Since there’s a lot of stuff to talk about from the past few days I’m going to break it up into two different posts. We’ll start with the results from Day 1 at Arlington and then we’ll make our way down to White Plains.

As most of you have read and I’m sure a number of you saw first-hand it was quite a busy day at Arlington. It was a tough two days of running I thought. The weather really wasn’t the greatest to run in. It was cold, you were waiting for it to rain, both days were kind of like that.

Anyway, congratulations to the athletes who qualified for the state meet ad here are some of the highlights from the first day’s competition:

Girls

100 – This was the event that everyone was waiting around to see on Thursday. This is as good a field as you could see in the 100. Jen Clayton ended up winning the event in 12.24, but she had to beat out one of the best freshman in the state – Tanaya Yarde (12.45) of Mount Vernon. Yarde beat out and qualified for the state meet by taking second over Tori Alexander of Beacon. Then you have Shilesha Johnson (12.51) and Ihiechi Ohia-Enyia (12.55) right behind.

In Division 2, it was Diana Sainvil winning in 12.65 as Woodlands really proves how talented a team it is over these past two days. She ended up beating out Tamika Smith (13.02) of Hamilton, both will be going to states. But the Sainvil family – her and brother Kevin will be making some noise next year.

800 – That was a surprising 800 for Mamaroneck’s Anima Banks. It look ed as though Caile Kohlbrenner of Tappan Zee was going to win the event, but Banks had a furious kick and ended up winning in 2:17.39. Kohlbrenner took second in 2:17.91.

I saw Jessica Kendzor run at the Class B meet and she looked really good. She really controlled this race as she won in 2:19.17. She’s a really talented runner and next year she could be in for a big year. It looks as though she is really starting to hit her stride at this point of the season.

3,000 – For the people that saw it, Katie Sullivan was very impressive in this race. She opened up a nice sized lead and just kept increasing it. She ended up winning in 10:14.60. I believe that’s her best time in the event. After the race it was a mixture of relief and excitement for Sullivan. She was telling me how she has never really ran all that well during the outdoor season in individual events, but she did on Thursday.

The Division 2 race in this event was pretty competitive. It was really back and forth the whole way between Samantha Jorgensen of Pawling and Mary Cain of Bronxville. Jorgensen ended up winning in 10:12.02 with Cain taking second in 10:12.08. Both are very talented runners and Cain – a seventh-grader is a runner with a bright future. Let’s not forget – the third place finisher in this race – Megan Young (10:19.7) an 8th grader from Nanuet.

100 hurdles – Another freshman that’s going to the state meet. This time it’s Sarah Bowens of Suffern winning in 15.05. She was able to edge out Aeisha McDavid (15.54) of Ursuline. They both are going to states, but how about the talent of Bowens. When you watch her run she just looks athletic.

And again for D-2 it’s Sainvil qualifying for Woodlands with Tyona Smith taking second in 16.08. Both will be at states. What made this double impressive was that Sainvil had to go from running in the hurdles to running in the dash. She crossed the line in first, turned around and jogged back to the starting line. She put on her sweats and began to prepare for the dash – the next event on the track.

High jump – I think in Division 1, this event went more or less as expected. Janelle Clayton won by clearing 5-5 and Sally Gale took second in 5-1. The girl from Scarsdale – Laura Lutzker – cleared 5-0 and is also really talented in the high jump.

It was similar in the Division 2 high jump as Megan Talay ended up winning as she cleared 5-1. It was no real surprise for Talay who has been the best in this event for a D-2 school all season.

Pole vault – This was also a very competitive event. There were five vaulters with a legitimate chance to win – Carissa Leonardi, Angelica Gilsenan, Kaitlynn Cross, Claire Murphy, Fiona Nugent. Leonardi, Gilsenan and Cross didn’t miss a height until 10-9. But Leonardi – a sophomore – cleared a PR of 11-0 to win the event and Gilsenan qualified in a pretty intense jump-off.

And in Division 2, Irvington continues to develop some top quality field athletes. Sara Moore was able to qualify for states as she cleared 9-0 in the event.

Long jump – I don’t think there were too many surprises in this event. Jen Clayton won the event jumping 18-8 1/4 and Shilesha Johnson finished second – 17-8 1/2. Both are really talented in the event and then you have a North Salem senior – Erika Tait set a PR of 15-8 1/2 to qualify to head up t Syracuse.

Shot put – Throughout this season there have only been two throwers that have clearly been the two best in the section – Lexia Robinson of Woodlands and Charlotte Pope of New Rochelle. Both deserved to qualify and they both did as Robinson won D-1 and Pope D-2.

Boys

100 – Again, not much surprise here as Jesse Drinks and Mike Abelard went 1-2 in the event. Drinks was clearly the top runner and Abelard just sneaked in ahead of Leroy Rouse of Arlington. From where I was it actually looked like Rouse may have leaned ahead of Mike, but he didn’t.

Nat Recine has been the top sprinter for D-1 all season. He really had a good winter and that success transferred nicely to the spring. He’s been the best all year and definitely deserved to go. Unfortunately Miles Peterson hurt his hamstring and went down about halfway through the race. That’s been a problem for him all season, Peterson pulled up at the county meet as well.

800 – This was the event on the boys side that everyone was looking at. And Aki Bajulaiye ended up winning it in 1:54. But yet again, just like at the Rockland County meet and at the Class B meet there was Lyle Haywood pushing the pace. And the way he’s been running he definitely deserved to go to states taking second in 1:55. Unfortunately that meant that Mike Dapice isn’t going to states in the 800, but he still has an outside shot to make it in the 1,600. Since he took second in the race yesterday and no one else has the standard, Dapice could still get the standard if he runs at Easterns. The top five runners in the race ran 1:58.

It’s nice that Valhalla is sending a few athletes to states. This is a team that really has come around and performed really well this season. Jon Filipe is one of the runners as he was able to hold off Christian Yoo to win the race in 2:02.23. It again, was pretty close, but Filipe had a strong kick that final lap.

3,200 – Mike Hickey was definitely determined to go out and win this race. He took the pace early and built up a comfortable lead and just held on to the victory in 9:23.15. You also have to give credit to Manu Kumar of Yorktown. He took third in 9:34.07, but made a run at John Mullet late.

Then you have another very promising runner – Pat Wortner – of Dobbs Ferry won the 3,200 race in 9:59.65. He’s going to be one of the top runners in the section next year.

110 hurdles – Jarman Esperance has really become one of the better hurdlers in the section and he absolutely deserved to make the state meet. He’s someone that has just trained and improved each year in the sport. Ryan Lacossade outleaned Ryan Whitley to take second. Claudio Delli Carpini pulled up after the second hurdler because of his hamstring. I knew he felt that it was tight at the Class B meet, but apparently it was bad all week and he tried to give it a go at quals.

For Division 2, Nick Steel has been the best in this event all season. He won in 16.18. This Nanuet team has some real good talent. Along with Steel, there’s John Sweet and of course Mike Carroll.

High jump – Again few surprises here as Sean Reilly won the event clearing 6-6. Max Yanker of Rye was so close to clearing the bar at 6-6, but just kept nipping it and ended at 6-4. He still has Easterns to try and get the standard of 6-5, so hopefully he can do it. He’s really had a good season and it would be nice to see him end it at states.

The d-2 high jump was also pretty competitive. Hamilton  had another qualifier in an event with Jonathan Schofield clearing 6-2. But the real excitement was for second and third where Philip Flynn was able to grab second place in a jump-off as he cleared 6-0 and qualifies for states. That’s the second Valhalla athlete to make the meet.

Long jump – This is another interesting event. Obviously there was no Delli Carpini and Tejorn Davis I think surprised a lot of people by winning the event in 21-11 1/2. Second was Reilly in 21-5 1/2, but he doesn’t have the standard. However, and this is where it gets interesting – Roscoe Balter – the third place finisher does have the standard. Now, Balter could go to states if Reilly fails to get the standard over the next week.  Then for Division 2 you have Dylan Schuck fro Kennedy qualifying as he set a personal best winning the event in 20-1. He had to beat out his teammate – Jesse Aprile – to do so.

Discus – Very similar to the girl’s shot put. There were two exceptional athletes all season – Marc Troiani of Valhalla and Joe Fox of Clarkstown South. Both have been at the top of their divisions all year.

I’m going to take a little break and I have some other work I need to get done for the paper, but feel free to add on any other info that I didn’t mention. I’ll see you in a little bit to talk about yesterday’s results.