Watson pulls 400/1,500 double at state

State Meet Highlights

 
The New York state championships took place at SUNY-Albany. There are two divisions based on school size and then a championship race that mixes the two together in some events. And there is also a particular-to-New York assortment of events. There is a multi and steeplechase and the boys runs slightly longer distances (3200 vs 3000, 1600 vs 1500) than the girls. But the meet was hurt by a handful of top athletes choosing to run different meets instead. Rai Benjamin, Mikey Brannigan, Zola Golden, Jessica Lawson and Symone Darius didn’t run in the New York state meet for a variety of reasons.

Top Performances:

 
- Sammy Watson’s star power kicked up a few watts at this meet. The sophomore from Rush-Henrietta broke the Division 1 meet record with 52.69 seconds to win the 400 meters. She ran 53.89 in the championship race. Then she showed her range by also winning the championship 1,500 meters in 4:25.24. She also helped her team win the Div 1 4x400 relay in a very fast 3:43.94.

- Sophomore Kamryn McIntosh from Suffern won the championship 800 meters in 2:05.63 for a new meet record. She also anchored Suffern to the 4x400 championship (3:46.15) and to second place in the 4x800.

 
- Arlington senior Bella Burda won the championship 3,000 meters in 9:38.14.

 
- Zack Warden of Newburgh won an epic Div 1 200 meters final against Izaiah Brown, 21.07 to 21.20. He also helped power his team to the 4x100 relay title with 41.24, as well as the championship in 41.64. He won the 200 meters championship in 21.37.

 
- Senior Izaiah Brown of Amsterdam ran 46.40 to break the meet record in the Div 1 400 meters. He also beat Boys & Girls star Richard Rose, who was second in 47.03. He also finished second in the 200 meters with 21.10 and helped his team take fourth in the 4x400 relay. Brown didn’t run in the championship races.

- Richard Rose of Boys & Girls caught a break with Brown out of the championship 400 as he was able to win that easily in 47.23. It was a welcome win given that he was part of second place relay teams in the Div 1 4x100 and 4x400 and also was second in the Div 1 400. He capped the meet by anchoring (46.7 split) his team to the championship 4x400 with a winning time of 3:15.05.

- With seven guys under 1:53 the boys championship 800 meters was very good. Fayetteville-Manlius senior Kyle Barber won it in 1:51.40 but he had lots of company. Gairy Springer from Thomas Jefferson ran 1:51.91 and Luke Germanakos of Lynbrook ran 1:51.96.

- Conor Lundy of Fordham Prep won the state title in the 1,600 meters with a school record 4:07.50. Defending champ Luke Gavigan from Tappan Zee was third.

- Bryce Millar of Fayetteville-Manlius won the 3,200 meters title in 9:18.61, winning a tactical showdown against Marco Pompilj (9:18.75).

- Jack Jibb of Monroe Woodbury dominated the 3,000-meter steeplechase final with a winning time of 8:57.34 that was a US#1.

 
- Aaron McFadden from Copiague edged Sidney Gibbons of Monsignor Clancy in the Div 1 110 hurdles by .008 seconds – 14.231 to 14.239. In the championship race, it went the other way. Gibbons ran 14.18 for the win, McFadden 14.27 for second.

- Junior Rayvon Grey from Beacon won the Div 1 long jump with 24-1 and the championship with 22-10.75.

- Junior Infinite Tucker of Huntington won the boys 400-meter hurdles title with 52.29. He helped his team take second in the championship 4x400 relay.

- Adama Mbye from Taft won a big showdown with Jared Lovelace of Bishop Molloy in the Div 1 triple jump, 49-8.25 to 49-1. In the championship, though, it was the other way around. Lovelace won it with 49-4 and Mbye was second with 48-6.25.

- Eric Favors of North Rockland won the Div 1 shot put title with 61-6. He was also third in the discus.

- Kaitlyn Ryan of Bronxville led her team to the 4x800 relay championship with 9:02.52. She also was part of the Div 2 championship 4x400 relay and was fourth in the championship 1,500 meters (4:29.71).

- Brenessa Thompson of Medgar Evers won the Div 1 title in the 100 meters with 11.85 – the exact same time that she won with in 2014. She came back to win the championship 100 in 11.69w. She also ran on her team's Div 1 winning 4x100 relay (47.79) and championship relay (47.32). She also placed third in the 200 meters.

- Arianne Strunkey of Taft (Bronx) won the Div 1 title in the 200 meters with 24.85 seconds. She came back to win the championship 200 in 24.01.

- Kristina Insingo of Holy Trinity won the Div 1 shot put with 45-11.25.

- Paula Salmon of Clara Barton, a sophomore, won the Div 1 title in the 110 hurdles with 14.12 seconds. She did it again in the championship race with 14.15.

- Leah Blackall, a junior from Sachem North, won the Div 1 triple jump with 39-6.50w, edging out Sadira Brown from Sweet Home, who had a wind-legal jump of 39-6. Blackall also won the championship with 38-11.75.

- Junior Leah Moran of Holy Names won the Div 2 titles in the long jump (18-0) and the triple jump (40-0). In the championship events, she was second in the long jump, third in the triple jump.

- Alyssa Sandy from Paul Robeson, a junior, won the 400-meter hurdles championship with 1:00.31.

- Beatrice Boylan from Cornwall won the 2,000-meter steeplechase final with 6:52.70.

- Sarah Kowpak from Archbishop Molloy, a junior, made 5-9 to win the championship high jump.

- Hasani Rathan of William Floyd won the championship boys high jump with 6-10.

- Shenendehowa’s boys won the championship 4x800 relay in 7:40.55.

- Kathleen Cibuls of Bayport-Bluepoint won the pentathlon with 3,425 points.

- Mike Palmer of Maine-Endwell won the boys pentathlon with 3,540 points.