By ERIC AHLQVIST
Editor

CHERRY VALLEY-The Cherry Valley-Springfield track teams will get a chance to show off their brand new track when 15 area schools visit for the inaugural CV-S Invitational this Saturday.

The track was completed in time for this year's season, which had a belated start Tuesday when the Patriots defeated Tri-Valley foes Schenevus and Edmeston.

The Invitational will give CV-S track coach Jordan Jaquay a chance to show off what he calls two of the best performers in the area in Holly Meehan and Kristin Karhio. Both Karhio and Meehan qualified for state competition a year ago, with Karhio winning a state title in the pole vault.

"Our Invitational will be different from Cooperstown's Invitational because we will have teams from Section's II, III, and IV," Jaquay said. "It's hard to give much information on which teams are going to be strong since the season got off to such a late start. We would like to have both the boys and girls teams finish in the top three, and we like to see how we stack up against some of the bigger schools."

Teams competing from section IV include: CV-S, Downsville, Laurens, Milford, Franklin and Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton, Unatego and Unadilla Valley. Section III teams include: Cooperstown, Richfield Springs, Mohawk and Owen D. Young while Section II teams include Schoharie, Middleburgh and Canajoharie.

"The Milford boys, with Patrick Kelly and Ben Cotter, will score a lot of points, and Jon Cook from Laurens and Mike Senchyshyn from Cooperstown are also top performers," Jaquay said. "On the girls side Stephanie Smith from Cooperstown, our own Holly and Kristin and Unatego has some nice performers. I imagine Mohawk and Owen D. Young will be strong, and of course Cooperstown teams are always strong."

The Cooperstown boys lost to league rival Mt. Markham, 76-65, Tuesday, as two Mustang runners, Mike Allen and Neil Case, won four events each.

Senchyshyn won the long jump, triple jump and was a member of the winning 1,600 relay team. He also finished second in the 400 behind Allen, which Cooperstown boys track coach Don Howard said was a great effort.

"We competed well, but we're not in shape yet," Howard said. "Even when we are in shape we're not going to beat Case and Allen. They're state material and very, very good runners."

Howard said he would use Saturday's CV-S Invitational to experiment in different events and try and prepare for the Center State league meet.

"We could finish anywhere from first to third in the league meet, and right now I'd pick Markham to win, but we have some time to improve," Howard said.

Milford's Cotter tuned up for the Invitational by winning four events Tuesday as the Wildcats defeated G-MU, Stamford and Davenport. Cotter won the 100, 200, 400 and long jump. Laurens' Cook set a school record Tuesday in the long jump with a distance of 20 feet, nine inches.

Cook, Cotter and Senchyshyn will battle for top honors in the long jump Saturday.

The Patriots host Franklin, Milford and G-MU Thursday in the final tune-up before the Invitational. Next weekend, CV-S and Milford will both travel to Cooperstown's Invitational.

Notes: Jaquay said members of the team told him the runway for the triple and long jumps is very springy, and if the weather is good there could be some record jumps recorded Saturday.

The CV-S Booster Club will be selling refreshments and could use some volunteers, Jaquay said. Volunteers are also needed to run stop watches, measure distances, move hurdles, etc. Anyone interested should call Jaquay at 264-3265 at school or 264-3340 at home. The Invitation begins at 11 a.m.