Area freshmen lead way at state meet

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June 9, 2012

Area freshmen lead way at state meet

By PERRY L. NOVAK Contributing Writer The Daily Star Sat Jun 09, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

CICERO _ A pair of area freshmen girls earned sixth-place medals during the first day of the New York State High School Track and Field Championships on Friday at Cicero-North Syracuse.

Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton's Julia Knapp placed sixth among Division II (school enrollments of 600 or fewer) New York State Public High School Athletic Association competitors in the 400-meter hurdles and Gilbertsville-Mount Upton/Morris' Christina Hawkins finished sixth in the discus.

They were the lone medal winners among the local contingent Friday.

The two-day meet concludes Saturday. Competition begins at 10 a.m.

Knapp, who earned a medal in the 400 hurdles for the second straight year, also qualified fifth for the Division II 100 hurdles final in a school-record time.

Knapp finished seventh overall in the Division II 400 hurdles in 1 minute, 6.66 seconds but earned the NYSPHSAA sixth-place medal because winner Alyza Ngbokli of Hackey runs for an independent school.

"As they came around that third turn, there was really nasty wind in your face," B-G/A coach Robb Munro said. "There was probably a 15-20 mph wind and Julia was a victim of steps. She never had a complete breakdown, but she just lost some momentum. She faded to the tail end and then caught back up in the final straight and got by a girl."

Knapp, recipient of The Daily Star's Female Track Athlete of the Year in 2011, rallied to qualify in the 100 hurdles in 15.36.

"I wanted to be at least second in my heat so I could make it to finals," Knapp said after her race. "I wanted to have fun and I wanted to run for Jesus."

Munro said Knapp was third through seven hurdles. The top two in each heat qualify for the finals.

"By hurdle No. 8, she was ahead of the girl," Munro said of Knapp, who broke her school record of 15.55. "She certainly felt good afterward, but she was a nervous wreck before the race. For tomorrow's 100 hurdles final, we'll see if she has any emotional fatigue from doing three events the first day and how her body recovers. I can't think of any time that would simulate doing that much in a meet and then doing something the next day and doing something hard. With her being a ninth-grader, we'll make adjustments and see how she handles them."

Three girls broke 15 seconds during qualifying, including top-seeded Isabel Hirtelen-Booker of Harley Allen, who crossed in 14.50. Jessica Barrera of Hamilton and Courtney Warden of Marlboro finished in 14.74 and 14.92, respectively.

"I was still nervous," Knapp said of her start. "But I'm really happy."

In the long jump, Knapp faulted on her first two attempts and then jumped 15 feet, 10 1/2 inches on her final attempt to finish 17th. She came in with a seed distance of 17-1 3/4.

Hawkins' best discus throw covered 97-7. Ellenville's Danielle Borriello won at 116-0. Hawkins' season-best came last week in the Section Four State Qualfier, where she threw 108-8.

Delhi senior Jessica Plance finished ninth with a throw of 93-4.

Walton senior Kevin Flaherty finished 15th in the 110 hurdles, crossing in 16.21. Ticonderoga's Jay Herbert had the fastest qualifying time at 14.35.

"It's a great experience," Flaherty said. "I love the sport. I couldn't have asked for a better section to compete in.

"At the start there was maybe one person behind me and maybe I should have pulled through more in the race," he continued. "But there are a lot of fast guys here today. My goal was to make finals, and maybe a school record. But 14.9 is a fast time."

G-MU/M senior Eddie Ray Cotton just missed qualifying for Saturday's D-II 200 final. He crossed in 22.95 to finish ninth. The top eight qualify.

"Coming in I was really nervous," said Cotton, who added he was battling a cold. "This is awesome to be here. I just did the best I could and tried to stay with them."

Cotton's personal record of 22.81 came at last week's state qualifier.

Milford senior Brett Smith and Cherry Valley-Springfield junior Isiah Montgomery finished 12th and 17th, respectively, in the D-II 100 preliminaries. Smith finished in 11.53 and Montgomery crossed in 11.69.

Oneonta High senior Kim Scofield finished 17th in the triple jump, covering 33-9 1/2, and Sidney senior Asia Revis was 12th in the shot put at 33-10 1/2.

Walton senior Molly Maguire and B-G/A senior Connor Fuller will compete in the 2,000 and 3,000 steeplechase, respectively, when the competition resumes Saturday morning.

Four high jumpers _ Cooperstown's Lucy Ford, Oneonta High's Natalie Vanderlaan-Meyering and Brittney Herrick, and Delhi's Justin Hasbrouck _ along with Oneonta High's 3,200 relay team of Scofield, Taylor Hitchcock, Missy Emilio and Fable Booker also will compete Saturday.