Once her successful area cross country season concluded, Cicero-North Syracuse sophomore Kate Putman continued accumulating strong finishes and accolades during the winter.
Like other top runners, Putman had to go out of the area to find competition, since Section III canceled its indoor track and field season due to closed facilities like Onondadga Community College’s SRC Arena.
As a training partner to Tully’s four-time state cross country champion, Brooke Rauber, the pair have often competed together during this unique 2020-21 school year.
This included the Jan. 18 VA Showcase in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where in the 1,000-meter run Putman finished in two minutes, 53.75 seconds, moving from fourth place to second place on the final lap.
It beat everyone in the field except Rauber, who won in 2:49.29 and, by doing so, broke the sectional record of 2:50.90 in this distance set by Fayetteville-Manlius’ Sophie Ryan in a 2017 meet.
But no one would top Putman when she raced again on Feb. 7 in the Spire Scholastic Showcase in Geneva, Ohio, on what just happened to be her 16th birthday.
During the 800-meter run, Putman posted a time of 2:14.44, which put her fifth amid a strong national field, but also broke, by a full second, the previous sectional mark of 2:15.44 West Genesee’s Carly Benson recorded five years ago.
Racing with Rauber, Elizabeth Lucason (Camden) and Lexi Barnard (South Lewis) in the 4×800 relay, Putman capped this meet by helping the quartet win this race in 9:22.06, the second-fastest time anyone in the country has put up this winter.
Another C-NS runner, Hannah Boyle, also fared well in the Spire meet, recording a personal-best time of 59.48 seconds at 400 meters.
