Archive: Sports

Eight athletes will be representing Lansing at the NYSPHSAA Track & Field Championships. Seniors Emma Dhimitri, Emily Gallagher and Sam Mauser, juniors Mikaela Garcia and Miya Kuramoto, sophomore Destiny Little and freshmen Catie Eisenhut and Catalina Zaloj will travel to Union Endicott High School for the two day competition on June 9-10.

Dhimitri was the first to punch her ticket to the state championships with her 400M hurdles win in a new personal record during day one of State Qualifiers held last Wednesday at Union Endicott. In the two heats prior to Dhimitris, teammates Little and Zaloj also ran to speedy times with Zaloj earning a sixth place ribbon at the podium.

Several other Bobcats also competed on day one of competition. Gallagher and Gisler took on the long jump for the final time this season. Gisler was seventh overall with her new personal best while Gallagher narrowly missed earning a berth at States in the event. All of the top three division two athletes had a state competition qualifying standard, and with each division in a section only allowed to send two representatives to the NYSPHSAA competition, Norwich's Caroline Stewart and Whitney Point's Emily Salvemini edged out Gallagher for those spots. Garcia raced to a new personal best and 14th place overall in the 800M run (Candor's Julia Russell will go on to represent Section IV in this event with her top finish.) Sophomore Allison Keefe was warming up and ready to toe the start line for the 3000M run with severe storms caused the meet to be halted.

When the competition resumed on Thursday at Vestal, Keefe kicked off the competition day for Lansing with a strong performance in the 3K; Windsor's Kaylee Stone advanced to States as the Division 2 representative with her overall win while Corning's Emily Niu and Jessica Lawson went 2-3 overall to advance in Division 1. Eisenhut then toed the line in the 1500M run as the strong division two favorite, seeded second only to Corning senior Jessica Lawson who has held one of the top seeds in the division one state rankings this season. Lawson and Eisenhut went 1-2, each earning a spot in the event at the state championships. Entering the 100M hurdle finals as the top seed from the semi-finals the day prior, Dhimitri ran her fastest sprint hurdle race of the season to finish second to Delaware Academy's Logan Bruce. Both division two athletes had the state standard and will compete at the state championships.

With a position earned at states in two events already, Dhimitri headed over to the triple jump pit with teammate Garcia. Both advanced to finals and hopped, skipped, and jumped to new personal records -- with Dhimitri blowing away her old best and setting a new school record of 36'4.25" to win the event and secure a third entry to the state meet. Dhimitri and Garcia jogged directly from the runway to the track where they joined Eisenhut and Zaloj for the 4x400M relay. The team raced to a new season best time and was the first division 2 finisher, earning the chance to line up at the state meet in this event as well.

As events on the track wrapped up, the girls pole vault competition was still very much underway, and under the lights, all four of Lansing's vaulters placed in the top five overall. Gallagher won the event with Kuramoto in second; both will go on to represent Lansing at States in the event. Junior Meghan Matheny was third and Gisler was 5th. Both of them wrapped up a strong season in which they also achieved the state standard; the division is limited to two representatives per section at the state meet.

Also competing for the Lansing girls on Thursday was the 4x800 team of Leigh Miller, Caroline Taylor, Mauser, and Teresa Garcia, finishing with a season best. (Corning and Norwich had the top division one and two finishes in the event, respectively). The Lansing boys team sent five representatives to the state qualifier meet where they worked hard to achieve performances that bettered their entering seeds. Sophomore Dakota Edwards did just that in the 100M sprint in his first trip to qualifiers. Freshman Ethan Burt and junior Joey Miller-Labar competed in pole vault, finishing 18th and 11th, respectfully. Miller-Labar then headed across the field to the high jump where he and teammate, junior Mike LaPar, took on the high jump. LaPar narrowly missed a spot on the podium with his 7th place finish; Miller-Labar was 11th. Alex Powers was the lone Lansing representative in the shot put and finished 9th.

For Dhimitri and Gallagher, this will be the third year in a row of state competition, enabling them to lead their teammates into the big event with some experience under their belts. Gallagher enters as the defending division 2 state champion in the pole vault while Kuramoto has the top division two seed mark for the season. Dhimitri has twice competed at States in the 400M hurdles (earning a podium finish last year) but faced a unique conundrum this year with entries in four events, and unusual and impressive feat. She will not compete in triple jump at states and will be racing in both the 100M and 400M hurdles and joining her 4x400M teammates with Little and Mauser serving as alternates. The pole vault, divisional hurdles races, and divisional relays are all scheduled for Friday competition. Eisenhut will follow up her leg of the relay on Saturday morning as she lines up with the state's best in the 1500M run.

Click here for full coverage of the state qualifier meets as well as the NYSPHSAA Championships.

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