Everyone from the Skaneateles track and field teams that made it to last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium had top finishes in mind – and managed to get them.
Freshman Raenah Campbell emerged as a contender in the Division II (small school) 400-meter hurdles, finishing in one minute, 5.26 seconds, which put her in fourth place and on the medal podium, improving her state qualifying time (1:06.19) by nearly a full second.
Campbell’s Section III teammate, Hamilton’s Clara Jones, won the state title in 1:03.43, more than a second ahead of Silver Creek’s Hannah Seiders (1:04.65), with Justina Sanders-Schifano (Sodus) finishing in 1:04.92 to edge out Campbell for third place.
Moving to the relays, the Lakers’ 4×100 quartet of sophomores Amanda Wetmore, Katelyn Ellison, and Laurel Parker, plus senior Taylor Woodruff, just missed matching its school record from the state qualifier, but in 50.38 seconds still took sixth place as Roosevelt won in 48.87 seconds.
Then, in the 4×400 relay, Woodruff and Campbell joined ninth-grader Shannan Roberts and eighth-grader Mia Grasso to post 4:01.55 and put the Lakers in seventh place. Bayport-Bluepoint won the state title with a time of 3:57.59 as junior Kaitlyn Neal finished 10th in Division II, and 22nd overall, in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:46.08.
On the boys side, senior Patrick Biver, in the Division II 400-meter dash went out and, in 50.11 seconds, broke the school record and took fifth place. Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Matt McCoy would win the state title in a time of 49.07 seconds.
Later in the day, Biver, joining Jeff Kringer, Cooper Watt and James Hackler, covered the 4×400 relay in 3:29.87, putting them in ninth place in Division II. Port Jefferson prevailed in 3:23.36.
