Adrienne Alexander admits she will be sorry to see Lancaster’s Melissa Kurzdorfer and North Babylon’s Vanessa Stewart graduate even though they stood in her way from a New York State shot put title.
“I [won’t] have anybody to really push me like that,” she said. “I like to have that competition.”
Alexander placed third with a throw of 41 feet 5 inches, well below her seeded toss of 43-05, at the state girls indoor track and field championship at Cornell University this past Saturday, March 6. She was eighth a year ago. Kurzdorfer again took home the crown with a mark of 48-10.25 and Stewart was second in 45-02. St. Joseph Hill’s Amanda Spoto (40-06.50) placed fourth and DeWitt Clinton’s Brittany Broomfield (39-06.25) was sixth.
“Coming into this meet I felt really comfortable,” Alexander said. “I felt there was a chance for me to take the spot. [Stewart] hasn’t been throwing at her top and neither have I. Maybe I can get in there some place. It was right there.”
The Brooklyn school’s star almost didn’t make it to the finals, fouling on her first two throws in the preliminaries. She resorted to a simpler power throw to secure a place. She said she was trying to reach too far back with her leg, something she corrected before the finals, where her last throw was the best.
“I got it back,” she said.
Hornets buzz at state meet: Donald Williams is usually conscious of his occasionally slow starts at times, commonly the difference for him in the 55 meter dash. At the state meet, he was happy with how he began the race, but not with what happened between that and finish line.
“My acceleration was kind of slow,” he said. “It kind of took me out of the race. It happens to the best of us.”
The PSAL champion in the event placed third in a time of 6.47. North Babylon’s Berfrantz Charles won in 6.391. Williams was also a member of the second-place 4 x 200 relay team. He, along with Alex Sterlng, Gavin Henry and Andy Nicholas, finished in 1:33.01. As the third leg he pushed Midwood from sixth back to the front of the pack. A strong finish from Nicholas, who moved up a spot into second around the final turn, gave the Hornets the silver behind Mount Vernon (1:32.02). Teammate Olukayode Owolabi placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 45-10.75.
“I tried to put it as much as I can and have hope,” Nicholas said. “I knew we could do it.”
Not so fast heats: Bayside’s Alaine Tate thought she had at least secured a third-place finish in the 1000. She held off a push from Katie Sischo of Fay-Manlius with a time of 2:56.56 in what was consider the fastest heat after she was seeded seventh coming in. But when she saw Kellenberg’s Kimberly Mackay walking to the awards podium she knew things were not going her way.
“I thought I had it, but I didn’t,” Tate said. “It was a great race though.”
The same thing happened to St. John Villa’s Mariah Claudio and Bishop Ford’s Shanique DaSilva in the 600. They finished second and third in the final heat in times of 1:37.22 and 1:37.61, respectively. Two faster times in the previous heat put them at fourth and fifth on the medal stand.
“I guess I wasn’t thinking too much about the other race. “The other girls they weren’t in my heat.”
