Two local girls had near misses on making the state meet as they finished second in their respective events at Thursday’s Section III Girls Track Open Qualifier at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
Freshman Lauren DeLude, of Herkimer and junior Brandy Watkins both took second in their events. Only the winners of each individual event in both Divisions I and Division II qualified for the state meet to be held at the University of Buffalo next weekend. The next best overall time or distance in each event also qualify for states as long as it meets the state qualifying standard.
DeLude won her preliminary heat in the 100 meters  with a time of 12.96. She then improved that time with a 12.83 in the final but was second to Notre Dame’s Gennie DePass, who ran a 12.53. DeLude’s time was not enough to get the at-large berth in states as that went to Division I runner-up Geannitta McClain, of Proctor with a time of 12.23.
McClain, who won the 200 meters in Division I, qualified for the state meet in the 100 meters two years ago when she ran for Ilion as a seventh grader.
DeLude also finished third in the 200 meters, but set a new school record with a time of 26.37 seconds, shaving some three-tenths of a second of the previous mark. CBA’s Melissa Zajdel won the 200 meters with a time of 25.34 seconds and DePass took second with a time of 25.66.
Ilion’s Brandy Watkins was also one spot out of reaching the state meet as she took second in the Division II triple jump.
Watkins, who entered as the No. 2 seed, had an effort of 33-10 1/4 a foot and a half behind winner Katie Darling, of Jordan-Elbridge, the top seed who leaped 35-4 1/4.
Watkins also took ninth in the 400 meters with a time of 1:03.58.
Among other local athletes the top finish went to Mount Markham’s Grace Riker, who took fourth in the Division II discus with a distance of 102-2. That event was won by Remsen junior standout Rachel Roberts with a distance of 107-4. Roberts also won the shot put with an effort of 40-10 1/4.
West Canada Valley’s Chloe Whalen took sixth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:13.63. Ilion sophomore Sharon Howell was 10th in that event with a time of 1:15.58.
Howell was one spot better than Whalen in the 100-meter hurdles running a time of 17.57 in the preliminaries to Whalen’s 17.65. Neither girl reached the final in that event.
Whalen’s teammate, eighth-grader Sarah Wiatr was 13th in the 800 meters with a time of 2:34.47.
In the girls 4 x 100-meter relay final Herkimer’s quartet of DeLude, Brooke Nasypany, Nicole Cirelli and Kelsey Woodrick reached the final before finishing eighth in a time of 53.45. CBA won the event.
Little Falls’ Bryanne Perlanski finished sixth in the long jump with a distance of 15-7 1/2. West Canada Valley’s Ciera Sportello was ninth in that event with an effort of 14-3 3/4.
The boys will now get their shot at the state meet when they take to the C-NS track this afternoon for their Open Qualifier.