SECTION IV TRACK & FIELD: THREE WAVERLY GIRLS PUNCH TICKET TO STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (12 PHOTOS) (June 3, 2026)
Valley Sports ReportENDICOTT — A trio of Waverly girls — 8th-grader Kezlynn DeKay and sophomores Kaylin Twedt and Gianna Soprano — punched their tickets to the New York State Class B Track & Field Championships here Wednesday with outstanding performances at the Section IV State Qualifier.
"What a banner day for Waverly track & field," said Waverly coach Dave Hogan. "We anticipated our kids having chances to advance based on current leaderboards and expected good things given the beautiful weather.
"They all showed up across the board, with the vast majority of our athletes hitting personal-bests," he noted. "We ended up having three girls advance to the state championships.
"Although Kezlynn (DeKay) finished fifth in her heat, she was able to qualify by virtue of beating the other Class B competitors in the race," said Hogan. "It's rare for any 8th-grader to have a state meet experience and we're really excited for Kezlynn.
"Gianna (Soprano) had a great personal-best vault and just outjumped Brynna Twedt, who also hit a personal-best. Both girls had a fantastic day at vault and should be very proud.
"Kaylin (Twedt) has been running her post-season 400-meter dashes in pretty dominant fashion and today was no different," added Hogan. "She had a goal of cutting her personal-best time of 59.50 below 59.0 seconds and she did just that, finishing at 58.71 which proved to be the top NYS Class B time coming out of Section IV."
Day 2 of the Section IV State Qualifier is set for Thursday at 5 p.m.
"Tomorrow will be exciting to watch," said Hogan. "Troy Beeman will attempt to advance in the discus — he enters that event as the second seeded Class B competitor.
"The girls 400-meter relay ran a season-best time (Wednesday) to qualify for the finals (Thursday), putting them neck-and-neck with top seeded Maine-Endwell team," he noted. "Both foursomes ran 50.86 in the their trial.
"We are hoping for more good things for the Wolverines (Thursday)," added Hogan.
LADY WOLVERINES ADVANCE THREE TO STATE MEET.
DeKay won the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 17.86 seconds
Sophomore Kaylin Twedt won the 400-meter dash in a personal-best time of 58.71 seconds.
Sophomore Gianna Soprano won the pole vault, clearing the bar at 8-feet, 6-inches, and freshman Brynna Tweed was second at 8-feet.
Soprano finished third in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:13.37, and senior Haley Larrabee was fourth in 1:13.87.
Senior Mackenzie Chamberlain was third in the 3,000-mere run in a time of 11:53.0.
Twedt, Soprano, and DeKay teamed with senior Kaitlyn Sutton to run the fastest time in the 400-meter relay in a time of 50.86 seconds to qualify for Thursday's finals. Maine-Endwell's foursome also ran 50.86 in the trials.
Freshman Leraya Teeter finished second in the discus with a toss of 89-feet, 7-inches.
WASHINGTON, JUDSON PACE WAVERLY BOYS AT STATE QUALIFIER
Junior Jayden Washington finished third in the 800-meTer run in a time of 2:04.77.
Freshman Braiden Judson finished third in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:02.81, and sophomore Jaxon Chandler was fourth in 1:02.86.
Juniors Rhylee Stotler and Chase Wheeler teamed with sophomore Jesse Lantz and freshman Maddex Presher to run the fourth fastest time in the 400-meter relay in a time of 45.65 seconds to qualify of Thursday's finals.
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Kaylin Twedt. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly's Gianna Soprano. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR and CRISTINA ROSSI.
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