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 | NYPHSAA New York State Meet
Fri.-Sat., June 13-14, 2008 - University of Buffalo, Buffalo NY
DyeStat onsite with John Nepolitan
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The fireworks continue on Day 2
Day 2 Story and pix by John Nepolitan
|  | Steeple winners Pat DuPont and Shelby Greany
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The first day of the New York State Championships ended with a bang with the girls 3000, boys 3200 and boys 4 x 400 – and when the meet started up on day two the fireworks continued with:
- two national leaders
- one athlete who was all over the place
- the rise of a new star and the farewell to another
- great middle and long distance events
- a number of double winners
- and, as always, relays that bring the crowd to its feet.
At times it looked like the weather would interrupt the meet as it had on day 1, but the rains stayed away and the winds were not as bad as day 1.
2000 meter and 3000 meter steeplechase – It was expected that the top two runners from the 2007 Nike Outdoor Girls 2000m steeple would face off here. Defending national champion Hannah Davidson(Saratoga), however, opted to run the 3000 last night, leaving 2007 NON runner-up Shelby Greany(Suffern) as the favorite.
From the gun, Greany went right to the front and never looked back. After 3 laps it would be Greany against the clock and the 3-time Foot Locker finalist would continue to pull away to win her 1st individual Federation track title in 6:43.03. That’s the #1 time in the USA this season, replacing Davidson at the top and setting up a showdown next weekend at Nike Outdoor. Meanwhile, after a good stretch and ice bath following his 3200 meter victory last night, Pat Dupont(Fairport) also ran away from the field. He collected his 2nd Federation title of the weekend, taking the 3000 meter steeplechase in 9:07.02 almost the same time he ran to take the 3200 last night. Dupont’s time is also the #1 time in the USA this season and is fast enough to qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships.
| Jen Clayton anchors the Suffern 4x1 winners
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Jen Clayton – Jen Clayton – Jen Clayton - It seemed that every few minutes, the name Jen Clayton was being announced over the PA systems. The Suffern sophomore had a very, very busy day. She started by taking 2nd in the Division 1 200 final in 24.94. In the Federation final later in the da,y Clayton would place 4th behind Nadonnia Rodriques ( Boys & Girls), who won in 24.72. Next up for Clayton would be an 18’ 9” long jump Federation title. Then it was quickly to the track again to anchor Suffern to the 4 x 100 Championship in a swift 47.67. Finally, she took 5th in the triple jump. With all her points, Clayton led her Suffern team to the Federation team title.
Hello – Goodbye - Nadonnia Rodriques ( Boys & Girls) has ruled the 400 indoors and out in New York for the last two years, but at these championships she decided to just run the 200, taking the Federation title in 24.94. As New York says good bye to Rodriques, as she takes her talents to the University of South Carolin,a a new 400 star was found as 8th grader Kala Allen (Williamsville. East) took the title in 55.24.
In dominating all of the versions of the Nike Team Cross Country Nationals, New York has become known as one of the better middle and long distance states in the nation. The middle distance events at the New York state meet are deep and fast every year. One of the deepest fields in the state would be the girls 800. The division races last night were affected by the wind, but the wind would not seem to bother the times in the Federation races.
State leader Charlene Lipsey(Hempstead) would jump right to the front and bring the field through a swift 63 opening 400, but she was not able to shake anybody. The chase pack included All American Sarah McCurdy (Bayshore) and 2-time state 600 meter champion Phyllis Francis (Catherine McAuley). When with 100 meters to go Francis pulled to the shoulder of the leader, Lipsey found another gear and pulled away to the win in a personal best of 2:07.46 to Francis’s 2:09.29.
The boys 2-lap race looked to be a repeat of last night’s Division 1 race, with Peekskill’s Lawrence Campbell jumping to the front. This time, however, Terrance Livingston (Great Neck South) would stay closer and over the last 200 would pull away from the pack with Mike Fox(Warwick Valley), and then hold on to win the Championship in 1:53.01 to Fox’s 1:53.99.
The girls 1500 and boys 1600 were two of the races that fans wanted to see the most, as they represented a bringing together of a great mix of speed vs strength. The girls 1500 saw 3000-champion Emily Lipari kick hard, a 65.9 last 400, to take the title in 4:30.58 over Tori Pennings(Warwick Valley) 4:33.22.
The boys race would feature the battle between Kyle Merber (Half Hollow Hills West), who has ruled the event in the state for 2008 with a blazing kick, against Julian Sheinbaum (Scarsdale), who had run 9:01 for 3200 a few weeks back. Fayetteville-Manluis’s Alex Hatz and Sheinbaum did all they could to drag the kick out of Merber, going through splits of 64-2:11 and 3:13, before the three would break into an extended kick for the win. Coming off the final turn with Sheinbaum in the lead, Merber would swing wide and inch his way by to take the win in 4:11.67 to Sheinbaum’s 4:12.58 and Hatz’s 4:13.94. Hatz is only a sophomore and may be the future of the event in New York.
Doing the doubles - Melissa Kurzdorfer (Lancaster) came into the weekend as the dominant thrower in New York and took the shot and discus Federation titles and with two more years to go she will surely have a trunk full of state medals by the time she graduates.
Hurdles – Elizabeth Mott(New Rochelle) had the fastest time in the nation heading into the weekend and you would think as a result of that would be the overwhelming favorite, but seeded right behind Mott would be IAAF World Youth champion Dalilah Muhammad(Benjamin Cardozo). Muhammad would win the Division title yesterday in a new national leader 57.81 with Mott running a best of 58.01. The result in the Federation final would be the same just the times would be a little slower 57.90 – 58.49.
Will Cole (Hamburg) had the fastest time in the Division races Friday with a 53.43 run. In the Federation championship, Cole would not take the lead until the final hurdle. On the run-in, however, he put almost 1 second over the competition, crossing the line in 53.18. He was one of the few Federation champions who would improve on their Divisional performance.
Times had been really slowed last night in the straightway hurdles, with winds blowing up to over 7 meters per second, so when Madalayne Smith only faced a 0.7 mps wind it must have felt like nothing. She blazed a 14.15 to take the 100 meter hurdles.
 | The Sheepshead Bay 4x100 champs
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Give me the stick – The final races of the weekend would be the 3 relays (4x800, 4x100 and 4x400), each of which would bring the fans to their feet.
The girls 4x800 relay was up first and indoor champion Warwick Valley, with a strong 2nd leg by Tori Pennings, was never really in danger of losing. By the time Lillian Greibesland got the baton for the anchor, it was just a question of how fast Warwick would run. They would not match the 8:55 they ran at their home invitational, but a 8:56.71 easily took the title. Buried after two legs, Saratoga would move through the pack on the strength of the last two legs handled by Michelle Riley and Brianne Bellon to nail down 2nd in 9:07.70.
The boys 4x800 would find Pine Bush at or near the lead throughout, with a number of different teams challenging on each leg. As the anchor legs took the baton it looked like it was a two team race between always-powerful Shenendehowa and Pine Bush. Over the final 200 Pine Bush would pull away to a 7:48.51 to 7:50.21 win over Shen.
In the girls 4x100 relay, Suffern used the strength of Jenn Clayton’s anchor leg to nip Boys and Girls in Friday’s divisional race. In the Federation final, by the time the Suffern sophomore had gotten the stick, the race was over as she had the lead and simply pulled away from the field for a comfortable win, 47.64 to Boys and Girls 48.08.
In the boys final, Sheepshead Bay was buried in lane two after a sub-par performance in Friday’s divisional race. Strong stick passes would give the New York City school a huge lead at the final handoff and at the finish the cushion was almost ¾ of a second as Sheepshead Bay stopped the clock at 41.39 to Floral Park’s 42.01. Divisional winner Ramapo would come home 4th in 42.08. Look for Sheepshead Bay to dominate the sprint relay next year as foursome will all be back.
The final event of the year, the boys 4 x 400, saw teams juggle their lineups in order to combat the 3:15 shocker Newburgh threw out in Friday’s divisional race. Ramapo would lead off with Mike Abelard, who had anchored the team to the indoor title, while Curtis would move 400 meter champion Troy Faulkner (47.79) to 3rd from the 2nd leg he ran yesterday . All the moves would not be enough to stop Newburgh, which could not match what they ran last night, but still ran a swift 3:16.97 to Ramapo’s 3:18.66.
A long year of track and field in New York (the 1st meet was Thanksgiving weekend) ended with some great performances, the emergence of some young stars and fans already looking toward 2009.
NY State Meet Index
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