MIDDLETOWN – Four area high school track and field teams brought strong athletes to Middletown High School for last weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship and, by the time it was done, a handful had medals to show for it.
That included Christian Brothers Academy, who had Darien Williams seeded fourth in the 100-meter dash in Division II (small schools) with 10.80 seconds and also was looking to improve upon his 22.35 in the 200-meter dash.
Speeding to 22.11 in the opening round of the 200, Williams qualified for the final, where he got under the 22-second mark – 21.98, to be precise – and was third among NYSPHSAA runners, fifth overall, to get on the medal podium. Johnson City’s Dayzin Legare won in 21.37.
Williams went 11.02 to reach the final in the 100, and slowed down a bit to 11.07 a day later, but still finished seventh overall and sixth among NYSPHSAA competitors.
On the girls side, CBA’s 4×800 relay team of Grace Fletcher, Claire Krueger, Ally Roueche and Catherine Williamson finished in 9:51.06, which put them in eighth place among Division II sides and 22nd overall.
‘From East Syracuse Minoa, there was Akuot Kuany, who had cleared 5 feet 6 inches to be a top-five qualifier in the high jump, with teammate Ariana Brennen had 5’4 1/2”.
In Saturday’s state final, Kuany topped 5’5″, and that put her in fifth place overall, not far from the winning 5’9″ from Minisink Valley’s Ella Michelitch as Brennen was unable to clear a heigh.
Evani McDuffie, fifth-seeded in the 100-meter dash at 12.01 seconds, went 12.47 in the opening round – and missed on advancing to the Division I (large school) championship round by one-hundredth of a second behind Central Square rival Alyssa Costello’s 12.46. As it turned out, only one competitor, Elmont’s Ashley Fulton, broke 12 seconds (11.88) in the finals.
Maragret Mading, in the triple jump, put up 35’8 1/4″ in her initial attempt and, while not faring any better in the ensuing five tries, still took ninth place, the winning attempt of 40’6 1/4″ put up by Webster Schroeder’s Corintia Griffith.
Jamesville-DeWitt was led by Hailey Webber, who had qualified fourth in the shot put by throwing it 40′ 3/4” during the season.
Here, Webber would send her second throw 37’8 1/4″, which would ultimately put her in fourth place in the NYSPHSAA standings and fifth overall as Commack’s Julie Thomas won with 43’2 3/4″.
Victoria Payne, in the 100-meter hurdles, went 15.34 seconds for ninth place in the qualifying round, just five-hundredths of a second out of a spot in the finals. Nikki Militi, in the 400-meter dash, finished 11th overall in 1:00.37.
J-D also had its 4×400 relay team of Militi, Payne, Norah Kirch and Meghana Reddy go 4:07.80, just off their season-best 4:06.36 and ultimately finishing in 10th place.
Fayetteville-Manlius featured top distance runners Izzie Sullivan and Nolan McGinn. Sullivan would make her way to sixth place in Division I and eighth overall in the 3,000-meter run in 9:57.50.
As for McGinn, who had gone 4:18.24 in the 1,600-meter run during the season, he nearly matched that time here, finishing in 4:20.15 to get to 13th place overall, but 11th overall.
