MIDDLETOWN – Two different area high schools brought home two gold medals from last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, thanks to the duo of Kate Putman and Allie Cary.
Putman, a Cicero-North Syracuse senior, and Cary, a Liverpool senior, capped their high school careers with sweeps of their specialties in the state meet at Middletown High School.
For Putman, it began in the 800-meter run on Friday afternoon. In two minutes, 5.25 seconds, she emerged victorious in the Division I (large school portion) by more than two seconds over Guilderland’s Addison Vellekoop (2:07.80) as Allegany-Limestone standout Angelina Napoleon won in a meet-record 2:03.97 and Liverpool’s Taylor Page was 17th overall in 2:17.32.
And it continued a day later in the 1,500-meter run, only this time no one beat Putman. Taking the lead on the next-to-last lap and building a comfortable margin, Putman kept it the rest of the way and, in 4:19.27, beat runner-up Dylan McElhinney (Hunter-College Campus) by more than five seconds.
By the time Putman ran in the 1,500, Cary was already the NYSPHSAA Division I champion in the discus. In one of the first events of the state meet Friday, Cary got off to a slow start with two fouls and a first attempt of 109 feet 4 inches.
But on her fourth throw, Cary went to 125’2″ to grab second place. Her fifth attempt of 128-6″ almost caught the leading 128’11” from Saint Anthony’s Maria Chiarello and, on her final throw, Cary won it with 130’10”.
When the Division I and II throwers got together for the overall Federation event on Saturday, Cary fouled her first throw, then put up 134’4″ before peaking on her third try with exactly 139 feet.
Commack’s’ Julie Thomas got close on that same throw with 137’3″, but could not do any better, and Cary’s mark held up for her to add the Federation championship to her state title. Earlier, in the shot put, Cary finished sixth in Division I, throwing it 37’3 1/2” as Thomas prevailed with 43’2 3/4”.
Working with Hannah Boyle, Cameron Sisk and Marissa Navarra in a 4×800 relay where they were seeded fourth at 9:23.66, Putman helped the Northstars improved to 9:22.82 but still ended up eighth overall and seventh in Division I as Saratoga Springs (9:05.05) prevailed.
C-NS freshman Kalli Congden, a top-10 qualifier in the high jump at 5’5″, only topped 5 feet here to tie for 31st overall. Also, in the 100 hurdles, Congden, having gone 14.98 seconds during the season, went 15.61 here to finish 13th in Division I.
The Northstars’ Grace Murray, in the 400-meter hurdles, looked to improve upon 1:04.91, but only got to 1:05.90 to end up 12th in Division I.
In the 4×100 relay, the Warriors’ quartet of Heaven Lavere, Mia Wright, Maddie Devendorf and Mikayla Greene, looking to improve upon 49.18 seconds, only went 50.14 here but still recorded an eighth-place finish.
On the boys side, C-NS’s Jayceon McGrew ran in the 100-meter dash, having broken 11 seconds (10.98) this spring but managed 11.55 here. Sean Graves, in the 400 hurdles (56.51 this season), struggled to a 1:00.10.
In the five-event pentathlon, C-NS’s Xander Provost, with his total of 2,886 points, did not quite match the 2,901 he had earlier in the season, but still took 13th overall and sixth in Division I as Camden’s Connor Dean (3,498 points) was the overall state champion.
