The 2010-2011 high school sports season officially came to an end last weekend at the New York State Track and Field Championships. The closing efforts of seniors Chad Noelle of Greene, and the Woodford twins of Oxford – Katie and Emily – brought back memories of other “once-in-a-generation” track and field athletes.
It was in the spring of 2000 that Norwich senior Katie Almeter capped a brilliant record-breaking career winning the Division II state title in the 400-meter dash. Almeter became the first Norwich girl to ever win an individual state title. A year later, teammate Karen Snyder became the second NHS lady to win an individual state title.
To that point in my sportswriting career, I had not encountered such a prodigious athletic performance in the spring, and I wasn’t sure if I would see the likes of Katie Almeter – or Karen Snyder – any time soon.
In 2001, the same year Snyder won a state title, Oxford senior Mike Chrystie made the switch from baseball to track and field. Chrystie’s exploits as a football player earned him numerous school and Section IV records. We knew he was fast, but how fast?
That spring season, training without an actual track, Chrystie had was the epitome of a one-year wonder. His dynamic speed on the football field indeed translated to a track. Whenever possible, Chrystie, the Oxford team, and head coach Irene DeJager shuttled to the nearest track to practice. Most of the time, Chrystie was working on his start, his form, and his conditioning on the all-purpose grass athletic fields at Oxford Academy.
During the regular season, Chrystie sprinted his way to an unbeaten season in the 100-meter dash, and his record against all opposition was nearly as flawless in the 200-meter dash. In the former event, Chrystie never lost a race – the entire season. Despite a less-than-adequate start at the blocks, Chrystie blistered the competition on his way to a Section IV record 10.4 seconds – a record that still stands.
He crushed the Section IV competition, he bested every runner on the state Division II runner, and he ousted the best of the best in the Federation 100-meter dash finals. Chrystie was the first Chenango County athlete to win a Federation track title – in any event, for that matter.
Chrystie’s spectacular season and unbeaten performance was so special, I was sure I would not see anything of that ilk for a long, long time.
Turns out, that long, long time was just about 10 years – not nearly as long as I had originally thought.
As a freshman in 2008, Katie Woodford burst on to the Section IV scene knocking off top-seeded Bethany Norris of B-G/A to win the first of four straight Section IV titles in the 400-meter dash. Woodford’s best time as a freshman was sub-59 seconds, evidence that bigger and better things were to come.
The following year, Woodford, and her twin sister Emily starting breaking all kinds of league records in the Midstate Athletic Conference. Those two also teamed with Jessica Brown and Amanda Marks to make a formidable 400-meter relay team. In 2009, Katie Woodford won the first of two straight Division II state titles, and teamed with her sister, Brown, and Marks to add a state title in the relay.
Knowing how deep and talented the competition is on the state level – and how impressed I was with Almeter’s state title nine years earlier – I barely had time to put the state titles won by the Woodfords and Oxford in perspective. Moreover, the Woodfords were just sophomores. There was much more to achieve.
The Cornell University-bound Woodfords and Oxford did not disappoint anyone last year and this year. The records they set were broken and re-broken several times. Katie presently holds the Section IV record in the 100 meters, Emily has one of the top two or three times ever recorded in the 200 meters, and Katie also has some of the best-ever performances in the 400 meters.
About a dozen miles south of Oxford, Greene’s Chad Noelle was also making a name for himself. As a sophomore, Noelle was third in the state in the 1,600 meters. He was pretty good, but who would have thought Noelle would become the best 1,600- and 3,200-meter runner in Section IV history?
Noelle shattered meet record after meet record blowing away all of the competition in Section IV in 2010. He followed that season-long dominance with Division II state titles in the 1,600- and 3,200 meters.
Like every other great runner, Noelle strived to improve. He tackled a rigorous cross country schedule this past fall running in the Foot Locker nationals against the best in the nation. He continued to train throughout the indoor track and field season winning an indoor state title, but his focus was the outdoor season. Noelle, already committed to the University of Oregon, not only wanted to repeat as a state champion, but win the Federation titles as well. Noelle believed he was the best, and he wanted to prove it.
At last Friday’s 3,200-meter finale, Noelle was indeed the best Division II runner in the state, but perhaps an error in race strategy cost him a Federation title – by a mere 11 hundreths of a second.
Noelle’s coach, Tim Paske, reviewed and re-reviewed race strategy for the impending 1,600-meter final on Saturday. This time, the race unfolded perfectly for Noelle, whose finishing kick had him more than five meters ahead of the next-best runner. Noelle had his Federation championship, and he could now pronounce himself as the best in the state – just like Chrystie.
Almeter and Chrystie were those once-in-a-generation athletes who only come around only so often. Turns out, the next once-in-a-generation athletes came around much sooner than anyone expected, and they gave us all a lifetime of memories.