Clinton senior pole vaulters Matt Gadziala and Matt Lewis finished second and third at the state Qualifier meet for Section Three at OCC’s SRC Arena last week.
The duo will compete at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 7 at Ocean Breeze Athletic Center on Staten Island along with the best athletes in New York state at the state championships.
Each Section sends their top two athletes in each event (regardless of school size or class) based on order of finish at their respective qualifying meets.
In the pole vault senior W. Slater Constantine of Sauquoit (ranked 22nd in the country) won the competition with a best of 14’ 0”.
Gadziala qualified in the second position as an automatic entry for his finish. Lewis was able to get what is referred to as the wild card position by virtue of clearing the prescribed state championship standard of 13’ 0”.
All three athletes have benefitted from their work with former CCS athlete and coach and now Utica College coach Sam Catterson, CCS Class of 2001 and a state Indoor track and field state qualifier in the pole vault himself. Catterson worked with the athletes at CNY T&F Academy Pole Vault clinics throughout the season.
Many thanks go to Coach Catterson and the CCS T&F boosters for their generous scholarship donation to CNY T&F Academy helping to make these achievements (as well as all other successful CCS pole vault successes throughout the season) possible.
Other meet highlights:
Sophomore Claire Barone cleared a personal best of 5’ 0” in the high jump.
Junior Maddi Walters threw a personal best of 33 feet in the 20 lb. weight.