Kaela Fiutak, a recent graduate of Skaneateles High School, is the latest recipient of the ‘Believe to Achieve’ award handed out by the Syracuse Sports Corporation.
Fiutak, who is headed to Washington and Lee University in Virginia, was given the Individual Female Athlete Award at a ceremony on Thursday at the Hank Sauer room inside Alliance Bank Stadium, honored with other teams and individuals from the local high school scene.
In the fall, Fiutak won the Section III state qualifying meet in diving at Nottingham High School, named that meet’s Most Outstanding Diver, and going on to participate in the state championships in Buffalo, where she finished 25th overall. She was the first Skaneateles diver ever to reach the state meet.
Then FIutak turned to track and field and her specialty – the pole vault. Indoors, she cleared 10 feet 6 inches at the state meet in March at Cornell University.
Outdoors, Fiutak would win the Section III Class C championship in track and field in the pole vault, going on to a tie for sixth place in the Division II (small school) portion of the state meet at Cicero-North Syracuse, clearing 10 feet. She had cleared 10’9” in the state qualifying meet, the best Section III effort of the season.
Before all this, Fiutak also starred as a gymnast, with an 18th-place finish in the all-around portion of the 2010 Empire State Games, also held in Buffalo.
