CICERO – All season long, Skaneateles junior Kyla Palmer and Westhill senior Ashley Bolesh had faced one another in the 400-meter dash, posting two of the fastest Division II (small school) times in the state.
So it only figured that the pair would duel again in last Friday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, with Palmer finishing on top.
“It feels awesome,” said Palmer. “This is what I have been working for all year.”
Culminating a remarkable junior season after moving thousands of miles east from Idaho, Palmer fought both Bolesh and the gusty winds that made conditions tricky on an otherwise perfect June afternoon.
During the season, Palmer had run 56.32 seconds in the 400, with Bolesh going 56.92. The winds kept the championship heat from that kind of speed.
But by finishing in 56.74, Palmer still lay claim to the state title, while Bolesh, in 57.29, beat out Montfort Academy’s Jayla Johnson (57.59) for the runner-up spot.
Moving to the 200-meter dash, Palmer, a top-10 qualifier at 25.65 seconds, stepped up in a big way, improving by half a second to 25.15 and entering Saturday’s finals as the second-fastest qualifier behind the 25.10 from Stillwater’s Gianna Locci.
In that 200 final, Palmer would finish in 25.21 seconds, third overall but second in the NYSPHSAA race behind only Stlllwater’s Gianna Locci, who got the victory in 25.08.
One more race remained – the Federation final at 400 meters. Palmer crushed her own school record and, in 55.59 seconds, was third only to the 54.53 from Paul Robeson’s Anissa Moore and 55.02 from John Adams’ Jadah Fitzgerald. Bolesh ran, too, and was sixth in 57.44.
Back on Friday, Bolesh joined Angie Mesa-Espinosa, Kate Bendall and Elle Herrera in the Division II 4×100 relay, where it was the top seed at 49.27 seconds going into the finals.
Combined, the Warriors’ quartet ran quite well and finished in 49.63 seconds, beating everyone except Stillwater, who won in 49.15.
There was also the 100-meter dash where Mesa-Espinosa was the fifth-ranked qualifier in 12.32 seconds. A heat of 12.38 put Mesa-Espinosa second going into the finals, where she ran 12.80 and took eighth place.
Jordan-Elbridge senior Vassianna Klock medaled, too, in the 800-meter run, her time of 2:14.92 fourth among Division II runners and eighth overall, the title won by Allegany-Limestone’s Angelina Napoleon in 2:08.58.
A day later, in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, Klock, who had qualified in 7:13.74, but here she went far faster, finishing in 7:06.15 to snare third place in Division II and eighth place overall. Napoleon won here, too, with a meet-record time of 6:30.59.
West Genesee had junior Peter McMahon in the 3,200-meter run, looking to improve upon his 9:25.69, but he only managed 9:30.31 to finish 17th overall, 14th among Division I runners.
In the girls 4×400 relay, WG’s quartet of eighth-grader Chloe Fietze, Sarah Fettig, Grace McInerney and Andrea Conklin went 4:14.95 to finish 10th, a race won by Paul Robeson in 3:52.41.
Skaneateles also featured Maddie Wright in the high jump, looking to improve on 5 feet, but she could only manage a 4’9” here as Gloversville’s Zoie Tesi topped 5’5” for the state title.
