Saranac Takes Crown Again in State Championships
STATEN ISLAND — It was an exciting weekend at the NYSPHSAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the Saranac Spartans. Held March 6 and 7, it would mark the first time the championships were held over two days, only the second time the state broke it into Division I and Division II. That only mattered in relay events where schools with under 600 students were classified as Division II and schools over 600 were Division I.
In individual events, bigger schools raced against smaller schools, no matter the size. This meant that a school with 33 students might race against a school with 3,300 students in the same races and field events. The relays are where the Spartans shined.
Saranac 4x400 Relay From left, Saranac’s Sienna Boulds, Eve Liberty, Libby Wynnik and Sarah Lavigne stand together after placing third in the Division II girls’ 4x400 Relay on March 6 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Conference in Staten Island. In the girls’ 4x400 team of Libby Wynnik, Sienna Boulds, Eve Liberty and Sarah Lavigne were the first relay competing for Saranac. “We had been ranked in and out of the top five all season but got bumped all the way down to the 11 seed within the last few weeks before the state championships,” Saranac coach Chris Verkey said.
“I knew the girls would have their work cut out for them and would have to win their heat and be fast enough to knock teams out of the other two final heats. The girls did exactly what they needed to do. ” They obliterated their own school and Section VII record by five seconds in the process with a time of 4:08.
20. It was fast enough to knock off every team in the following heat and another from the last heat, giving Saranac the No. 3 spot on the podium for DII girls in the event.