Track

Nine are fine

Fingers, Seidl, Barker, Khan, Castro, Hawkins, Strother, McNamara and Meadow to represent Sullivan County at state track and field championships

By RICHARD A. ROSS

WARWICK, NY — Nine Sullivan County athletes qualified for the state meet to be held in Syracuse on June 12 and 13. The talented stars either won their events in their division at the state qualifier meet, or made the state standard as the third qualifier from Section Nine, which will send the top Division I (schools with 600 students or more in grades 9-11) and Division II (under 600 students in grades 9-11) finishers in each event to states.

Bearing up under wet and cold weather at the state qualifier, many Sullivan County athletes turned in their best times and distances of the year. One of those heading to states is Monticello’s Jessica Fingers in the 3000. Fingers finished third overall and surpassed the standard of 10:10 with a blistering 10:05.4. Sullivan West’s Colin Seidl will defend his state title in the 3000 steeplechase. He was tops among Division II runners and third overall with a time of 9:41.76. Seidl is the nation’s fastest in the event with a time of 9:25 recorded at the Cornwall Steeplefest in May.

Liberty pole vaulters Greg Castro and Ethan Meadow are also heading to states. Castro took fourth overall with a leap of 13-6 and Meadow jumped 12-6. Both met the Division II standard of 12-6. Teammate Malcolm Strother qualified in the 100 with a time of 11:56.

Sullivan West’s Morgan Hawkins won the Division II 400 hurdles with a time of 67.58. Teammate Kendra Barker will join her by virtue of her 4-11 high jump, which was tops in Division II. Tri-Valley’s Tehnyat Khan heads to states in the shot put, as the top Division II thrower with a mark of 32-8. Teammate Kelly McNamara made it to states by meeting the standard of 34 feet earlier. Tri-Valley’s Amanda Martin and Heidi Furman finished one-two in the javelin, which is not a state event.

Here is a list of Sullivan County’s fine performances at the state qualifier. After each event is the state standard for Div I/Div II. The # sign indicates a state qualifier.

Boys results:

100 (10.94/11.44): 2nd, Malcolm Strother# (Lib), 11.56.

400 (49.74/50.24): Div. II, 2nd, Austin Erlwein (SW), 55.29.

110 hurdles (15.04/15.74): Div. II, 3rd, Nelson Gabriel (Lib), 15.87.

400 hurdles (56.24/58.04): Div. II, 3rd, Matt Campanella (Eld), 62.94.

3,000 steeplechase (9:45.24/10:14.24): 3rd, Colin Seidl# (SW), 9:41.76; 5th, David Wilbur (Mont), 10:09.73.

Triple jump (45-0/43-0): 3rd, Jordan Wilson (Mont,) 42-1.25.

Shot put (51-0/48-0): 4th, Bob Fiedler (TV), 47-0.5.

Discus (148-0/146-0): 3rd, Bob Fiedler (TV), 141-9.

Pole vault (13-6/12-6): 4th, Greg Castro# (Lib), 13-6; 6th Ethan Meadow# (Lib), 12-6.

Girls results

100 (12.44/12.84); Div. II, 2nd, Christina Watts (Eld), 13.14; 3rd, Jessica Dunnigan (Lib), 13.28.

200 (25.34/26.74): Div. II, 3rd, Watts (Eld), 27.14.

1,500 (4:42.24/4:48.24): 5th, Jessica Fingers (Mont), 4:50.15.

3,000 (10:10.24/10:40.24) 3rd, Jessica Fingers # (Mont), 10:05.4.

100 hurdles (15.74/16.24): Div. II, 2nd, Sara Alsdorf (SW), 16.63.

400 hurdles (64.94/67.04): Div. II, 1st, Morgan Hawkins# (SW), 67.58.

2,000 steeplechase (7:13.24/7:29.24): 5th, Emma Cohen (Mont), 7:32.17.

1,600 relay (3:59.24/4:07.24): Div. II, 2nd, Sullivan West (Kasi Pilny, Lindsey Murphy, Katie Manzi, Morgan Hawkins) 4:13.03.

High jump (5-3/5-1): 4th, Kendra Barker# (SW), 4-11; 6th, Danielle Baker (LM), 4-10.

Shot put (38-6/34-0): 4th Tehnyat Khan# (TV), 32-8; 5th, Chaz Reed (LM) 32-2.5; 7th, Kelly McNamara# (TV), 31-9.25.

Pentathlon (2750/2540): Div. II, 3rd, Katrina Graby (SW), 1,781.

Javelin (not a state event): 1st, Amanda Martin (TV), 85-2; 2nd, Heidi Furman (TV), 82-3.