Lansing boys indoor track wins sectionals, girls place 3rd

The postseason is already underway for indoor track and field, and both Lansing teams had outstanding performances at sectionals.

On January 27, the Bobcats took part in the Section IV Class C/D Championships at SUNY Cortland. The boys team was the cream of the crop with a first-place finish, while the girls team had the best performance out of the IAC teams in third place. Head coach Matt Scheffler could tell the Bobcats were poised for postseason success after just the first two meets of the season.

“I met with the teams and I talked realistically about what we could do,” Scheffler said. “The kids have just taken off with that and really embraced it and put in the work, and it’s definitely paid off.”

Scheffler attributed the Bobcats’ strong campaign to a significant change they made to how they prepare for each meet.

“We’re actually doing less intense workouts,” Scheffler said. “We’re doing one intense workout a week and we’ve noticed that we have less injuries. The kids know that [in] their workout day, they’re going 100%. We’re hitting the weight room, too. The times have come down, the distances have gone even further, and it seems to be working really well.”

The boys team had four athletes win individual events, and Trent Thibault led the way by winning a pair of events. The sophomore phenom finished first in the 1,600-meter run and 3,200-meter run. Coming off an extraordinary cross country campaign in the fall, Thibault’s stock continues to rise as one of the top long-distance runners in the state. Scheffler credited Thibault’s father Bill for aiding his development.

“He’s matured a ton from last year,” Scheffler said. “Bill writes his workouts for Trent, and he’s had tremendous success. That’s not something you’re gonna mess with. Bill’s a volunteer coach for us so he can help out with those workouts for him, and Trent is just dominating in that. It’s looking great.”

Rowan Fox added to the Bobcats’ triumph with a victory in the 55-meter hurdles. The junior also excelled in the 110-meter hurdles during the outdoor track season in the spring, and that success and versatility has carried over to the indoor season.

“He’s willing to do anything,” Scheffler said. “He ran on the 4×200-meter relay that scored and he did triple jump as well looking for some points there. He’s a great guy. He’s willing to do any event, any meet.”

The youngest Bobcat to win an event was Daquan “Diggy” Smith. The freshman won the high jump, already making a name for himself in his first year at the varsity level. 

“He’s been doing a great job,” Scheffler said. “He is a great athlete. He actually won that meet off a short approach from a three-step. He had been jumping pretty decently, but he wasn’t quite in control, so assistant coach Doug Smith and I moved it into a shorter run. In the last couple of meets, he’s been going off that short run, and I mean he’s just so springy that he was able to control that speed and add that springiness into it. His heights he was jumping are more consistent and getting up there, so I think there’s a lot bigger things for him in the future.”

The final Bobcat to win an event for the boys team was Colin Tarbert, taking home the pole vault crown. This event is the primary area of expertise for Scheffler, who coached two local pole vaulters to national championships at Ithaca College last spring (Lansing’s Meghan Matheny and Trumansburg’s Dom Mikula). He’s been very impressed from what he’s seen from his junior vaulter.

“He definitely got more consistent,” Scheffler said. “He’s physically matured a lot more, too. He’s gotten way stronger and faster… He’s got potential to jump much higher. We have a lot of technical stuff still to work on, but that stuff just takes a lot of time to learn in the pole vault. He’s doing a great job. I know he loves it now and enjoys it thoroughly, so it’s really, really great to have him.”

The girls team also had plenty of success at sectionals, namely with Kristen Johnston. The junior continued her historic season by breaking her own school record in the triple jump that she set earlier this season, reaching a distance of 36 feet and 8.5 inches. She also won the long jump and, along with fellow junior Kelly Miller, broke another school record in the triple jump relay. The other victory was in the 4×800-meter relay with Anna Chapin, Evelyn Jackson, Kendyll Hathorn, and Flynn Ivery.

The focus now shifts to state qualifiers, which will take place back at Cornell University on February 25. While it’s a longer layoff than usual between sectionals and state qualifiers with only one meet in between the two—the Section IV Classic on February 17—the Bobcats aim to bring home more postseason hardware.