Lady Rams reach new heights

The arrow continues to point straight up for the Clarke girls’ track and field program after another successful campaign yielded a pair of individual county champions — juniors Kaitlyn Kieser and Nicole Hertzberg — and a third-place finish for the team in the Nassau Class A championships at Mitchel Athletic Complex last month.

The goal for each meet was simple for Clarke (12-2 overall), which took third place in Conference 4A behind North Shore and Valley Stream North: Get nutty and leave it all out there on the track. “It was an unbelievable season, and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls and the work ethic they have,” Lady Rams coach Theresa Wehrman said.

Kieser, now a two-time county champion in the long jump, represented Section VIII at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships in Caledonia last weekend and finished 13th. She rebounded in a big way last Monday in the Long Island Championships at St. Anthony’s, taking home third with a top jump of 17 feet, 1 inch. “Her advantage over other girls is her consistency,” Wehrman said. “Some jumpers jump 18 feet one week and 16 feet the next.”

Kieser, who also earned All-County honors in the triple jump with a third-place finish (34-9¾), hit the state qualifying standard in her first meet of the season, with her top jump of 17-5 besting the minimum distance by a full five inches. But that was far from her best leap of the season. Kieser saved that for the State Qualifier at Westbury May 31, where she needed to finish in the top two to advance to Caledonia. Seeded fourth, Kieser made a huge opening statement with a first jump of 18-1 that held up for second. “At the State Qualifier, she had the jump of jumps,” Wehrman said of Kieser’s personal best. “She hit the board right.”

Joining Kieser in the winner’s circle at Mitchel was Hertzberg, who outdid the entire field in the high jump, clearing the bar at a top height of 5-4. Like Kieser, Hertzberg also became a two-time county champion. “I told both girls that it’s a big title and not an easy feat,” Wehrman said.