By Rob Potter
ENDICOTT — June 10, 2003 – Heather Iatauro of Tri-Valley and Katy Schlichtman of Monticello certainly made the most of their trips to the state track and field championships.
Schlichtman, a senior, won the Division I (large schools) girls’ 400 hurdles Friday in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHAA) championship meet at Union-Endicott High School in Endicott. Then on Saturday, Schlichtman won the girls’ 400 hurdles in the state Federation meet, which was also held at U-E. (The Federation meet includes athletes from NYSPHAA schools as well as the Catholic High School Athletic Association, New York City’s Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) and the Alliance of Independent schools.)
She won Friday’s event in a time of 1:01.57 and took Saturday’s race in 1:01.85.
“It was awesome,” Schlichtman said of winning the pair of titles. “I was hoping to run faster, but I gave it my all.”
Schlichtman credited fellow Monticello track team member Sara Colacurccio with helping her win the events. Colacurccio, a junior, trained with Schlichtman over the past few weeks.
“She was a big help, otherwise I would have had to train by myself,” Schlichtman said. “She helped me with my flexibility and made me work harder and run faster.”
Schlichtman is now focusing her training efforts on a national high school meet that will take place this weekend in North Carolina.
“I would like to have my best performance there before I go to college next year,” said Schlichtman, who will continue her track career at Columbia University.
Iatauro, a junior, won the girls’ 2,000 steeplechase at the state Federation meet. She completed the course in 6:57.31 to capture her first Federation title by about three seconds.
On the final lap, however, Iatauro’s foot slipped on a barrier and she fell into a pit of water. But she quickly got back to her feet and beat the other runners to the finish line.
Her time of 6:57.31 was also the best among Division II runners, giving Iatauro her third consecutive class state championship.
Other county athletes who competed at the state and/or federation meets included Sullivan West’s April Ackermann, Liberty’s Renauld Buck, Liberty’s Matt Manzi and Jeremy Morgan of Sullivan West.
Ackermann finished 11th in the Division II girls’ 3,000-meter run at the state meet. She ran the course in 11:30.85.
Buck placed 11th in the Division II boys’ shot put. He put the shot a distance of 45 ft., 4 3/4 inches.
Manzi was fourth in the Division II boys’ 800 with a time of 1:58.37.
Morgan finished ninth in the Division II boys’ 400 hurdles with a time of 58.24.
The T-V relay team of Jen Gorman, Colleen Carey, Megan Drown and Candice Carroll finished 10th in the Division II girls’ 1,600 relay. They posted a time of 4:11.9.
The T-V relay team of Erin Beach, Iatauro, Melinda O’Neill and Courtney Roosa placed eighth in the Division II girls’ 3,200 relay. They finished in a season-best time of 10:00.24.