Marine Corps - Holiday Classic The New Balance Track and Field Center at The Armory New York NY Wednesday, December 27, 2006

DyeStat on-site with stories and photos from John Nepolitan

Results from Armorytrack.com

Fordham Prep's Shuttle Hurdle Relay

Ridgewood's Shuttle Hurdle Relay

Shuttle Hurdle Relay

The first event of the day got the long day started with a new meet record by the Fordham Prep boys 4 x 55 high hurdle relay. Leading wire to wire, the team of Palicka, McCabe, Kanu, and Andreycak combined for a final time of 30.89, well under the 31.25 former record of Winslow Township (NJ) from 2003. Archbishop Molloy (NY) in 2nd also was under the old standard with a 31.15 clocking. The Fordham hurdles are coached by George Febles Sr., father of head coach George Jr, who was unable to see his athletes run as he is in the hospital for an arthroscopic procedure (a knee injury while training for his 1st marathon at age 66).

In the girls event, Ridgewood(NJ) had a easy time dominating the field with a 36.40 to 36.97 win over in state rival South Brunswick.

Girls 4x200 winners Medgar Evers.

Boys 4x200 winners Newburgh

Boys 4 x 200 Final

Irvington (NJ) had jumped out to an early lead on the opening leg only to lose the front running position halfway through the race. Newburgh (NY) took over and would never be challenged again as they stormed to a 1:31.86 win over Pine Bush (NY) 1:32.18, Hempstead(NY) 1:32.37, St John the Baptist(NY) 1:33.35, early leader Irvington(NJ) 1:33.36 and St Benedicts(NJ) 1:35.11

Girls 4 x 200 Final

Medgar Evers(NY) had the fastest time in the trials (1:43.95) and would easily run away from the field with a 1:42.20 win.

Above, the Seton Hall Prep boys sprint medley team; below, the Bellport girls sprint medley team.

Sprint Medley Relay(400-200-200-800)

At the first handoff following the 400 meter leg, Pleasantville (NJ) held the lead, but nothing in this event is safe. Through the middle two legs of 200 meters, Pleasantville continued to lead, but closing in was Seton Hall Prep. As the anchor 800 meter legs took off, Pleasantville held a slim lead over in state rival Seton Hall. Through the first three lap of the final leg nothing changed, but as the two leading teams got the bell, Seton Hall shifted into a high gear and would pull away to a 3:35.98 – 3:37.33 win.

Early in the girls race, Bishop Loughlin looked like a runaway winner, but often in a medley relay a superstar anchor leg can make up a large deficit. That is exactly what Brittney Sheffey (Bellport, NY) did. Slowly cutting into the lead, the Invitational 800 meter runner-up finally was able to get even with Loughlin with just 200 meters remaining. Not looking to settle in, Sheffey blew right past the leader and stormed away to a comfortable 3.5- second victory.

The winning girls 4x400 team from Boys and Girls HS

The winning boys 4x400 team from Newburgh

4 x 400

From the time the girls teams broke for the pole after 150 meters trough the final leg, Boys & Girls HS (NY) simply grabbed the lead and blew the field away in its heat with a 3:57.53 clocking which would give them a 3 second cushion over the second place team in their section.  In the second section, New Rochelle followed the same strategy and was almost able to pull off the win, but would come up 0.85 short with a 3:58.38 clocking.

Seeing how the girls race was won, Newburgh (NY) quickly grabbed the lead in the boys final event.  At half way Brentwood (NY) was the only team that could keep pace with Newburgh, but even they were starting to slip off the pace.  A strong 3rd leg would break Newburgh free of the field and pull Brentwood away from the teams chasing.  A powerful final leg would bring Newburgh home in 3:26.91 for an easy win over Brentwood – 3:28.65 as just 2 teams were able to break 3:30.

The winning pole vault relays from Shen and Fordham Prep

 Field Events

While there were very few outstanding field relay team performances, there were many individual marks of note.

Girls Triple Jump – Stephanie McIntyre(South Brunswick, NJ)        37’ 8-3/4”
Boys Triple Jump – Rhodnie Spence(Wilson, NJ)                45’ 3-1/2”
Girls Shot – JoAnn Culey(Largo, Md)                    39’10-3/4”
        Krystal Graham(New Rochelle, NY)                39’ 3-1/4”
Boys High Jump – William Ricketts(South Brunswick, NJ)            6’ 4”
Boys Long Jump – Chris Gorge(Commack, NY)                20’10”
Girls Long Jump – Stephine McIntyre(South Brunswick, NJ)        16’ 2-1/2
            Indria Morton(South Brunswick, NJ)            16’ 4-3/4”
Girls PV – Samantha Brady(Jackson, NJ)                    11’ 6”
Boys PV – Jon Bednarz(Fordham Prep, NY)                    14’ 7”