Congratulations to our students competing at Track and Field State Qualifiers on June 1 and 2 at the University at Albany track. Representing Doane Stuart (and the combined Doane Stuart and Rensselaer Track Team) are seniors Anne Fraser ’17 of Mechanicville, Ben Halpert ’17 of Delmar, Gawain Semlear ’17 of Chatham, Sarah Stapleton ’17 of Nassau, and freshman Caroline Page ’20 of Troy.
This spring saw another record-setting season for our athletes. Five school records were broken in the following events:
–Girls 4x100m relay (new record time of 51.98)
-Girls 4x800m relay
-Boys 4x100m relay (new record time of 45.6)
-Girls 100m hurdles (new record time of 16.2)
-Pentathlon
Track is unique in that an athlete has to post a time/height/score in a regular season meet just to make it to the state qualifier meet. To then qualify for states, the athlete will either need to hit the state qualifier mark or win his/her event. Our athletes have qualified to compete at State Quals in the following:
Anne – 4x100m relay
Ben – 4x100m relay, 100m, and the 200m
Gawain – 400m
Sarah – Pentathlon
Caroline – Pentathlon
This accomplished group also had numerous individual and team highlights this season. Ben ranked 2nd in sectionals for the 100m, was 1st overall in the Patroon Conference for the 200m and the 4x100m relay, and 2nd overall for the 100m.
Anne and the girls 4x100m relay team were sectional champions and are seeded second at State Quals with a very good chance of qualifying for States next week (June 9-10 at University at Albany).
Ben and Gawain also are ranked 3rd overall in the Patroon Conference and placed 3rd at Sectionals for the 4 x 400m relay.
Congratulations and good luck to our seniors as they complete their DS track careers. Three of our seniors will compete in track at the Division III level next year (Anne Fraser at Connecticut College, Gawain Semlear at Vassar College, and Sarah Stapleton at Smith College). Ben Halpert will attend the University of Maine.
Accompanying our accomplished seniors is Caroline Page ’20, the only underclassman to qualify for State Qualifiers. Caroline qualified in the pentathlon, a combination of long jump, high jump, hurdles, 800m, and the shot put. Caroline placed top 2 in the event at Fonda-Fultonville earlier this year, and top 3 at the very competitive Cairo-Durham meet. At one point, Caroline was ranked second in the country for Freshmen in the pentathlon.
Caroline had this to say about her first year running competitive track for DS: “I practiced a lot with my mom, who ran in college and knows a lot about track. I did track for five years prior, so I had experience and support. I chose the pentathlon because I already was pretty good at high jump, long jump, and the hurdles, and it was relatively easy to pick up the two other sports since I specialized in the other three. The long jump is probably my best event, and I jumped 16’ 9” this year.”
In regards to picking such a demanding event, Caroline added that “The hardest part is pushing yourself through and finding the energy for all the events. It is easy to focus on one event and use up too much energy, so it is really important to manage your effort because the events will run throughout the whole day of a meet.” Caroline will finish up the remainder of her events today.
Good luck and congratulations on your successes this season!