GUILDERLAND — Guilderland girls’ track coach Dick Usher is looking for dedicated athletes.
Though he had 89 "kids" on his team, not all of them were there to get better in a track-and-field event, he said.
"The potential was obviously there," Usher said. "Whether we have athletes to be competitive, I don’t know. We had a couple that were really interested and wanted to be the best they can be. The rest just chilled."

The Lady Dutch had a talented athlete in senior Katie Murdock. She was a captain on the team and had a successful season as a hurdler.

Murdock set the school record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.9 seconds. She also ran the 400-meter hurdles and finished fourth in both events at the state qualifier meet.

Senior Miriam Booker was the only athlete who graduated to earn points for the team during the season. She had a best throw of 30 feet in the shot put.

A small group of underclassmen showed a lot of talent and worked for Guilderland this spring, said Usher.

Sophomore Carly Giles competed in the high jump and the pentathlon. She finished second in the five-discipline event at the Class A Section II meet. Giles jumped 5 feet, 2 inches in the high jump.

Classmate Taylor Murphy had a best leap of five feet in the high jump and 32 in the triple jump.

Junior Liz Schwenker had a season best 59.8 in the 400-meter run for the Lady Dutch this spring.

Sophomore Alicia Bowman had a best throw of over 90 feet in the discus and classmate Brianna Delbene threw the discus 101 feet.

Usher also has seen talent in a young distance runner.

Seventh-grader Lea Cure had an excellent year running the long-distance races and the steeplechase, the coach said.
"We have a very young team," Usher said. "We had 89 kids finish and a lot of them were underclassmen."

Though there was a good turnout of athletes, Usher said, there’s more to the sport than just showing up. There must be a lot of work put into it.
"Numbers don’t mean that much," Usher said. "It’s the quality of athletes that counts."