GIRLS STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Amherst’s Fields becomes state’s fastest girl
Nichols’ Jackson-Gibson repeats in 100; Lancaster’s Kurzdorfer wins three events
CICERO — Ashley Fields was sitting in the bleachers for two minutes with her dad — enough time for a pat on the back and a squirt of water — when the P. A. announcer made the last call for the girls 200- meter final.
Weary and still parched, Fields walked across the football field to the corner of the track. The sun beat hardest there, she said.
“Tired, thirsty,” Fields recalled. “As soon as I was done I went right over there.”
Again and again. Through a fast and furious Saturday, Fields won four gold medals. The Amherst sophomore’s signature fifth gear never waned as she went back and forth between the state’s 100 and 200 Division I and Federation finals. Fields won them all. On Friday night, she set three Section VI records in the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay.
With two years of high school to go, Fields is the fastest girl in the state. The ascension has been sudden and unexpected.
“I was expecting this in maybe my junior or senior year,” Fields said. “Before this season, I was hoping to set [personal records] and break school records — not even the section record. I never would have thought I’d be a state champion in the 100 and the 200.”
In that gut-check 200, Fields overcame a quick start by Columbus’ Whitney Fountain to win. As the pack whiplashed around the bend, Fields broke away.
But Fountain would be back. The two met again in a Federation grudge match for the ages. This time, Fountain went from 0 to 60 even faster. This time, Fountain held off Fields’ whitetail- like stride around the curve. With only 50 meters to go, the stockier junior was cruising. Five, maybe six whole strides ahead of Fields.
Doubt briefly crossed Fields’ mind.
“I was thinking, ‘I should have come off the block fast. I should have gotten around the curve faster.’ ”
But with one final drip of adrenaline, Fields motored past Fountain and again broke her Section VI record in the 200 with a time of 23.66 seconds. Fountain finished at 23.81. Typically, sprints are won with your surge at the starter’s gun — almost never when someone is trailing by so much midway through.
Amid a flurry of events, Fields found a way.
“When I get around that 100, it makes it feel like a 100,” Fields said. “I think I’m better on the straightaway than the curve.”
In the 100, Fields benefited from Suffern’s Jennifer Clayton getting disqualified for a false start — “I was like, ‘Whew,’ ” she said — and won in 12.16. Fields later tacked on a Federation crown at 11.85.
Fields admits that she needs to tweak her initial burst off the blocks. With her 5-foot-9 height, the tendency is to rise up prematurely. “The crazy thing is she still has some fine-tuning to do,” said Dan Tryon, Amherst’s girls coach.
The entire season, Fields never eclipsed the 12-second or 24-second barriers in the 100 and 200. This weekend, she did each twice, including a blazing, Section VI-record 11.7 in Friday’s preliminary round.
Fields’ eyes widen and her head shakes recalling that one.
“I have no clue where that came from,” she said. “I came out of the blocks stronger than I usually would.”
Fields didn’t even play sports as a youth; she danced. It was only a few years ago that she joined the track team as a jumper to improve her vertical leap in basketball. Fields ditched the jumping, started running and the rest is history.
“If she keeps working hard,” said Tryon, “she’s going to be pretty special.”
Nichols’ Adele Jackson-Gibson successfully defended her title in the Division II 100 with a time of 12.54.
“I wanted to hold my title,” Jackson-Gibson said. “I just had to focus and relax and not freak out at the end.”
Melissa Kurzdorfer (Lancaster) won the Division I shot put (47 feet, 9 inches), Federation shot put (48-3) and Federation discus (158-9), as Lockport’s Erin Miller earned second in the Federation shot put (44-0). Taylor Eldridge (Cleveland Hill) placed first in the Division II shot put (42-0).
East Aurora’s 4x800 relay team of Marta McLaughlin, Erin Holbrook, Ashley Beyer and Kirsten Weberg won the Federation title in 9:21.69.
Williamsville South freshman Kailyn Arcury placed second in both the Division I (14.23) and Federation 100 hurdles (14.00).
“My goal was to get in the top three,” said Arcury, catching her breath afterward. “I had to keep my trailer going and not hit a hurdle.”
Kala Allen (Williamsville East) finished third in the Federation 400 (54.86).
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