By JOHN ANDERSON
Winning a Section V title takes a team effort, and while that phrase is thrown around like a cliche, Dean Giopulos, the Wellsville Lions Boys’ Track and Field coach, will dispute that “team effort” is a cliche. He has plenty of examples, times and stories to go around.
Giopulos led the Lions to their first title in 2004 and then picked up four more. But the last one was 2016 and this season was going to be the one to end the drought. After all, the Lions have been consistently in the top five and second in 2025.
And oh did they. Wellsville won the Section V title with 152 points. The second place finisher was Bath-Haverling with 121 points, Aquinas Institute with 80, Wayland-Cohocton 60, Livonia 39 and Hornell with 35 rounding out the top six of the 13 teams in the class.
“When you score 130 points, you win. It shows how dominating we have been,” Giopulos said. “It would be fair to say this is the best boys’ track team we’ve ever had. If it’s not the best, I’d be hard-pressed to see someone who can beat it. They beat six school records. There are 19 events. They erased a third of the school records!”
HOW THEY GOT HERE
“Having Xavier Scott back, having Jack Davis back, having Collin Perkins back — we had a number of kids back,” Giopulos said. “Then mix in David Lamberson, Andrew Kristoffersen, Cole White, Conner Carr — I had a great deal of talent returning, but the question was, how quickly can these kids develop?
Giopulos knew to win sectionals against great programs with high-level athletes like Bath and Aquinas, he would need more that just his upperclassmen and his top place-getters.
“I hardly ever have expectations of freshman or sophomores score a lot of points for you during the year — much less sectionals — but Kristofferson and Lamberson, they played huge roles in what we did,” he said. “And then, you add the fact you had first-year seniors like Nicolas Germain-Tardieu, Trenton Green, Brennen Geffers, Kai Burke and Jack Cicirello … we had a number of kids who came out as first-year seniors who filled in where we needed and and gave us the depth to take chances come sectionals.”
JACK OF ALL HURDLES
The turning point was the 400 meter hurdles. The favorite was Colton Fleming of Bath, a good friend of Jack Davis and Xavier Scott, the Wellsville hurdlers. In a back-and-forth race, Davis edged out Fleming at the finish line. The timing read 57.21 for both athletes. But the photo finish showed Davis won.
“When Jack won that, it just ignited everybody. It was such a competitive race. It was a combination of the kids knowing how bad Jack wanted to win a sectional title,” Giopulos said. “Jack is friends with the kid he beat. He helped him up and then Jack got swarmed. Kids came from everywhere. (Assistant coach) Johnny Valentine picked him up and carried him around like rag doll. It was a sight to see and a 4-point swing.”
THE POINTS KEEP COMING
Joseph “J.J.” McWeeney and Kelston Vossler qualified for the 400 hurdles and took fourth and sixth place. More huge points to catch up to Bath.
Blake Kalkoff, a first-year junior, picked up the triple jump better than anyone Giopulos has ever seen.
“We scored 23 points in the 110 hurdles and Kalkoff had points in that,” Giopulos said. “Blake is a natural athlete. He also picked up the long jump and the hurdles.”
Gabe “Gibby” Quackenbush then picked up points in the pole vault.
This made Giopulos smile because he knew how strong the relay teams are at Wellsville.
“Our relays were solid all year. The 4×800 was Collin Perkins, J.J. McWeeney, Kelston Vossler and David Lamberson. The 4×4 — which broke the school record at the state qualifiers — was Nick G.T., Andrew Kristoffersen, Jack Davis and David Lamberson,” Giopulos said.
The 4×100 team was Brennen Geffers, Xavier Scott, Blake Kalkoff and David Clark.
COLE WHITE’S DOMINATION
Before sectionals, Giopulos saw the pentathlon could be the reason Wellsville would not win a title. But the underclassmen and the emergence of a first-year senior allowed him to put senior Cole White into the pentathlon.
“Nick G-T allowed me to Cole White into the pentathlon. I knew there were points there we could get. I put Easton Faulkner and Conner Carr in that. (Wellsville hosts) a pentathlon/steeplechase meet each year for that reason — to get the kids used to doing it,” Giopulos said. “This allows me to get a score from the athlete and see where I have flexibility.”
Cole White took second in the 110 hurdles for pentathlon, second in high jump, second in long jump, ninth in shot put placing him second overall with 2,151 points behind Dawson Stephens of Wayland Cohocton.
What Giopulos thought would be experience turned into valuable points.
“Easton, being a freshman, it was a chance to get him into a sectional meet. I thought, ‘Down the road, he can look at that experience of being in a sectional champion meet.’ Little did I know, he would go out and take third place! Those kids stepped up when we needed it,” Giopulos said.
The names and performances keep rattling off. Smoke is coming off the keyboard as you try to type as fast as Coach Giopulus ran in the late 1970’s for Wellsville, when he set records in the 100.
“David Clark had a huge meet, too. He took third in the 100’s. Jack Cicirello took sixth in the 200 — he won his heat and wound up sixth overall. It’s the little points,” Giopulos said. “Sure, you win by 31 points, but the little thing changed everything. Being able to us J.J. and Kelston in the 3,200 relay … had they not been able to step in that role? I don’t get to take the chance to put Cole in the pentathlon. So not only did they get the points we expected them to get, they allowed three others get 16 more.”
“And there’s your meet,” Giopulos added.
THE X-FACTOR
Giopulos then smiles when he finishes talking about the win. Because, well, after all, there’s also X.
X is his nickname, but it’s become his moniker, it’s also his social media handle. Xavier Scott is a two-time state champion, he holds all-time Class C records, he competes in nationals and he just committed to the top junior college track program in the nation, Coffeyville.
And he’s had a target on his back every single time he gets off the bus.
“To run with that kind of pressure on you, physically and emotionally, it’s so hard to do. And this kid has handled it every single time with grace and dignity. X has been rock solid,” Giopulos said.
To put things in perspective. Wellsville won the sectional title by 31 points. Xavier Scott scored 32 on his own.
He won the 110 hurdles in 14.17, he was first in the long jump at 22-04.50 and first in the 100 meter dash at 11.00. And teammates David Clark and Jack Davis were right there with him along with Trenton Green.
IT TAKES A STAFF
Giopulos takes one more chance to talk a bout the team and his coaching staff.
“We coach our kids as a collective team — boys and girls. Sprinters work with sprinters, hurdlers work with hurdlers. We all work together in groups,” Giopulos said. “This was ben one of the most enjoyable groups of athletes I’ve had a chance to coach, with the boys and the girls. We have some tremendous young kids. And they all work hard. You see younger kids who are coming up. It’s not just the kids who score points, it’s the kids who work as hard as anyone else who inspire you. And they are an inspiration to the other athletes.”
That’s where the coaching comes in.
To coach with Larry Peacock, to coach with Veronica (Ebert) Crego, to have the help of John Valentine with the jumps and Tom Reuning with the pole vault, and Rhiannon Babbitt and Breanna Willson with the modified — we have more kids in that modified program than we have had in years, the feeder is excellent,” Giopulos said. “We have great people working with our kids. I’ve done this for a long time and it’s not a one-man show. it doesn’t happen without all of those I just mentioned … it just doesn’t happen.”
Photos by Ella Green and Samuel Robinson, see all meet results as well:
