Track: Plante spearheads another Section II medal haul

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bill Cain

Fast despite the early rain, Section II’s athletes got even faster as the day wore on to claim more state titles Saturday.

Colonie senior Kyle Plante ran a 53.6 to win the Federation 400-meter dash by more than two seconds.

“I was hoping for 52, but 53.6 is fine with me,” she said.

She got her 52 later on her anchor leg in the Federation 4 x 400 relay. She had won the state Division 1 (large school) 400 Friday with a 54.21 and ran a 53.2 anchor in Friday’s division 4 x 400, which Colonie won.

Plante thought she might have gone even faster, had Medgar Evens sprinter Kadecia Baird elected to run the 400 instead of the 200.

“She would have pushed me,” Plante said. “But I saw her doing the 200, and she did great.

“I’m just basically racing against the clock, and myself, to get better.”

The Garnet Raiders’ relay team couldn’t catch Garden City in Saturday’s Federation 4 x 400 relay, even when it set a new PR at 3:47.39. Plante took the baton from Mikeisha Kelly about 40 meters behind the Garden City anchor. By the time they reached the finish, she had whittled it down to about 10 meters with a 52.8 split.

Kelly ran a 59.2, Kirsten Kaminski led off with a 57.9, and Alicia Bousa reeled in the pace-setters on the second leg with a 57.4.

Colonie’s girls’ contingent finished fourth in the Federation team scoring with 21 points. Shenendehowa’s girls were third with 24. Medgar Evers and Friends Academy tied for first with 30.

Aside from Plante’s Federation 400 title, the area adds another three state championships and another two Federation crowns from Saturday’s competition.

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake senior Joe Carr won the 200-meter boys’ state championship in the morning with a 21.98, a time he called “awesome” considering the rainy weather. In the afternoon, he bettered that time with a 21.53 to cross the line first in the Federation championship.

“I was expecting to run around the same time [as in the morning],” he said. “Running that much faster is . . . I’m impressed. It’s just awesome.”

Carr kept to the strategy that earned him a win in the Eddy Meet earlier in the season.

“What my coach said about the start is, at the Eddy Meet, I went out really hard for the first 100,” Carr said. “I was just thinking about that at the start, and I got out as hard as I could, and it paid off in the end.”

Berne-Knox-Westerlo junior Courtney Tedeschi won the Division 2 state title in the girls’ 2,000-meter steeplechase, Albany Academy senior Jelani Currie won the boys’ Federation triple jump, and Ichabod Crane junior Isaiah Turek won the boys’ Division 2 state title in the high jump in a jump-off.

The steeplechase was the first event of the day, and there was a little anxiety at the starting line with the rain pouring down.

“I love it. Some people, I know, on the line, they were scared about the rain,” Tedeschi said. “They were like, ‘Oh, we’re going to slip over the barrier.’ I’ve done three practices, workouts in the rain. I was ready for it. My coach always tells me, ‘You can’t control the weather, don’t let it affect you. Just pretend it’s sunny.’ That’s what I did.”

Tedeschi kicked away from her nearest competitors over the last 200 meters, finding a little extra energy when she hit the water in the pit for the last time.

“I got over the last pit and it was an adrenaline rush,” she said. “I was in first, I was like, ‘You know what? Someone can catch you right now. It’s possible, just go.’ ”

In Division 1, Saratoga Springs junior Keelin Hollowood finished second in 6:49.74 (also good for second in the Federation), behind the furious pace of North Shore’s Brianna Nerud (6:33.85).

Currie had won the state triple jump Friday with a leap of 48-6, though his earlier, shorter jump would have gotten the job done.

Again on Saturday, he had a jump in the bank that would have earned the win at 46-11, but he wanted to go farther.

“I had the longest, then on my last jump, I just went for broke,” he said.

Currie flew out 47-21⁄2 for his Federation championship. Shaker’s Franklin Abban was sixth with a 44-6.

Currie said he was a little tired out from jumping competitively on consecutive days, but he came back to the track intent on beating the best from all schools.

“You’ve got to come out here with confidence,” he said. “The night before, I just visualize myself jumping. You have to come out here confident, attack the board. That’s what I tried to do here.”

The boys’ high jump was the last event to wrap up, and it ended with Turek standing alone atop the Division 2 pile. He and four other Division 2 jumpers cleared 6-4, but could not get over 6-6. Based on missed jumps to that point, he and West Canada Valley’s Jack Minasi were tied for the top spot and had to go through a jump-off.

They both faltered at 6-6, then the bar was dropped to 6-5. Minasi couldn’t clear it, but Turek flopped over it and into the pad a state champ.

“I tried to just focus on what I was doing,” he said. “Jump up. I don’t think of form, I block out everything around me and just think about what I’m doing. Get over that bar.”

Even jumping with an injured takeoff foot, he said he thought he had a winning jump as soon as he took off.

“I could always feel the pain, but when it came down to it, I just had to jump and try to ignore it,” he said.

The Shenendehowa girls’ 4×800 relay team of Lizzie Predmore (2:16.96), Gina Stalica (2:15.97), Bailey Kowalczyk (2:20.29) and Kristen Jordan (2:16.26) was the most recent victim of the juggernaut that is Fayetteville-Manlius, but the Lady Plainsmen still ran the second-best time of 9:09.46. Saratoga Springs (Taylor Driscoll, Hollowood, Margaret MacDonald and Olivia Morrow) was right behind them with a 9:11.21.

Amsterdam pentathlete Matt White finished second to Hilton’s Pat Meyer by just 52 points in both Division 1 and the Federation. He totaled 3,577 (second best in Section II history) to Meyer’s 3,629, Meyer’s total buoyed by his win in the final event after the pair had traded the lead throughout the competition.

Schalmont pentathlete Isabella Borini was second in the girls’ Division 2 championship, finishing with 3,049 points.

GIRLS

Division 1

100 — 1. Kadecia Baird (Medgar Evers), 12.00; 5. Natasia Brown (Albany), 12.45. Fed 100 — 1. Kadecia Baird (Medgar Evers), 11.73; 4. Natasia Brown (Albany), 12.36. 200 — 1. Kadecia Baird (Medgar Evers), 24.15; 5. Natasia Brown (Albany), 25.73. Fed 200 — 1. Kadecia Baird (Medgar Evers), 23.57. Fed 400 — 1. Kyle Plante (Colonie), 53.60. 1,500 — 1. Rachel Paul (Sachem East), 4:28.29. 100 hurdles — 1. Akayla Anderson (Cardozo), 14.55. Fed 100 hurdles — 1. Akayla Anderson (Cardozo), 14.33. Fed 400 hurdles — 1. Jessica Gelibert (Bay Shore), 1:00.54. Fed 400 relay — 1. Medgar Evers, 46.70. Fed 1,600 relay — 1. Garden City, 3:45.25; 2. Colonie (Kirsten Kaminski, Alicia Bousa, Mikeisha Kelly, Kyle Plante), 3:47.39; 6, Shaker (Kristen Hayes, Emily VanDenburgh, Maryanna Lansing, Kayleigh Lavender), 3:55.64. 3,200 relay — 1. Fayetteville-Manlius, 9:00.28; 2. Shenendehowa (Elizabeth Predmore, Gina Stalica, Bailey Kowalczyk, Kristen Jordan), 9:09.46; 3. Saratoga Springs (Taylor Driscoll, Keelin Hollowood, Margaret MacDonald, Olivia Morrow), 9:11.21. 2,000 steeplechase — 1. Brianna Nerud (North Shore), 6:33.85; 2. Keelin Hollowood (Saratoga Springs), 6:49.74.

High jump — 1. Kaitlin Whitehorn (John Glenn), 5-8. Fed Long jump — 1. Brittany Bryant (Cornwall), 19-53⁄4; 4, Emily VanDenburgh (Shaker), 17-7. Fed Triple jump — 1. Odrine Belot (Kellenberg), 39-13⁄4; 3. Molly Shapiro (Emma Willard), 38-51⁄2. Fed Shot put — 1. Briyah Brown (New Rochelle), 42-61⁄4. Fed Discus — 1. Mariah Mays (Rome Free Academy), 128-0; 2. Caysie Capano (Troy), 123-0. Pentathlon — 1. Stephanie Izard (Sweet Home), 3,374.

Division 2

100 — 1. Christina Walter (Maple Grove), 12.46. 200 — 1. Christina Walter (Maple Grove), 25.46. 1,500 — 1. Mary Cain (Bronxville), 4:19.78; 3. Catherine Maloy (Holy Names), 4:34.60; 4. Vicky Houser (Greenwich), 4:40.67. 100 hurdles — 1. Isabel Hirtelen-Booker (Harley-Allen), 14.71. 3,200 relay — 1. Friends Academy, 9:16.27; 2. Holy Names (Kaitlin Close, Kaylee Scott, Leah Triller, Catherine Maloy), 9:17.67. 2,000 steeplechase — 1. Courtney Tedeschi (Berne-Knox-Westerlo), 7:00.29; 3. Jacqueline Willsey (Holy Names), 7:10.78.

High jump — 1. Mackenzie Sturtz (Marion), 5-4. Pentathlon — 1. Paige Biviano (Cazenovia), 3,143; 2. Isabella Borini (Schalmont), 3,049.

BOYS

Division 1

100 — 1. Christopher Belcher (Sayville), 11.03. Fed 100 — 1. Wayne Gordon (Sweet Home), 10.96. 200 — 1. Joe Carr (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), 21.98. Fed 200 — 1. Joe Carr (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), 21.53. Fed 400 — 1. Steven Gayle (Mount Vernon), 47.76. 1,600 — 1. Nick Ryan (Fayetteville-Manlius), 4:05.24. 110 hurdles — 1. Ryan Billian (Division Ave), 14.42. Fed 110 hurdles — 1. Jay Hebert (Ticonderoga), 14.41. Fed 400 hurdles — 1. Kadesh Roberts (Bay Shore), 52.37; 5. Steven Kuznia (Saratoga Springs), 54.89. Fed 400 relay — 1. Uniondale, 41.83. Fed 1,600 relay — 1. Mount Vernon, 3:16.36; 6. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Robert Kelly, Dan Fernandez, Michael Danz, Joe Carr), 3:22.85. 3,200 relay — 1. Pearl River, 7:42.45. 3,000 steeplechase — 1. James Sommer (Plainedge), 9:21.16.

High jump — 1. Brandon Joyce (Niagara Falls), 6-10. Fed Long jump — 1. Desmond Mobley (Greece Olympia), 25-2. Fed Triple jump — 1. Jelani Currie (Albany Academy), 47-21⁄2; 6. Franklin Abban (Shaker), 44-6. Shot put — 1. Will Pope (Iona Prep), 54-3. Fed Shot put — 1. Ryan Cribbin (West Irondequoit), 57-41⁄2. Fed Discus — 1. Dominik Kosar (St. Joe’s Buffalo), 178-10. Pentathlon — 1. Pat Meyer (Hilton), 3,629; 2. Matt White (Amsterdam), 3,577.

Division 2

100 — 1. Tyler O’Bryant (Ellenville), 11.11. 200 — 1. Taylor Colucci (Stony Brook), 22.70. 1,600 — 1. Cameron Bruce (Lansing), 4:13.29; 3. Austin Lane (Greenwich), 4:17.32; 4. Jake Urys (Mekeel Christian Academy), 4:17.59. 110 hurdles — 1. Jay Hebert (Ticonderoga), 14.33. 3,200 relay — 1. Collegiate, 7:41.44. 3,000 steeplechase — 1. Brendan Smith (CBA-Syracuse), 9:14.31.

High jump — 1. Isaiah Turek (Ichabod Crane), 6-5. Shot put — 1. Andrew Burgio (Depew), 53-103⁄4; 4. Will McFee (Greenwich), 49-71⁄2. Pentathlon — 1. Ryan Owens (Letchworth), 3,262; 4. Brendan Archer (Schoharie), 3,104.