Archive: Sports

On a hot and humid night Tuesday at the Tompkins Cortland Community College softball complex, the Lansing 14U travel team suffered their first loss of the season by 1 run.

The Lansing team started out strong behind good pitching from Lindsey Fish and great defense led by veteran catcher Iris Boreman. In the top of the 2nd, Boreman started the Lansing offense off with a well-placed double to left center field which was followed up by an epic 9-pitch at bat by Brooklyn Walker, where she fouled off 6 pitches and took the count to full before hitting a hard ground ball between short and third, scoring Boreman. Zoe Wierson and Jaeda Broaster each had quality at bats, plating Walker and scoring runs on aggressive base running.

School's out, graduations have happened and summer recess has started. These things mean one thing in Lansing and that one thing is travel softball. The girls of the Lansing 12 and Under softball team, which is comprised of girls from grade 5, 6 and 7, started their summer campaign on a beautiful Monday night on Christopher Field, against the visiting Moravia 12U team. As the girls took the diamond there was a nervousness amongst the young players on both sides, however; once the first pitch was thrown the nerves quickly changed to excitement.

Lansing hurler, Alana Knapp-Ward took the mound and started the game with a strike and I’m sure that the cheering could be heard all the way down to Myers Park. The 1st inning ended in a 0 – 0 tie, but that was quickly broken as Moravia jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top half of the 2nd. Lansing responded in the bottom of the inning putting up 5 runs, which ended with heads up base running by Lillee Gould and Emma Best with stolen bases.

11 Lansing Girls Compete at 2018 NYSPHSAA Track & Field Championships

The bus pulled out early on Friday morning, loaded with eleven girls and their coaches. En route to the 2018 NYSPHSAA Track & Field Championships at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, the girls were in high spirits, with music playing and hair being braided as is customary before each meet. But there was no denying that this meet was different – New York is one of the most competitive states for track and field in the nation, and the Ladycats had their sights set on strong performances in what they knew would be a fiercely competitive landscape.

Last week, 25 runners, jumpers, and throwers represented Lansing at the Section IV State Qualifier meet. It's an accomplishment to get to this meet, with athletes being admitted in one of three ways: competitors must have finished in the top three at the Section IV Class A/B/C/D meets OR earned an automatic time/mark during the season OR earned a provisional mark and been high enough in the rankings to fill in one of the remaining 18 or 24 positions after all the automatic qualifiers were admitted.

Over two days, the best track and field athletes of Section IV compete against each other for a coveted entry into the NYSPHSAA championships. The State Qualifier meet, held at Union-Endicott High School, serves not only as a true sectional championship for the individuals competing, pitting large and small school athletes against each other in events, but also as the required point of entry to the state meet. To advance to "states," athletes must be the top finisher in his/her division in the event – or be the next highest finisher who has the state standard. A maximum of two athletes/relay teams per event per division may advance. In other words: the pressure is on and the competition is fierce.

The Lansing girls captured their second consecutive IAC Large School title after a two-day competition and followed it up with securing their second consecutive Section IV Class C Championship victory. Last year, the battle for the IAC title was intense, with the Ladycats winning over a close second-place Newark Valley. This year, the IAC win for Lansing was decisive as the blue and gold girls outscored the Cardinals by 52 points. In a more closely contested meet at the Section IV Class C Championships, with points spread across 16 teams, the girls of Lansing found themselves waiting for the final announcement of the ending scores, 23 points ahead of Chenango Valley. 



The boys team was tied with Trumansburg for third at the end of the first day of IAC competition, only 6 points away from the top spot.  It looked to be a close race between the top four large schools.  With the Raiders stepping up the competition on Day 2, the young Bobcats fell to 4th place with their eyes on capturing this title in the future.  The Raiders would win the boys competition by 34 points with Waverly (81 points) taking second and Dryden (75 points) in third.  Lansing was just 4 points behind them with 71 points. At sectionals, many Bobcats found their way to the podium, but Trumansburg was dominant, scoring 128 points – 46 points ahead of Union Springs. There were only four points separating 3rd place Chenango Valley from 5th place Lansing.





Trumansburg once again hosted the Junior Stars Track & Field Invitational on Monday, May 21. This meet is open to varsity athletes who are in 7th-10th grade and who may not yet have qualified to compete at the Sectional or State Qualifier Championships.

Lansing took a strong contingent of their young athletes and impressive performances were rewarded on the podium.

The varsity track and field teams traveled to Corning-Painted Post High School last Friday night to compete under the lights at the Fast Times Invitational. True to its name, this meet yield fast times and big heights and distances. TWENTY personal records were set by the Bobcats along with a school record and many season bests. Lansing girls finished second of 13 teams, falling only to Class A school Corning. Lansing boys finished third behind large schools Corning and Horseheads.

Sophomore Catie Eisenhut broke her own school record with a new 1500m run time of 4:44.51 and a victory in the event. Other individual winners for the Ladycats included freshman Emmy Jackson in the 3000m run, sophomore Cat Zaloj in high jump, senior Mikaela Garcia in triple jump, sophomore Gwen Gisler in the long jump, and senior Meghan Matheny in pole vault (with Miya Kuramoto ’18 and Gisler completing the 1-2-3 Lansing sweep once again). The girls of Lansing also won the 4x100 relay (Matheny, Destiny Little ’19, Gisler, Kuramoto).

While the weather keeps vying to be the story of the season, the Bobcats have taken advantage of every sunny opportunity and even the not-so-sunny days to post impressive performances, school records, and highly-ranked marks.

Waite Molnar Invitational
The Lansing varsity track and field squads took top honors among the small schools competing at the Waite-Molnar Invitational at Elmira. The girls team finished second overall, just 8.5 points behind Corning and well ahead of Horseheads and Elmira. Sophomore Cat Zaloj continued her high-scoring season, taking first place in high jump and the 400 hurdles, second in the 100 hurdles, and running first leg of the winning 4x400 relay (with sophomores Teresa Garcia and Catie Eisenhut and senior Mikaela Garcia). Eisenhut also won the 1500m run in a season best time and took second in the 800m run. The pole vault trio of Meghan Matheny '18, Miya Kuramoto '18, and Gwen Gisler '20 continued their undefeated season taking first, second, and third place, respectively. Freshman Emmy Jackson dropped nearly twenty seconds to finish as runner-up in the 3000m run.

The preseason was scheduled to be several weeks long – and then was extended due to meet postponements and cancellations when Mother Nature just wasn't ready to welcome spring weather. But with some sunny days and slightly warmer temperatures finally rolling in, the varsity track and field squads now have two dual meets and two invitationals under their belts along with several wins, numerous personal best and state qualifier standards, and a lot of motivation to achieve their season goals.

The Bobcats' first meet of the season was a home meet versus Groton and Moravia. The program honored their twelve senior athletes before events began and then went on to sweep the competition with both the boys and girls teams winning against their opponents:

Albany - Senator Pam Helming proudly celebrated the members of the Lansing High School varsity boys soccer team at the State Capitol Tuesday, April 17. The players and their coaches were special guests of Senator Helming. She welcomed them to the Senate floor and sponsored a resolution to honor the state champions. Senator Helming offered remarks in which she congratulated the team and the school and acknowledged the athletes' commitment, dedication, and sacrifice to win the title. She presented certificates to each of the players as well as copies of the resolution to Head Coach Benji Parkes and Assistant Coaches Dave Schlesinger, Brian Streb, Jamie Saroka, and Eric Stickel.

"Senator Helming reached out to Coach (Benji) Parks and said it is pretty amazing that the soccer team is state champion, said Lansing High School Principal Colleen Ledley. "She invited the team to Albany, and I have a few resolutions to read on the floor to recognize your championship. That was pretty exciting."

Lansing Superintendent of Schools Chris Pettograsso told the Board of Education Monday that the Lansing High School pool is likely to be closed for yet another summer.  After years of remediating what may have been shoddy work, the pool was finally reopened last August.  But Pettograsso says that a new construction project may force the pool to be closed for the summer, even though no work is being done on the pool itself.

"Again, we're worried about our pool being open for the summer, which was a big disappointment for us," she said. "It was the one thing we wanted to make sure of, because it's been a couple of years since we've been able to offer summer programming in-house."