Sectional Showcase
New York State canceled the State Championship Meet because of COVID-19. This meant Section IV canceled their State Qualifier Meet for this season as well. To take the Qualifier’s place, Section IV held what was called a Sectional Showcase Meet on June 12 at Marathon. For all intents and purposes though, the Sectional Showcase is the same as the State Qualifier Meet and will be treated as such in the Section IV Record Books.
No matter what you want to label the Meet, our Girls had an absolutely brilliant day. Quinn Sirgany got things off to a terrific start, PRing in the 2000M Steeplechase by thirty seconds, finishing fourth in Small Schools, and ending with a time that is the Tenth fastest in CF History. Quinn will also be the fastest returning Steeplechaser in the entire Section next season.
Lauren White ended the Meet a good forty-five minutes after all the other events were completed and finished fourth overall in the Pole Vault. To show just how impressive Small Schools were in the Pole Vault this year, Lauren’s height beat every Large School performer this day! Great job Lauren and we will miss you next season!!
Our 4 by 1 Team of Alaina Gumble, Alyssa Denton, Audra Ackerson, and Gianna Lawrence finished sixth in Small Schools and avenged their loss to Oneotna last week by pushing the Yellowjacket Relay Team off the Awards Stand. Their time of 54.44 seconds is the Tenth fastest in School History. Their handoffs were spot on and Alania is the fastest CF girl out of the blocks in the last fifteen years. Since all the girls in the Relay are underclassmen, we can’t wait to see this team in action next year!
Pipher Reid, in her second race of the day, won the Small School 800 Meter Run with a time of 2:20.94. Under normal circumstances this would have allowed her to compete in the 800 at the State Meet. Amazingly, Pipher also would have gone to the State Meet in the 1500 Meter Run and in doing so joined Stephanie Busch as the only girl CF Track Athletes to qualify for the State Meet in two different events in the same season. Fittingly, Pipher beat Stephanie’s School Record, running a remarkable 4:43.09 in the event (with a 1:08 last lap) and became only the fourth girl to win an Overall Section Championship for CF.
Later in the day, the fifth girl to win an Overall Sectional Championship was Gianna Lawrence. She jumped 35’7.25” in the Triple Jump, outdistancing the second place finisher from Oxford by well over a foot!
This Sectional Showcase Meet really was a fitting ending to an absolutely remarkable season by our Girls Team. We won our first Divisional Championship in fourteen years and finished second overall at the Class Meet. We also saw two of the best individual seasons in CF History:
Gianna Lawerence finished the year with 68.75 points giving her 273.25 for her career and putting her in second place All Time for Career Points. She is now 52.75 points away from breaking Michelle Grady’s once thought untouchable School Record! This season Gianna also set the School Record in the 100M Hurdles, jumped the fifth farthest Long Jump and the second farthest Triple Jump in School History. She won two Class Championships, was the Overall Sectional Champion in the Triple Jump, and qualified for the State Meet in that event.
This season Pipher Reid set the School Record in the 800M, the 1500M, the 2000M Steeplechase, and the 5K. She also ran the second fastest 400M Dash in School History, the third fastest 3000, and even ran the eighth fastest 200M Dash in CF History. She won three Class Championships and qualified for the State Meet in two different events (the 800M and the 1500M), winning the overall Sectional Championship in the 1500M.
