Section VII athletes strong at state track meet

MIDDLETOWN | Section VII likes going to Middletown. Middletown High School has been a home away from home for the Chazy boys soccer and Moriah football teams each fall, along with a smattering of other schools that have seen their way to wins and state titles there. During the June 9-10 NYSPHSAA track and field championships, the Section VII contingent found similar success, bringing home one federation All State finisher, six Division II All State athletes, and 12 top 10 finishes. All State medalists A pair of sophomores made their mark in the throwing pit, as Beekmantown's Jesse Giddings and Saranac's Desiree Jean-Pierre each made the shot put All State podium. Giddings launched a best of 49 feet, three inches in the shot put, putting him in fourth place and earning Division II All State honors. His throw also made him a Federation (D-I, D-II and private schools) All State athlete, as he entered the Federation championship round as the eighth seed, where he finished with a throw of 47-10. Jean-Pierre similarly starred for Section VII in the girls event, as the Chiefs sophomore launched a best throw of 35-5.5 to take fifth place and earn an All State medal. She finished in 12th place amongst all Federation throwers. "Dez is a very talented athlete who can compete on any field in New York state in the shot put any given week," said Saranac coach Chris Verkey. "As a sophomore we have to assume that we have only begun to see how far she can go in this event." Saranac Lake senior Sam Ash completed one of the most decorated running careers in Section VII history by running the 1,600 in a time of 2:24.33, earning a sixth-place finish and All State honors. In the high jump, the top two jumpers in Section VII boys competition both cleared the 6-4 mark at the state championships as Peru freshman Oliver Lancto and Boquet Valley junior Jackson Hooper tied for fifth place in Division II and 11th place overall, as nine jumpers finished at 6-4 but six did so in fewer jumps. The duo matched each other on each jump, both failing twice at 6-2 before clearing and once at 6-4 as neither cleared the next height of 6-6. Beekmantown senior Ethan Owen landed a sixth-place finish in the pentathlon with 2,948 points, placing 12th in the 110 hurdles (16.62), fourth in the high jump (5-9.75), sixth in the long jump (19-8.75), 13th in the shot put (34-2.5), and 11th in the 1,500 (4:56.35). Top 10 finishers Plattsburgh High's Winisha Steele-Michael was .07 seconds off an All State pace, placing seventh in the girls 100, running a time of 12.47 seconds. She entered the Division II finals as the eighth ranked runner and moved up one spot. Beekmantown senior Alexander Jock opened his meet in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.65 seconds, putting himself in the sixth position for the Division II finals, where he would miss an All State finish, improving his time to 15.51 but falling to eighth place in the final. Saranac Lake's Liam Nobles was less than two inches away from an All State finish in the long jump, with his top jump of 21-8.75 placing him in eighth place for Division II as sixth place set a mark of 21-10. Nobles also recorded a top 10 finish in the triple jump with a mark of 42-7.25, just over one foot away from sixth place. The Seton Catholic 3,200 relay team of Sam DeJordy, Maxwell Grafstein, Ashton Guay and Aiden Pearl placed ninth among D-II relay teams with a time of 8:18.14. The Saranac girls quartet in the 400 relay finished in eighth place with a time of 50.33 seconds, with .22 seconds of sixth place Stillwater with the team of Madalyn Wynnik, Paige Ubl, Zoe Rainville, and Sarah Lavigne. In the girls high jump, Saranac's Grace Damiani finished eighth with a mark of 5-3 on five tries, as a group of four jumpers finished tied for fourth place, clearing the 5-3 mark in four tries. "I think that overall, this was a good weekend for Saranac track and field as whole and continued to build off the success of the last two weeks from the Sectional Championship and the State Qualifier meet," said Verkey. "The girls 4x100 relay established a new school record for the third time this season in the event. They would place eighth and narrowly miss this podium this year in a time that would have finished fourth last year for D2. In the girls 4x400, Brooke Hanson, Kaitlynn, Zoe and Sarah all established new personal best relay splits to run a three second seasons best in the event. Grace would clear 5-3 with seven other girls but lose a tie breaker to drop from second to eigth due to the amount of attempts it took to clear the height. Sienna ran a new personal best in the 1,500 by five seconds Laura shaved 15 seconds off of her 3,000 personal best. Although we did not have as many trips to the podium as we had the potential for, I am very proud of all the boys and girls for their efforts and determination at the State Championship." Other finishes by Section VII athletes at states included: Sawyer Schlitt (Peru): 100 (11.27, 20th), 400 (57.51, 22nd) Sarah Lavigne (Saranac): 100 (12.84, 25th) Ava McAuliffe (NCCS): 200 (26.26, 17th); 400 (59.41, 12th) Isabelle Burroughs (Ticonderoga): 100 hurdles (18.02, 18th) Harrison Matthews (Peru): 400 hurdles (60.87, 15th) Brooke Hanson (Saranac): 400 hurdles (1:10.96, 12th) Saranac 400 relay (Zander Daniels, Kye Norcross, Hayden Wells, Connor Homburger): 44.43 (15th) Peru 1,600 relay (Owen Fuller, Ryan Squire, Harrison Matthews, Landon Pandolph): 3:34.98 (16th) Saranac girls 1,600 relay (Kaitlynn Rabideau, Zoe Rainville, Brooke Hanson, Sarah Lavigne): 4:08.89 (12th) Saranac girls 3,200 relay (Sienna Boulds, Laura Denial, Gillian Miner, Kaelyn Fay): 10:13.5 (12th) Madalyn Wynnik (Saranac): long jump (16-9.25, 11th) Reilly Quinn (Beekmantown): triple jump (32-8, 16th) Nathan Webber (Saranac): Discus (120-10, 16th) Sydney Palmer (Peru): Discus (94-4, 17th) Aiden Pearl (Seton Catholic): 800 (2:01.20, 12th) Elizabeth Chase (Plattsburgh): 800 (2:26.85, 12th) Sienna Boulds (Saranac): 1,500 (4:53, 15th) Andrew Scanio (Lake Placid): 3,200 (9:49.18, 16th) Laura Denial (Saranac): 3,000 (10:35.6, 16th) Andrew Denial (Saranac): 3,000 steeplechase (10:55.01, 14th) Kai McKinnon (Lake Placid): 2,000 steeplechase (8:00.51, 13th) Emma Pelkey (AuSable Valley): Pentathlon (2,406 points, 18th)

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Section VII athletes strong at state track meet

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