Ashley Winn again proved herself as the quickest sprinter in Central New York, regardless of school size, with her victory in the 55-meter dash during Wednesday night’s Section III state qualifying meet at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena.
Not only did Winn get the victory in the 55 sprint, she anchored the Lakers’ 4×200 relay side that also earned a trip to Cornell University’s Barton Hall for the March 2 state Division II (small school) indoor track championships.
Consistency was on display here, as Winn ran her 55 heat in 7.30 seconds, the quickest time. Minutes later, in the final, Winn posted that exact same 7.30 seconds mark, beating the Division I champion, Mexico’s Chelsey Beshures, who won her division in 7.45 seconds.
Choosing to not run in her other specialty, the 300-meter dash, Winn instead focused on the 4×200, where she would team with Clare Costello, Jessie Matt and Sarah Willard to finish in one minute, 47.84 seconds, tops in Division II and just behind Liverpool (1:47.39) for overall honors.
In distance running, Samantha Gates nearly won the Division II portion of the 600-meter run, as she finished in 1:44.70, just one-hundredth of a second behind Jordan-Elbridge’s Brianna Byrnes (1:44.69).
Jeanette Cudney broke five minutes in the 1,500-meter run, claiming second place in Division II in 4:57.49, only trailing Kaitlyn Neal (Skaneateles), who finished in 4:51.40.
Costello did run in the 300 sprint, and her clocking of 42.75 seconds was fourth overall, second in Division II behind Skaneteles’ Emma Ford, who won in 41.99 seconds.
Ashley Kent made it to the finals in the 55-meter hurdles, taking fifth place overall in 9.43 seconds and third in Division II, everyone chasing Pulaski star Breanna Burns, who took the race in a blistering 8.58 seconds.
Kent also was second in the Division II triple jump, going 34 feet 1/2 inch, trailing only Tully’s Zoe Guttendorf, who had a top leap of exactly 35 feet.
In the long jump, Kent, with 14’6 1/2″, beat out Liz Pittman (14’4″), who had already finished third in the Division II pole vault by clearing 8’6″ as Clinton’s Hannah Shankman won with 9’6″. Tori Fischer cleared 4’8″ and was third in the Division II high jump.
Over in the boys state qualifier, Cameron Braathen, who won the Class B sectional shot put, this time had a throw of 42 feet 7 1/2 inches, this time trailing Phoenix’s Jason Czyz, who claimed first place in Division II with 44’2 3/4″.
