprints all over Salamanca with some new records.
One of which had stood for 62 long years.
Until Friday night.
It was a record that turned out to be the longest standing in Wellsville’s recorded history, and it was set by a fierce competitor whose two-year tenure with the program is quickly being cemented as one of the greatest and most impactful performers of all time. Bar none. 24 hours later back home in front of their home crowd, he continued to rewrite the history books again until the ink bled dry.
In short, JJ Howard is one special talent.
Wellsville’s two-year track senior, alongside his fellow State Meet competitors, senior Kaylee Oswald and junior Xavier Scott, all brought their sledgehammers to shatter the glass towards brand new history at the 92nd annual running of the Wellsville Elks Spring Day, as they guided the team towards a tremendous performance across all phases to finish behind the Pioneer Panthers, who became team champions for the second time in three years, in second place with 138 combined team points — their highest finish at their home event in recent seasons.
“This is really unique what we've been able to do,” Giopulos said. “Between Kaylee, JJ and Xavier, and as well as Jack Davis now, who is making major noise in the hurdles himself, we have kids that are the most elite that we are ever going to see around here. I honestly feel like that if the wind was blowing the right way, we could have done this again. You win invitationals with star power, and we have serious star power. Brooklyn Dahlgren is another prime example. She won the high jump, and her performances are at an elite level. It is so incredibly fun to coach these kids, especially with Larry (Peacock), because he is the most enthusiastic coach I've ever been with. He's found a sport he is absolutely tremendous at coaching in. To work with him, it has been an absolutely fun time. The kids are responding to all of our messages we are sending to them every meet and they continue to work hard. That's really what it takes.”
Adjectives like ‘sensational’, ‘spectacular’ and ‘remarkable’ simply do not do enough justice for describing both of Howard’s performances across a 24-hour span for Wellsville. On Friday, he began the weekend at the Super 8s emphatically, taking care of business on the heels of a new school and meet record in the Long Jump with the recording of a 22-3 distance, surpassing Wellsville and Allegany County Sports Hall of Famer Doug McEnroe, who last set the record with a distance of 21-5.25 back in the Spring of 1963 — the longest standing marker in the school’s exalted history.
Howard also proceeded to claim his two additional victories in the High and Long jumps, setting yet another new school record, as well as a Super 8 record in the antecedent of the two events with a height of 6-7 over the bar.
Fast forward to Saturday morning, the Wellsville senior did it all over again with a repeat of history from the night before, scoring all three jumping victories — including a new Spring Day record in the High Jump with a height of 6-6. The previous record had been frozen in time since 1991 by Brian Decker and his height of 6-5.5.
Because of his record-breaking performance in the former of the two invitationals, and already alongside a repeat trip to the New York State meet later this month, Howard has officially qualified to partake in the New Balance National Outdoor meet in the City of Brotherly Love — Philadelphia, coming up next month, starting June 19-25.
Giopulos has been around for over four decades coaching in Wellsville. But in the couple of years he’s been able to provide an impact on the program, the longtime Lions coach says that Howard is quite simply the best.
Ever.
“Not only is he one of the best athletes I've ever had the chance to coach, he's also one of the best competitors I've ever seen,” he said of Howard. “JJ comes to play. He also was feeling the effects of Super 8 and Spring Day, and it took his last jumps on Saturday to win. That's what he does. He takes the pressure head on and he performs at the highest level. He's an amazing athlete and he's an amazing young man. JJ has been able to compete at Spring Day for two years, and we award t-shirts for all the winners. He has seven of them now. He has school records in all three jumps he's won patches for. For JJ to do all of this, he is the best ever. I cannot say it any simpler.”
Howard was not unchaperoned in rewriting the track and field history books on a partly sunny day in the Lion's Den, as he was joined by defending back-to-back State Champion thrower Kaylee Oswald, who set brand new records in both weekend meets, scoring a new record in the Shot Put with a distance of 42-7 at the Super 8 meet before following up with another smashing performance in the Discus, recording a 39-6.75 distance in the grass to fly towards a Spring Day record that was previously held by Wellsville legend Sue Ann Livergood since 1988.
Off the heels of another school record-breaking performance in the 110 hurdles the night before, Xavier Scott also had more history himself to establish in the Wellsville ledger, galloping past Allegany-Limestone’s famed hurdler and Division I trackstar, Michael Wolfgang with a new Spring Day record of 14.84 in the 110 Hurdles.
Wolfgang initially set the record back in 2019 with a time of 15.16.
Jack Davis and Brooklyn Dahlgren each had first place finishes of their own to power Wellsville’s second place team finish even further, as the two Lions earned gold in the 400 Hurdles and High Jump, respectively. Adding additional secondary finishes along the way were Lucius Griggs, who placed second in the Triple Jump and fourth in the Long Jump, and Piper Metro and Selah Ader, each scoring fourth place finishes in the High Jump and Pole Vault, independently.
Wellsville also assembled strong performances from their relay teams, with the boys scoring a second place finish in the 1600 Relay and fourth place finish in the 3200 Relay, while the Lady Lions locked up a fourth place conclusion in the 3200 Relay.
Finishing right behind Wellsville was their longtime archrival — the Hornell Red Raiders, who concluded three points shy of second place, with a 135-point third place team finish. Of those points, 103 of them were recorded by the ladies, who placed first overall in the girls team standings, led by an absolutely incredible individual performance by Ella White, who had some record-smashing of her own to contribute.
To go with her first place finishes in the 100 dash and 100 hurdles, White rewrote Spring Day history with a new record in the 200 dash, surpassing Rush-Henrietta’s Jaelyn Davis with a time of 25.57. White also ran a leg of the team’s victorious 400 Relay squadron alongside Riley Harwood, Maura Khork and Selena Maldonado, as the four Lady Red Raiders crossed the finish line in record-breaking fashion with a time of 50.28 to smash a record written by the School of the Arts that had stood idle since 2012.
The Hornell ladies also added a second place 1600 Relay finish along the way.
As for the individual performances, the Lady Red Raiders also gathered one more first place finish from Madison Rudenauer, who soared to victory in the 400 hurdles event. Adding more secondary placements for the team were Maldonado, who finished second in the 200 Dash and third in the Triple Jump, second place finishes for both Bryanna Wilkinson (800 Run) and Delainey Thompson (High Jump), a third place finish from Harwood (Long Jump), and third and fifth place finishes from Silvia Carretto (800 Run, 400 Dash).
For the boys, Kellen Crowe led the way with the team’s lone first place finish, racing his way to the finish line with a win in the 400 Dash. Crowe also added a second place finish in the 100 Dash right behind Friendship/Scio’s Jerome Harmon. In addition, Cole Hopper placed fourth in the 200 Dash to round off the individual performances.
From within the relay department, Hornell also scored a third and fourth place finish in both the 400 and 1600 Relays.
Out of the 19 total schools in attendance for the Spring’s premier event, many more first place finishes were garnered along the way.
Listed below are some of the area’s top finishers from the long afternoon of competition:
Boys Individual
Jerome Harmon (Friendship/Scio, 100 Dash)
Joe Wojciechowski (Cuba-Rushford, 800 & 1600 Run)
Dylan Depew-Cappadonia (Canisteo-Greenwood, 3000 Steeplechase)
Mathias Sharp & Will Hosmer (Canisteo-Greenwood, tied in Pole Vault)
Nathan Prete (Canisteo-Greenwood, Pentathlon)
Adam Ford (Alfred-Almond, 3200 Run)
Boys Relay
Cuba-Rushford (3200 Relay team of Alex Linn, Kevin Smith, Sawyer Rouse, Joe Wojciechowski)
Girls Individual
Maya Churchman (Arkport-Canaseraga, 2000 Steeplechase)
Carmen Crowley (Bolivar-Richburg, Triple Jump)
Girls Relay
Fillmore (3200 Relay team of Grace Walton, Tenlee Miller, Kelsie Songster, Jillian Beardsley)
If you would like a complete, in-depth look at all the results from this year’s edition of the Wellsville Elks Spring Day, you can follow the link provided here.
Three of Allegany County’s Teams — Fillmore, Friendship/Scio and Genesee Valley/Belfast will all meet one last time to close out regular season action coming up on Tuesday, as the three teams chart their course to the Jungle in Belmont for battle at 5 p.m.
Then on Thursday, the regular season docket will officially close its doors when all Allegany County teams converge on the Lion’s Den one more time for the Allegany County Championship meet, also commencing at 5 p.m.
For Giopulos and the rest of the Lions, the time has come to begin gearing up for their trip to Dansville to go for all of Section V’s marbles in the Class C1 Championship meet, beginning on May 29.
A prizefight that may just be the most barbaric of the bunch.
“Our eyes are on a different prize now. Sectionals are going to be brutal. We're up against some big time talent and bigger schools than we've ever seen before,” said Giopulos. “We have really, really good team kids. It's not like a dual meet where you go head-to-head, but in an invitational, you go up against kids from different schools that add even more to the competition. We're going to be in a major dogfight, and we have a great chance. So do teams like Haverling, Midlakes and Aquinas. It's going to be one of those meets where you can go and perform at your best and it might not lead to a title. But I love where our kids are, and I think we're going to keep ourselves right in the hunt.”
Spring Day Combined Team Standings (Top 5)
1. Pioneer — 164.5
2. Wellsville — 138
3. Hornell — 135
4. Springville-Griffith Institute — 133.5
5. Canisteo-Greenwood — 120
Spring Day Boys Team Standings (Top 5)
1. Pioneer — 110
2. Canisteo-Greenwood — 105
3. Wellsville — 90
4. Cuba-Rushford — 56
5. Letchworth — 49.33
Spring Day Girls Team Standings (Top 5)
1. Hornell — 103
2. Springville-Griffith Institute — 93.5
3. Pioneer — 54.5
4. Wellsville — 48
5. Letchworth — 37
