logo

39th Arcadia Invitational
April 7-8, 2006 at Arcadia High School, Arcadia CA - a DyeStat Featured Meet

Boys 4x800

Monsignor Farrell finally finishes First

East comes west and dominates, sweeping top 4 spots

By Tim Fulton, DyeStat Northeast Region Editor

Doug Speck wrote in his meet preview, “This is a huge event for developing talent nation wide and Golden Staters may get a solid lesson in that fact here…” He couldn’t have been more accurate.

California’s Madera took the lead with a lead off leg of 1:57.9 with Farrell, NY back a little at 2:00.3. The 2 nd leg saw Fellow Golden Stater McFarland take the lead and hand off in first, again Farrell was in 2 nd.

If you spent any time in the East this winter then you recognized this place for Farrell. They were 2 nd to Fordham Prep, NY at both the Millrose Games 4x800 and NSIC DMR, losing the latter on a lean. They were 2 nd to Shaker, NY on a lean at the Collegiate Invitational when they ran 7:53. Farrell has been on the short end of the stick too many times to count this winter.

So when Warwick Valley’s Mike Mark came out of nowhere on the 3 rd leg to run 1:53.6 and take the lead, it looked like Farrell might be in store for the same old ending. Warwick had the lead at the final exchange with Farrell about 5 yards back.

But with 200m to go Farrell’s Jeff Carbonella pulled even with Warwick's Jerry Greenlaw, hanging on his shoulder for a bit before blasting by him with 110m left and pulling away for the victory, 7:55.9 to 7:59.5.

Anchor leg - Warwick's Jerry Greenlaw (left) and Farrell's Jeff Carbonella - photos by John Dye

Early in the race it looked like the NY and NJ teams were going to make the trip for naught but as the dust settled, it was a clean sweep for the east coast, taking the top 4 spots. Ridgewood, NJ, a perennial power back east, held on for 3 rd in 8:02.7 while Shaker, NY, the defending meet champions, pulled up into 4 th with John Malloy’s great anchor leg.

After the race, Farrell was just happy to finally win one. Vito Cannova, who ran a strong 1:56.5 2 nd leg, was ecstatic. “Almost tasting victory so many times it’s nice to finally repeat the benefits of all the work,” he said.

Carbonella, who ran away from Warwick over the final 100m, was “just so excited” to help the team cross the line first.

“We’ve been so close so many times,” Cannova added. On this day, that will be someone else’s mantra.

Farrell’s Splits

Matt Frawley – 2:00.2
Vito Cannova – 1:56.4
Rob Gordon – 2:01.1
Jeff Carbonella – 1:58.1

Warwick's third leg, Mike Mark

Arcadia Invitational home page