Southern Tier Sports ReportWEBSTER — A year ago on this weekend Patrick Laney was on the baseball field, celebrating the Blue Raiders state championship.
One year later he was again celebrating a state medal, this time a third-place finish in Class A public school in the 100 meters at the NYSPHSAA Track and Field Championships at Webster-Schroeder High School.
Laney finished in 10.87, lowering his own school record in the process.
“It is an absolute privilege to be a state medalist and it is rewarding to see my work pay off,” Laney said. “I knew I was going to have to be at my best in order to place where I wanted to be and I didn’t change anything to how I normally do things and trusted my coaches and they led me to success.”
Racing against the fastest guys in the state was a lot of fun for Laney.
“It was definitely fun to have a full heat of guys similar speed to me, it requires me to be my best and I love the pressure,” Laney said. “It feels amazing to earn a medal in my first year. I didn’t really know what to expect at the start of the year, but I can definitely say I exceeded my expectations.”
Now, it’s onto college where Laney will run at Geneseo.
“I know at Geneseo the facilities and resources that will be available to me will enable me to keep improving as time goes on and I am super excited to see how I’ll do at Geneseo.”
Horseheads finished 17th in the 1600 relay in 3:26.12 with a team of Tyler Sherry, Nicholas Kowal, Carver Robbins and Max Williams.
The Corning Hawks had a fourth-place finish in Class A in the 3200 relay in 7:52.66 with a team of Graham Wightman, Bryce Hammond, Nicholas Ferratella and Sebastian Boutwell.
Nicholas Ferratella of Corning broke the Hawks school record, and finished sixth in the state in Class A, in the 1600 in 4:12.75.
Corning’s Ashtyn Stark earned a state medal in the 3000 steeplechase, finishing sixth in Class A in 9:58.78.
Ethan Wentzel and Maxwell Jennings tied for 22nd among all the classes in the pole vault with a height of 13-feet, 6-inches.
Elmira’s John-Charles Walton finished 16th in the triple jump at 41-feet, 11 1/4-inches.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR, PODIUM PHOTO PROVIDED.
