North Rockland finds the right pieces to win again

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

NEW YORK -- Friday marked North Rockland NY's third straight national championship in the girls distance medley relay. And it was easily the team's most improbable.

"At the beginning of the season we'd graduated Alex Harris," North Rockland coach Brian Diglio said. "We didn't have an 800-meter runner. We didn't even have anyone under 2:30."

In the fall Diglio called on Deandra Francois, a sprinter/hurdler, to fill that gap.

"She ran cross country with us," Diglio said. "She'd never even run a 600. We just gradually brought her up. She kept getting faster and faster until we finally said 'OK, you can do a DMR now if you want.'"

Francois handed the stick off in fifth Friday, following Haleigh Morales (1,200 meters) and Sofia Housman (400 meters). Katelyn Tuohy did the rest.

Tuohy's 4:38.62 1,600-meter anchor leg clinched an 11:44.38 North Rockland win.

"It feels great to win this relay for my teammates," said Tuohy, who raised the baton in salute to her teammates at the finish. "I'm really hyped up about this weekend. And I still have two races to go."

Tuohy charged past Kelsey Chmiel of Saratoga Springs NY (second, 11:52.96) halfway through her leg, but never lost steam.

"We've always felt the DMR best shows a team's strength in the sprints and distance," said Diglio, whose team will also run a sprint medley relay with Tuohy on the anchor.

Six teams broke the 12-minute mark, including Impulse TC (Padua Academy DE) in 11:54.49, Breen TC (Troy MI) in 11:55.41, Koalas TC (Ursuline School NY) in 11:56.38, and Niskayuna NY, 11:57.23.

Throw 1 Family

Throw 1 Deep GA teammates Hannah Jackson, Victoria Solheim and Shannah Mallett finished 2-3-4 in the girls emerging elite weight throw Friday. The three evinced a deep affection for each other and the bond they've build through the Marrietta, Ga. club.

"The bond the club has (is strong)," Jackson said. "It's like a family. For me, it's a second family. These are my best friends."

According to Mike Judge, who started the club in 1998, it's a connection forged through shared commitment.

"We coach 30-something kids," Judge said. "They have a decision to make: they can work very hard with us, or go play video games and go to parties.

"They're the ones who are special. They're trying to do great things."

The club has produced close to 200 All-Americans at New Balance Nationals Indoor and Outdoor, including the weight throw national record holder, Shelby Ashe. It counts Daniel Haugh, the defending NCAA weight throw champion at the University of Alabama, as an alum, as well as six other current college conference champions. Yet, the heart of the program's success is something more prosaic.

"When college coaches know I throw for Throw 1 Deep, they know all of the effort and the time you out into it," Solheim said. "It's such a rigorous, time-consuming thing."

Adds Jackson: "You think about training six days a week, and the work you put in. But it works."

That success emanates from Judge, a self-effacing presence with a shaved head and a steely demeanor.

"I was a thrower at the University of Georgia," Judge said."I got injured very young, when I was 22. What I didn't achieve as an athlete, I wanted to do as a coach."

At Throw 1 Deep, a federal non-profit, Judge coaches with three other full-time staff.

"It's a very technical event, so you have to have people who are knowledgeable about it," Judge said.

They come to Throw 1 Deep from all corners of Georgia. Solheim commutes an hour and a half to training each day.

Jackson, who finished second, PR'd by two feet.

 The New York experience would be their bond. One, they are convinced, that will last.

"There's a method to the madness," Jackson said. "You train six days a week. That has a lot to do with Coach Mike. You see results quickly."