Two of the Skaneateles indoor track and field team’s relay teams would go up against the best competition of the winter during last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship meet at Cornell University’s Barton Hall.
The boys Lakers had its 4×400 relay team. Connor Hill, Cooper Watt, Griffin Lawson and Nick Palmer paired together and would race twice, getting to the finals and earning a place on the awards podium.
During the opening round, Hill, Watt, Lawson and Palmer finished third in their qualifying heat, posting three minutes, 30.68 seconds, just off their season-best 3:30.38 and taking third in the heat, advancing to the finals with the sixth-fastest time.
Then, in the championship round a couple of hours later, Skaneateles maintained that sixth spot, finishing in 3:32.93, watching as Huntington won the state title in 3:27.76.
Hill also competed on his own, in the 300-meter dash, where he had gone as fast as 36.11 seconds during the season, but only managed 37.04 seconds here and did not advance past the opening round, finishing 25th overall as Rai Benjamin (Mount Vernon) eventually won in 33.29 seconds.
Meanwhile, the girls Lakers were represented in the 4×200 relay by the quartet of juniors Amanda Wetmore and Olivia Gage, sophomore Angela Krause and freshman Maddie Peterson.
Having posted a time of 1:50.52 to get to the state meet, Wetmore, Gage, Krause and Peterson went 1:50.44 here, fifth in its qualifying heat, but 10th overall, just missing advancement to the finals. Medgar Evers Prep took the state title with a time of 1:42.44.
