While many athletes are resting up and looking ahead to the spring, several standouts from the girls indoor track team are still working hard to make their mark on the winter season. Seven members of the Lady Lakers squad earned a bid to the elite state championship qualifier to be held at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24, at OCC’s SRC Arena.
Senior Captain Tori Fischer will be making her final trip to the qualifier to wrap up her illustrious indoor track career. She will be competing in the high jump event based on her 4-10 clearance during the season. Fischer also scored for the Lakers in the pole vault and shot put and set a new school record of 30 feet, 2 inches in the 20-pound weight throw during her first season competing in the event. She is ranked fourth in the section in the weight throw and will serve as an alternate to represent CNY at States if other athletes cannot attend.
Sophomore Katie Robbins is making her second appearance at the qualifier in the pole vault based on her season best of 8-6 at the sectional title meet. Robbins earned all-league honors in the event this winter and also scored for Cazenovia in the long jump and triple jump. She will be joined by freshman Maddy Gavitt, competing in the long jump based on her season best of 15-7.5. Gavitt also led the team in the triple jump and scored in the pole vault and high jump during her first indoor track season.
Freshman Clara Rowles leads a strong crew of Laker runners into the qualifier in her second trip to the competition. She will focus on the 1,500-meter run, where she advanced all the way to states and came within a second of the school record last spring. She also earned bids in the 600-meter and 3,000-meter runs but opted for the 1,500 with a goal of setting a new school indoor mark.
Rowles earned all-league honors in the 1,000, 1,500 and 4×800 relay during the season. She will be joined by fellow 4×800 sectional champion runner Maria Stalder, who will compete in the 600-meter run. Stalder, a senior, also earned all-league honors in the 4×400 and 4×800 relays and scored in the 1,000 for the Lakers during her first indoor track season.
Sophomore Kirsten Underwood will represent the Laker sprinters at the qualifier. Also a standout in the 4×200 relay and 300-meter dash, Underwood will focus on the 55-meter dash, where she earned all-league recognition during the winter. Fellow sophomore Meggie Hart also earned bids to the meet in the 3,000- and 1,500-meter runs but will not be able to compete due to her participation on the school’s International Club trip to Italy which returns later that night. Hart was a sectional champion and first team all-league runner in both the 3,000 and 4×800 this winter and set a new school record of 10:39.76 in the 3,000 during the season.
The competition will be fierce for the Lakers at the meet as there are no classes for Indoor Track States. Athletes from all schools in the section, Class AA to D must vie for just two slots per event at the NYSPHSAA Championship.
