Baldwinsville’s girls indoor track and field team had options of several different events to compete in when they went to Cornell University’s Barton Hall for Saturday’s state championship meet.
As it turned out, the Bees made good choices, forgoing both the 4×200 relay and junior Marissa Lathrop’s appearance in the 600-meter run so that it could fully concentrate on the 4×400 relay.
Lathrop joined senior Cierra Allen and sophomores Hailey Couchman and Katie Wicks as B’ville ran the qualifying heat in four minute, 5.28 seconds, behind only Uniondale’s 4:01.61 and qualifying them for an appearance in the championship race a few hours later.
Allen started it, followed by Couchman and Wicks, with Lathrop taking the anchor leg. B’ville would see its time tail off a small bit, to 4:05.51, but still finish fourth among New York State Public High School Athletic Association entries and fifth overall as Uniondale went under four minutes (3:58.79, to be exact) to earn the state and Federation titles.
Meanwhile, senior Emily Soeder put up a strong effort in the high jump, reaching the podium as she cleared 5 feet 4 inches for seventh place, just behind Section III teammate Nina Zesky (East Syracuse-Minoa), who was sixth with 5’5”. Shayla Broughton (Medgar Evers) won with a top clearance of 5’8”.
Later in the day, Josh Perez took part in the boys 600-meter run, finishing 28th in one minute, 30.72 seconds. Lynbrook’s Luke Germankos took the top prize in 1:21.31.
