Girls Track: Clasen takes second in discus
Murphy All-State in 100 hurdles
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Shoreham-Wading River senior Ashley Clasen competed in the shot put and discus at the state championship last weekend. In the discus she was second in the federation championship.
"I'd rather be an All-American than a state champion," said Clasen, a Shoreham-Wading River senior.
Clasen will throw the hammer -- her best event -- this weekend at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina for a chance to earn All-American honors with a top-six finish. In the indoor season she finished one place shy of a top-six finish in the weight throw by just over an inch.
At the New York Championship last weekend at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, Clasen competed in the discus and shot put. On Friday she placed third among public school athletes with a third-place finish in the discus (133 feet, 3 inches). It was good enough to advance to the federation championship Saturday and she wound up surpassing her previous mark.
She threw 136-06 to take second behind Melissa Kurzdorfer of Lancaster (158-09). Clasen said while the distance wasn't the best, she was happy with overall result.
"Even though I didn't do as well as I intended maybe a couple months ago, I'm really happy," she said. "There were a lot of great girls up there."
It was mixed emotions after the first day, she said. She was upset with her distance, but happy that the rest of the field didn't throw well enough to drop her down further.
"I really shouldn't have taken third," she said.
Before competing in the discus championship Saturday afternoon, Clasen threw the shot put and finished ninth at 38-05 1/2 in the morning. Kurzdorfer won the public school title at 47-09 and the federation title at 48-03.
Two other athletes in addition to Clasen and Kurzdorfer threw the shot put in addition to the discus Saturday.
Clasen said she fouled her first two attempts of the shot put.
"I had to be a little safer and didn't go after it as much [on the third attempt]," she said.
Looking back she said it might have been smarter to just go all out and risk the foul.
In other results Longwood senior Kayla Murphy was an All-State finisher in the 100 hurdles by placing sixth in the public school finals Saturday morning. She ran 14.91, which wasn't fast enough to get her into the federation final later in the day.
In the preliminaries Friday she ran 14.76 to break her own school record.
"That was my goal," she said. "I didn't run my best time in the finals, which was unfortunate."
Madalayne Smith of Saratoga won the public school title (13.88) and the federation title (13.8).
Murphy also ran on the 4 x 100 relay team with Jordyn Holt, Olivia Hallstein and Bianca Benavides. The team ran 49.91.
Sarah Maye ran the 400 dash and finished in 59.64.
In the pole vault Mount Sinai senior Christi Nassauer equaled her personal record set at the state qualifier by clearing 10-6. Sydnie Leroy of Port Jervis won the event by clearing 12-0.
joew@northshoresun.com
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