Cortland Standard .net

ALBANY — Marathon Central’s Daniel Harden did not quite reach some high expectations at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II Track and Field Championships Friday.
Harden did post top-six finishes in the 400-meter dash and triple jump to make the state meet podium at the University at Albany, but the Olympian junior was the only member among a local contingent of competitors to accomplish that goal. His 49.87 time was a touch slower than his seed time (49.28) and he finished sixth overall in the race.
Harden was just 0.09 of a second out of fifth place and 0.25 from hitting third place — which was where he was seeded for the event.
Renssalaer senior Liam Lynch won the crown with a time of 49.06 with senior Connor Hill from Skaneateles in Section 3 second (49.23)
Harden was the fifth seed in the triple jump and finished sixth overall with a distance of 43 feet-4.75 inches. He placed eighth in the long jump at 20 feet-9 inches. He came into the event seeded third.
— Dryden High’s Abbey Yatsko did compete in the girls’ 400-meter run, though a hamstring injury suffered prior to states slowed her down a little. The Dryden High junior placed seventh overall with a time of 58.68, slightly slower than her sixth seed time of 57.91 but still a good effort.
— Homer Central took the boys’ 1,600-m relay team to Albany. There were six guys to choose from and a little unexpected hitch changed the four that were slated to run the race.
“At the last moment, one of the team members decided not to participate in the race,” Homer coach George Schneider said. “Teams are allowed to have two alternates in case someone is unable to run. Although he didn’t think he would be running, Matt Guerrera did a last minute change into uniform and went out and gave his best effort.”
The Trojans entered the day as the second seed and appeared to be on track from that finish. Marc Harris ran a 52.1 opening 400m split. Harris handed the baton to Joshua Thompson and he maintained second pace with a personal best 50.9 split. Jayden Gavidia ran a season best 52 second flat in the third leg as Homer maintained second place. Guerrera ran his anchor leg in a respectable 53.3 seconds, but the team slipped four spots to finish sixth in their heat with a time of 3:28.51. One Division II team in the first heat ran a faster time so Homer placed seventh overall.
“All four boys should be very proud of their accomplishments this year,” Schneider said.”Making the state meet is an enormous accomplishment.”
— Dryden sprinter Liam Joyce had a good day overall. The Purple Lion junior improved on his 17th seed in the 200m dash with a 23.17 clocking to place 12th overall. In the 100m dash, Joyce was seeded 16th (11.29) and placed 14th with a time of 11.61.