Patriot’s Invitational; Just a Day in the Park
As it has been for each Patriot’s Invitational for all four years, the weather was near perfect, with temperatures in the high 60’s and the sun shining most of the day. For those athletes that broke more than 75 Patriot’s Invitational meet records, it was just a day at the park, as it was for Jason Hewitt (Pictured Above) from the Greater Boston Track Club. Jason shattered the previous record of the 3000m Steeplechase by more than 30 seconds, setting the new mark at 10:53.61. This is also a new Liberty Tour series record. Not satisfied with one record, Justin also set a new meet record in the Master’s Mens (30 – 34) 800m run with a time of 2:21.66. More than 75 records were broken for this meet, and 40 of those were also Liberty Tour series records. More than 50 records were set in the Youth Divisions, 10 in the Open Men’s & Women’s Divisions, and the rest in the Master’s Divisions. Almost 25 records were broken by the Girl’s and Women’s Divisions, which is a big improvement over the first threee (3) years of the Tour.
When asked for his reaction to so many records being broken on the day, Executive Producer of the Empire State Liberty Tour, Anthony Mills simply said, “There is no surprise having this many records broken and set, when you realize that the number of athlete registrations for the 2008 Patriot’s Invitational grossly obliterated the previous record by nearly double, as just a couple shy of 200 were in attendance. Even better was the large number of spectators in the stands to watch and cheer the competitors. In addition to that, the Liberty Tour also set a record for the most teams competing with nearly 12 teams from all over the Northeast.”
There were even a couple of new additions to the Liberty Tour for everyone to take advantage of. Fine Design Sportswear was on site to make available a large selection of Sportswear, geared strictly for the Patriot’s Invitational, and they will be offering similar items for each meet with a specific meet logo designed just for the Empire State Liberty Tour Track & Field Series. Also on hand was Capital District Sports Photos, which took more than 1,400 Action Shots for athletes and parents to purchase at a very inexpensive price, starting at $3.00 for a 4 x 6 memory.
Be sure to check out all the new Records for this meet and the entire series of meets by going to the “Records” link. To check out the full list of Results, click on the “Results” link.
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- Master’s sprinter Darryl Decker hands off the baton to teammate Bob Davis as they try to set a new National Master’s record in the 4 x 100m Relay.
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- Cydney DeLaRosa from the Delmar Whippets shows near perfect sprint form in the Bantam Girl’s 100m Dash.
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- Master’s Sprinter Gary Geiger (60 – 64) sets a new Patriot’s Invitational Record in the 200m. Gary’s time of 27.91 is also a Liberty Tour Series record.
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- Triple Jumper, Long Jumper, and High Jumper, Colt Duppen, from the Wildcats Track & Field Club, soared to a new Patriot’s Invitational Triple Jump record of 10.88m. He also tied a High Jump record of 1.73m.
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- Kayla Owens gets out of the blocks in the 100m to set a new Midget Girl’s record in that event with a time of 14.45.
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- Amy Linnen sets a new Open Women’s Pole Vault record for the Patriot’s Invitational with a vault of 3.89m. Here she displays the form that is the base for good vaulting.
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- Master’s Thrower, Mike Fortunato, sets a new Master’s Men’s Discus Record (55 – 59) with a toss of 39.83m. Mike is also the Head Coach of the Waldorf Gnomes.
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- Chris Connelly from the International Charter School of Schenectady sets a new Youth Boy’s 200m record with a time of 26.09.
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- Not to be outdone by her father, Amelia Fortunato breaks a three year standing record in the Open Women’s 100m, with a sprint time of 13.93. This time was also good enough to break the Liberty Tour Series record.
