ADAMS TWP — Seneca Valley started off fast and finished strong at the Mars Track and Field Invitational Friday — and they did just enough in between.

The Raiders' boys squad opened the invite with a win in the 3,200 relay with a time of 8 minutes, 19.03 seconds and wrapped up the track portion by breaking their record in the 1,600 relay (3:23.63) en route to the championship.

Seneca Valley registered 82 points, just ahead of North Hills (68) and Wheeling Park (62.5).

“Even though teams like Butler and North Allegheny aren't here, at least we came in first place,” said Raiders junior Oliver Philogene. “There are a lot of schools here.”

“This is a good meet to see where our relays are,” said Seneca senior Hunter Williams. “We'll see what times we get.”

Williams and Philogene placed 1-2 in the 400 — the duo did the same at the Butler Invitational two weeks earlier.

Philogene had a hand in all three relays — the 400 relay placed second behind Wheeling Park — while Williams anchored the 400 and 1,600 relays.

It was the third consecutive year the Raiders won the 1,600 relay at the event and the second consecutive year they broke the meet record.

Williams was the only holdover from last year's relay.

“That was awesome,” said Williams on setting the mark again.

Williams and Philogene have pushed each other all season long and they've ridden the success along the way.

“We try to stick together,” Williams said. “It doesn't matter who's No. 1 and who's No. 2 as long as Seneca Valley wins it.”

Another Raider, Steve Swanson, captured the discus with a toss of 163 feet, 3.5 inches while teammate Dylan Bilka was second in the pole vault, even though he and winner Garrett Shaw of Knoch each cleared 13 feet.

“I made it (13-0) before (Bilka),” Shaw noted. “You had to fight the cold weather today. You have to make sure you plant. Technique was very important today.”

Shaw has cleared 14 feet already and has cleared 14-6, but only in practice. He's aiming for the school mark of 14-3¼, which is held by Mike Bogacki.

“I have a couple of meets left to do it,” Shaw added.

Shaw's teammate, Adam Tuzikow — who shared the Field MVP — won the shot put (50-8) and was second in the discus behind Swanson while his brother, Andy Tuzikow, earned a fourth place in the discus and fifth in the shot put.

Freeport's Derek Durand also had an impressive showing. He placed first in the long jump (20-9½), third in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles — not bad considering the Yellowjackets already had dual meets this past Tuesday and Thursday.

“I jumped long at the Butler Invitational, but I feel I competed well,” Durand said. “This is my first gold medal in the long jump.”

In the girls meet, no area school picked up a first-place medal until the Knoch 1,600 relay team grabbed one in the final event of the evening.

The Knights' team of Tess Haverstick, Jessica Wise, Jamie Mahan and Samantha Logan was clocked at 4:10.18 while Mars was second, Freeport fourth and Seneca Valley fifth.

The Raiders' 3,200 relay team was second with a time of 10:08.62 as was Freeport's Taylor Bombalski in the 400 and Mars' Lydia Dennis in the triple jump.

Hampton won the girls meet with 60.5 points, followed by DuBois with 55 and North Hills with 50.

Notes: With the long jump title, Durand received the Leonard Johnson Memorial Long Jump Award, which honors the memory of the longtime PIAA track and field official who also served as a starter at Mars for years. ... His counterpart was Pine-Richland freshman Ashley West, who received the Norman Crawford Memorial Award. Crawford was another longtime official ... Wheeling Park's Erinn Baynes obliterated the boys high jump record of 6-6 by clearing 7-¼.