Blom’s throw in shot put is sending her to Ithaca
SECTION XI CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ithaca isn’t exactly France, but that is where Maddie Blom wanted to go, and she is headed there.
Blom, a Riverhead High School senior who took her junior year off from competing in track and field in order to study in France, put a punctuation mark on her indoor season Saturday by qualifying for the state meet in the shot put. She finished second in the Section XI Championships at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood with a throw of 35 feet 9 1/2 inches. The thrower Blom has been chasing throughout the season, Half Hollow Hills West senior Oyinkansola Adewale, turned in a winning throw of 39-5 1/2.
Blom also felt pressure from another Hills West thrower, sophomore Leeyan Redwood, who recorded a throw of 35-3.
For the first time in her career, Blom will throw in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships at Cornell University in Ithaca on March 1.
Bishop McGann-Mercy sophomore Meg Tuthill also earned a seat on the bus ride to Ithaca. Tuthill will make her first appearance in the state meet thanks to her performance in the 1,000 meters. She was fourth in 3 minutes 3.48 seconds. Elwood/John Glenn senior Sarah Hardie won in 2:57.82. After the race, the Section XI girls winter track chairman, Tony Toro, caught up with Tuthill to inform her that she had made Suffolk County’s intersectional relay team that will run in Ithaca.
In the long jump, Riverhead junior Ashley Courts landed sixth place with a distance of 16-9 1/2.
