In the most dramatic of fashions, the Fairport Red Raiders girls indoor track and field team claimed the Section 5 Class A title, edging rival Rush-Henrietta by just one point, 78-77.
The 200 meter layout in the Gordon Field House on the RIT campus has been the venue in recent years for the most tumultuous clash of the strongest teams in Section 5, and this year lived up to that billing. With fourteen teams competing in fifteen events, anything and everything can happen — it usually does and it did on this night.
For as much as the unexpected is the rule in sectional competition, the season-long seeding of each event is fairly predictable, and having said that, Fairport expected to have the most athletes earn points to defend their championship.
The coaches of each of the top competing schools had established how many points could be or should be scored by each team throughout the competition, and updating a running tally, the coaches could see how the ebb and flow of the meet would go for each. At times, there was exultation while at other times utter dejection flew in the face as points flowed from one school to the other, sometimes unexpectedly.
By beginning at the end and working to the front of the meet, Mike Szczepanik, the coach from Hilton, summed up so well the way the meet ended.
“What a finish in the 4x200 meter relay,” he said. “Who was that anchor leg? She threw the entire team — not just the relay team, but the whole team — right on her back and really stepped up. I couldn’t believe it. It’s stories like that relay I love seeing. I am sure my kids are sick of the stories I tell them all the time with that same theme — finding that inner strength — stepping up when the team needs you — coming back from adversity — facing the demons inside. That relay had it all. It sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. I was very impressed with the anchor leg’s performance (Lauren Star) and how she should always think back to that moment when down.”
What made Star’s performance all the more noteworthy was this fact: Fairport was up by three points going into the last event, the 4x200 meter relay, and R-H was in second-place in the team scoring but the top seed in the event. Fairport had to finish no worse than second-place to win the meet by one point — a third place would result in defeat.
Each of the first-three legs of the relay (Julia Sanger, Janessa Mathews, and Michelle Barnum) ran inspired and then it came down to the freshman, Star, to complete the come-from-behind triumph. The relay had been in the top three or four throughout most of the race. Star, running aggressively the whole way, found herself in fourth-place with only 50 meters left, but within a few steps of second. With five meters left, she was still in fourth but closing still. At the finish line, the photo finish showed Fairport with a time of 1:51.97, Franklin with 1:52.01 and Edison, 1:52.02. Fairport won by .04-hundredths-of-a-second. To say that Star carried the team on her back was an understatement. Ironically, moments before the race began, Darren Mathews, one of the officials and dad to Janessa, said: “I have not seen the girls so focused as I see them right now. They know everything is on the line.”
So that makes the performance of the four all the more remarkable — they had enormous pressure to perform very well, and they came through.
Ashton Hughes got the ball rolling for the Red Raiders, achieving a personal best in the 3,000-meter run in 10:54.54 for a third-place finish. Veronica Goodrich, a freshman, finished 16th in her first sectional race. Hughes then chalked up another lifetime-best, placing fifth in the 1,500-meter run (5:07.02).
“When an athlete in the biggest competition of the season exceeds her seeding, sets a personal best, it is about as good as an athlete can do,” said coach Rick Guido. “So what Ashton did was truly impressive. She is really coming on and has had a wonderful, two-seasons of running.”
The 1,000-meter run was pivotal for Fairport, with Rachel Malone finishing third with a personal best 3:12.86 and Angie Zablonty coming in fifth in 3:13.58. The 600-meter run, however, would be the most significant for the Red Raiders. To begin with Lauren Burke, one of the captains, has had a series of injuries to her hip and most recently her foot for the last month. Coming through the 400 mark in a crisp 62 second effort, Burke willed herself to the finish line to claim first-place by .2-tenths-of-a-second. Her winning time of 1:36.77 was not only a lifetime-best, but broke Rosie Roessel’s school record and is also the fastest time in New York state this year. In the same event, Barnum placed sixth in 1:45.67.
“All I could think about during the race, and everything else was blocked out was the team needed the points and I had to deliver,” Burke said. “Afterwards, I felt like I had never felt before — I guess because of the lack of training. And even twenty minutes later, I still couldn’t catch my breath. I felt real bad for a long time.”
As the second seed in the 55-meter dash, which was 20 minutes after that grueling 600-meter effort, Burke was unable to crack the top-6 in the dash. As the No. 1-seed in the 300-meter dash, Burke finished sixth in 44.21 seconds.
“I knew after my other races the team would have to do their absolute best to score points and keep us even with the other teams,” Burke said. “I knew it was going to be very tough on everyone, but I gave everything I had. It was up to them now.”
Emily Renna picked up the slack.
“If I had to pick a most valuable performer for us, it would be Emily Renna,” head coach Sean Van Laeken said.
Renna captured first-place in the 55-meter hurdles with a lifetime-best 8.93, and teammate Mathews was third in a personal-best 9.24.
Later, after the crushing changes in the point spread in the 55 meter dash and the 300 for Fairport, both Renna and Mathews would accept the challenge Burke posed, and the triple jump mates would answer that challenge with a third and fourth place. Renna also notched a season-best in the long jump with a 16-1 effort, which incredibly placed her ninth in the competition. The first-place distance was 16-8.
The most amazing performance was turned in by Loren Metzger, the lone shot putter for Fairport, scoring a personal best of 29-10 1/2, scoring four points for fourth-place.”
Malone finished ninth in the 1,500 meters with a 5:20.91; and Emma Dustman ran 3:32.34 for 13th in the 1000 meters. Jillian Gueli jumped 4-4 in the high jump, tied for seventh.
MPNnow.com —
