Area athletes ready for state meet
By BILL CAIN, The Leader-HeraldArticle Photos
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State Track & Field Championships
CICERO - The Division-II discus state championship will have a local feel to it Friday.
Among the seven local athletes competing in eight events at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association state championship track and field meet Friday and Saturday, Fonda-Fultonville's Shane Smith and Fort Plain's Chris Gattman both could grab spots on the podium.
"Shane and Chris get along really well," Fort Plain coach Charlie Karker said. "They fool around or goof around, but when they each step into the circle, it's all business. The competitive juices flow and they're very competitive."
At the state qualifier, Gattman bested Smith with his personal record of 163-2. Smith, who threw 169-10 at the May 16 Eddy Meet, wasn't too happy about taking second place in the last meet before states.
His throw coach, Tom Carpenter, said the sting of second place at the qualifier may help Smith at the state meet.
"I think he'll be motivated to get back on top. They're good friends and they push each other to throw farther," Carpenter said. "They're a good, competitive pair of guys. I think they've made each other better by competing against each other."
Carpenter said he would like to see Smith throw past 170. According to www.leonetiming.com, Section VI's Jon Osucha from Alden is the top competition with a throw of 174-8. After Osucha, Smith is second on the leaderboard with his 169-10 from the Eddy Meet and Gattman is third with his 163-2. Section III's Leonard Joseph from Clinton is fourth with a 163-0 and Section VIII's Joshua Haghighi from Wheatley is fifth with a 162-3.
Karker said he doesn't think Gattman realizes how high he is on the leaderboard, but still is "Walking around with his head up on the ceiling" from the win at the qualifier. Karker said it would be great for him to place in the top six and he hopes for a possible top-three finish to qualify for the Federation competition.
The discus will start at 5 p.m. Friday, or possibly earlier if the meet moves fast. All times on the state Web site (www.nysphsaa.org) are estimates.
Smith will enter the competition still warm from his turn in the shot put circle at 2 p.m., where he comes in at fourth in the leaderboard with the 52-11 1/2 he threw at the state qualifier.
Section IV's Marty Cole from Delhi is at the top of the list with a 54-6. Section IV's Jeff Swayze of Lansing is second with a 54-0, Haghighi is third with a 53-8 1/4.
Carpenter said Smith has deeper throws in him and has thrown farther in practice. The two have been working on his technique this week.
"Sometimes he's too quick out of the back and loses his balance a little," Carpenter said. "If he stays smooth out of the back, he has some power into it. I think he could go 53-plus, 54 if he hits one."
Smith will have one of his fellow Braves at the meet. Sophomore Chris Jones was second at the state qualifier in the pentathlon with a score of 2,939. Section IX's Sean Cooper from John S. Burke Catholic is the top seed with a 3,351.
After the state qualifier, Jones said he hoped to set a new personal record in each of the five events and break 3,000 points. Fonda coach Mark Therrien said that's definitely a possibility.
Therrien said Jones is constantly improving in his 1,500 run and has started to go farther on his long jump. The high jump is his top event, where he is one of the better jumpers in Section II. Shot put always is a challenge, but also is less of a concern because improvements garner fewer points than in other pentathlon events,?Therrien said.
He said Jones could hit a 6-foot or better high jump and possibly a 19-foot or better long jump. Combined with a good 1,500, the points could add up in a hurry and lift Jones into the top 10, which Therrien said would be a good finish.
The main concern heading into Friday, however, will be the first event of the day - the 110-meter hurdles. Weighted hurdles are used at the state meet instead of the rockaway hurdles used in the regular season.
"At the state meet, they use weighted hurdles, so the focus has been to get him off to a good start in the hurdles," Therrien said Wednesday. "We tried to impress that upon him and he's focused on those hurdles to get the pentathlon off to a good start. Then everything else falls into place. From now until Friday, all he should be thinking about is hurdles."
He said the main concern, though, is making sure Jones gets the lay of the land and understands how stiff the competition is at the state meet, so he can use that knowledge in his bid for a return trip the next two springs.
Neighboring Canajoharie will send Bethany Young to compete in the Division-II 100-meter hurdles. She won the event at the state qualifier with a hand time of 15.6. Because Section II uses hand times, the time is adjusted for seeding purposes and has 0.24 added to it, giving her a seed time of 15.84 and a No. 8 seed.
Canajoharie girls' coach Ellee Fichthorn said Young's goal of reaching the finals is one she can achieve, but she will need one of her better runs to do it.
"We've been working on her starts, getting her out a little faster and driving her knees through her start," Fichthorn said. "A lot of times, she has to play catch-up. She's right in the mix of things to make finals, but she's going to have to have a great day. She's a gamer, though, so she'll give it the best she has."
Brooklynn Ventura from Waterloo is the top seed with a 14.64. The event will run Friday at 1:50 p.m. with the finals Saturday at 10 a.m.
In the 400 hurdles, Broadalbin-Perth's Lianna Ferguson finished with a hand time of 1:05.5, giving her a seed time of 1:05.74. She will be the last local to compete this weekend, running her event Saturday at 4:10 p.m.
Ferguson made it to the state meet last year and finished sixth, but her coaches told her then that doesn't necessarily mean she would return as a senior.
"We told her, 'Don't take it for granted because you don't know what will happen,'" B-P sprint and hurdles coach Vin Calderone said. "Her preparation and focus has been sharp throughout the entire season and, because of that, she's back representing B-P in the state championship meet."
Mari Guirastante of Chenango Valley turned in a 1:02.53 for the top seed.
Calderone said he believes if she runs to her potential, Ferguson can run in the 1:04s or even faster, placing her in the top four. This week, he has been putting her through low-rep, high-intensity workouts to keep her physically and mentally rested, but still sharp and concise technically.
Mayfield's Becca Graudons will compete in the Division-II pole vault Friday at 4:30 p.m., starting as the fifth seed.
She cleared 9-6 at the state qualifier, but her personal record is 10-6. Section III's Linda Hadfield of New York Mills is the top seed with a 12-6, but the numbers fall off sharply after that to a couple 10-9s and lower heights.
Mayfield coach Paul Duppen said Graudons has been working with Mayfield alum and pole vaulter Mitch Rovito.
"They've been working on a couple different things to improve her opportunity to get higher," Duppen said. "It takes time for those things to kick in, so maybe this meet will be the one where the things she's been working on the last couple weeks will pay off for her."
Duppen said he believes Graudons is capable of turning in a personal best at the state meet, where he said the excitement of the event and the large crowd may push her to 11 feet or beyond. The competition will start Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Last year, Northville's Alicia Ellsworth went to the state meet in the long jump. This year, it's the triple jump.
Ellsworth will take to the pit at 2 p.m. Friday. She qualified with a second-place finish at the state qualifier to Whitehall's Brittany St. Clair, who went 37-2 1/2. Ellsworth went 34-6 1/2, but had reached 34-10 1/2 at the sectional meet. She is the 13th seed, while the top seed - Olivia Weeks of Elmira-Notre Dame - posted a jump of 40-5.
Having been to the state meet before calms some athletes, but Northville coach Shelley Murphy said it makes some athletes put more pressure on themselves, sometimes believing they need to place since they've been there before.
Ellsworth is one of those athletes, she said. Murphy said, however, she just is hoping for a personal best from Ellsworth.
To that end, Ellsworth has been working on her technique this week, trying to reach her step a little farther in that phase of the jump.
Wherever she finishes, Murphy said Ellsworth already has outdistanced her expectations in the event for the year.
"This was all totally unexpected," Murphy said. "We looked at the leaderboard before we went [to the state qualifier] and a lot of girls were jumping farther than her. It was just totally unexpected."