39th Glenn D. Loucks Games
Thursday-Saturday, May 11-13, 2006 - White Plains HS, White Plains NY
Coverage by Northeast Region Editor Tim Fulton
Thursday-Friday Report: McCurdy, McKenna Lead Fast Distance Efforts
By Tim Fulton
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Friday saw three track event finals as well as some field event finals. Bay Shore's Sarah MrCurdy bested a deep 800m field in 2:12.51 as she held off the late charge from Maegan Krifchin (JFK Bellmore). McCurdy led the group through the 400m in 65 seconds. She held the lead all the way down the back stretch as North Shore 8th grader Brianna Welch hung on her back and Suffern’s Caroline Heidt was just off the pace. Heidt looked like she might catch her with 125m to go but then Krifchin came charging up to challenge for the lead. Still, it looked like McCurdy was ready for whatever her competitors threw her way.
Suffern's Kara McKenna won the 3200m in 10:36.52. McKenna went though the mile in 5:08 in the lead and hung. Newburgh, NY’s Arianna Garrison got the closest as she crossed the line in 10:42.55. Newburgh, NY is best known for their boys sprint relays, especially when they had Elzie Coleman two years ago.
Fonda-Fultonville, NY went 1-2 in 800m as John Moore and Jeremy McCallister run 1:54.84 and 1:56.22. Somers Alex Bean, who placed second in the Penn Relays mile run in 4:14.12, was a late scratch which made Moore the heavy favorite. He didn’t disappoint. Moore took the field through the 400m mark in 55 second before blasting down the back stretch to pull away from the rest of the field. His teammate McCallister had won the previous section but wound up 2nd overall.
Danbury's (CT) Willie Ahearn wins the 3200m with a big kick in 9:21.57 over Deer Park 's (NY) Joe Parks 9:23.72. Ahearn is only a sophomore and one can only guess at how good he can become. Danbury has been known for putting out very good distance runners and Ahearn appears to be the next in line.
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Super leaper Gary Jones (Webster Schroeder, NY) won the long jump in 22-08 in what could be a prelude to a great triple jump on Saturday. Jones traveled 23-05 indoors to win the NY State title and had the country’s best triple jump at 50-01. Jones has said he hopes to break Sanya Owolabi’s triple jump state record of 53-04.5. First let’s see if he can jump over 50 on Saturday.
North Babylon, NY jumper Bianca Fung won this round of her rivalry with New Rochelle’s Lynne Layne. Layne was the NIN 200m champion this year and as well as the Penn Relays long jump champion. Fung leapt 19-02.5 on a cold day, rainy day to Layne’s 18-04.75.
Layne did get her win on the day though as she took home the statue in the 100m dash with a 12.20 winning time. Again, the weather had an adverse affect on times in this one.
The meet kicked off on Thursday with strong DMR’s for the boys and the girls. The girl’s race was a bit of a who’s who among Northeast teams. Bay Shore, NY made it three straight and they are still the only girl’s team to win this newly added event, as they edged Ridgefield, CT 11:59.08-12:00.16. Sarah McCurdy ran a strong anchor leg to bring her team from behind after the always strong Bronxville, NY girls led after three legs.
The top six teams finished within nine seconds. Big time names like Samantha Gawrych (Westerly, RI), Shelby Greaney (Suffern, NY), Kristen Reese (Carmel, NY), and Amanda Hudson (Bronxville, NY) all ran in this one. It should be noted that Suffern did not run a stacked out team but instead ran 12:07.44 with three freshman and an 8th grader.
The Ridgefield boys did what their girls couldn’t quite do. They won the DMR in 10:27.94, a solid time but not as fast as the previous two winners.
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Special Day One Report
from Christopher Hunt, The Journal News
Boys Distance Medley Relay
Ridgefield (Conn.) and Phillipsburg (N.J.) decided early on that this was going to be a two-team race. The air began to bite a little and the sky darkened as the impending rain, that will no doubt make Friday and Saturday's competition that much more fun, began to show it's coming.
By the 800 leg, Ridgefield had the lead and never relinquished it. Kellen Quigley (3:11.6), Chris Wilson (53.7), T.J. Brennan (1:58.9) and Josh Kearns
(4:23.3) won the boys distance medley relay Thursday evening on the first day of the Loucks Games at White Plains in 10:27.94. Phillipsburg finished second in 10:30.55.
Girls Distance Medley Relay
There was no question that when Bay Shore's Sarah McCurdy got the stick on the anchor leg of the distance medley relay that something special was going happen. Bronxville had claimed the lead for the majority of the race and still had it with 800 left to go and Ridgefield riding the leader's shoulder.
History said that this was Bay Shore's race. McCurdy made sure that history didn't lie. She ran a torrid 1,600 leg ‹ a 4:53.4 split. Bay Shore's Callie Hogan (3:39.0), Samantha Jackson (61.6), Briana Thompson (2:24.6) and McCurdy won their third-straight Loucks Games distance medley title in 11:59.08. Bronxville led after the 400 leg until a load of sub-5-minute milers started to battle it out. Ridgefield finished second in 12:00.16. Carmel was third after Kristin Reese's 4:55.4 anchor leg. Shelby Greany of Suffern (fifth) turned in a 4:54.1 split.
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