Loucks: Ursuline's Olson, Hastings' Thomas, Bronxville's Gravier, Tri-Valley's Furman excel
WHITE PLAINS — She had wanted one for a long time.
That gold statuette of an athlete stretching high toward the sky.
This was her last chance.
And on a special day.
Elena Olson turned 18 Saturday and it might be argued she left White Plains High School and the 56th running of the Loucks Games with the best gift she could possibly receive.
The Ursuline senior, who'll run for Northeastern next year, won the statuette by winning the Loucks Games girls 100-meter hurdles in 14.76.
Clarkstown North's Marissa Gordon medaled in fourth in 15.54 and Mount Vernon's Emmanuela Mathieu, while finishing just outside the medals, scored a point for her team in sixth (16.36). Cornwall's Madison Riccardi (16.96) was eighth.
Olson, whose birthday celebratory plans included restaurant chicken/pineapple fried rice out with her family, hadn't been satisfied with her qualifying run but tried to put that behind her as she stepped to the starting line.
"I was trying not to overthink the race. The prelims were not my best. In the warm-up for the final, I told myself, 'Go out and do it,' " said Olson, who, after the finish, was bear-hugged by teammate Sarai Seely, who'd later win her own cherished statuette for the girls triple jump,
Indeed, as large as Loucks is -- this year's edition had athletes from 228 schools from 10 states, Washington D.C. and Ontario, Canada -- local athletes excelled.
Iona Prep, for instance, won the boys team title for the first time since 1976 with Taconic Hills second out of 71 boys teams that scored.
Upstate Guilderland took the girls team title with Connecticut's Bloomfield High second. But Ursuline was third and Cornwall fifth out of 55 squads that scored.
At a meet that remembered Daniel Woodard, the 34-year Loucks board chairman and one of the meet's founders, who died just days after last year's Games, there were meet records, near-meet records, personal-bests galore and even state-bests and U.S. top-10s for the season.
From northwest in the Hudson Valley, Section 9's Van Furman of Tri-Valley ran a 2024 U.S. No. 1 and Loucks meet-record 9:07.94 to win the boys 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Furman's time was a huge 19-second improvement on his personal best entering the meet.
he credited the win to increased confidence and adrenaline, remarking with a smile that steeplechase is his favorite event with his favorite part "just getting it over" and "feeling good after I've pretty much killed myself."
Bronxville junior Wyatt Gravier's personal-best 14.2 in the boys 110-meter hurdles won him his own gold statuette and placed him No. 2 in New York this season in the event.
"Everything was perfect," said Gravier, who remarked his recent work breaking from the starting blocks had "finally paid off."
Hastings' Caitlin Thomas won the girls 2,000-meter steeplechase in a personal-best 6:52.58, the No. 2 time in the state among high school girls this season and No. 6 all-time in Loucks history.
And a day after running a personal-best time from a slower heat to finish third overall in the boys 800, Ketcham's Connor Hitt recorded another personal best in running 4:14.08 for second in the boys Loucks mile. Union Catholic's Jimmy Wischusen (4:13.41) took gold in that race.
"I wanted to make a name for myself here after I didn't get into the Penn Relays," said Hitt, who, with the 21st fastest mile time among applicants, missed out on the cutoff of 18 by just fractions of a second.
His time at Loucks gives him entry into the top division now at New Balance Outdoor Nationals, which will be held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the same site as the Penn Relays.
As with Hitt in the 1,600 (which will be based on his mile time), Nanuet's Shane O'Neill and Clarkstown South's Maggie Hanson gained the so-called super-standard to automatically qualify for the state championships by simply competing at the Section 1 state qualifier.
In the case of O'Neill and Hanson, that was in the discus.
Hanson, on her last attempt, unleashed her best throw ever. It went 136 feet, 8 inches, one inch shy of her 9-foot personal best.
Moreover, her throw broke the girls Rockland County discus record and stands sixth-best all-time at Loucks.
"I had nothing to lose at that point. I was just giving it my all," said Hanson, who now sits in the No. 2 spot in girls discus in the state for the season.
O'Neill, who was third in the shot put Friday, the middle day of the three-day meet, threw a big personal-best 161-3 for the boys discus title.
"I was just hoping," he explained of his feeling upon releasing that throw.
O'Neill, who hopes to throw for the University of Albany, will next gun for Nanuet's all-time mark of 166, which has stood since 1976.
Also medaling in boys discus were Pleasantville's Aiden Kayizzi (fourth place, 152-4) and Rye Neck's Nathan Shpilberg (sixth place, 149-9).
Iona Prep
Iona Prep's team win came with 71 schools scoring.
It collected a key 10 points for its dramatic boys 4x100 relay win.
Iona Prep was in second place in the race after Justin Hargraves, Declan McCauley and Matt Davitt had run their legs.
But then came Terron Johnson. The junior, running in only his second meet since an injury sidelined him in February, got the baton a few steps behind Connecticut's Danbury High. But Johnson put on a huge finish that resulted in a photo finish with Danbury.
After a minor delay, Iona Prep was announced the winner, clocking 41.97 to Danbury's 41.98.
In the same race, Horace Greeley lowered its season-best time with Seamus Finn, Niko Wright, Kyle McKenney and Ben Ho running 42.28 for fourth.
Pelham missed a medal but gained a team point with Nicholas Massaregli, Richardson LeBron, Idowu Emmanuel and Howell Kristian running 43.01 for sixth.
Among the other 28 team points Iona prep accrued were six from Adande Narte's personal-best 45-1 triple jump, which won him bronze.
(West Islip's Rocco Carpinello won at 47-10 and Demetrius Wells gained a point for Hen Hud with his sixth-place 42-10, an outdoor personal best for him and fifth best in Section 1 this season. And Poughkeepsie's Donnahugh Simms came up just short of scoring in seventh at 42-6.)
Jake Gherardi also gave the Gaels eight points with his second-place, 175-5 throw in the javelin.
The event title went to Concord, New Hampshire's Nick Reynolds, who had a competition he no doubt won't soon forget. His first throw went 145-10 throw. he finished with three exceeding 190 feet, including a Loucks Games No. 2 all-time 197-10. That was more than 14 feet farther than the Utica College-bound senior had ever thrown prior to making the trip south to White Plains.
Rye's Rocklan Boisseau threw 164-7 for third.
Another eight points went to Iona Prep for Hargraves' second-place finish in the boys 100-meter dash.
Northport's Vito LaRosa won at 11-flat. Hargraves was clocked at 11.03. Greeley's Wright took fourth in 11.17 and Tappan Zee's Caleb Alexandre Alexandre was eighth (11.41).
Section 9 huge in boys pentathlon
After the boys pentathlon ended, friendly rivals Jaden Bisono of Goshen and Connor Efinger of Washingtonville temporarily exchanged running jerseys for a photo.
Despite a bad hamstring that slowed him, Bisono amassed 2,992 points.
Efinger was second with 2,770.
Another Section 9 athlete, Cornwall's Carter Vallinino, took fourth (2,540) and Nanuet's Dan Paneto got one point for his team with a sixth-place finish with 2,425.
More athletes dropped out of the grueling pent than finished it. Nanuet's Ederson Mercu, in seventh place with 2,131 points, was the last finisher.
Bisono was last year's state silver medalist in boys pent.
"My goal is to go back-to-back," he said.
Bisono, who called his rivalry with Efinger fun and said it went back to their sophomore year, clearly has the stats to compete in college.
But, while he was approached by some college coaches, he noted he would instead go into the Navy, as his dad and older brother did.
"Coming from a military family, it felt right," he said of his decision.
Medaling again
Among those who went home with hardware both Friday and Saturday were sprinters Jaylin Santiago and Riley Pettigrew.
Santiago, the Fordham Prep senior who's from Mount Vernon, was second in the boys 400 a day after winning the 200.
Santiago ran 47.88. Windsor's Maxim Copeland won in 47.15.
Horace Greeley's Seamus Finn was fifth in 48.28.
Pettigrew, the Arlington junior who won the girls 200, was fifth in the 100 at 12.56. Elmont Memorial's Ashley Fulton, who was a very close second to Pettigrew in the 200, took the win in 12.2.
Seely and other jumping medalists
Ursuline's Seely, who'll compete for Brandeis University next year, recorded a Loucks' all-time No. 4 and current state girls No. 2 40-9.5 personal best in winning the girls triple jump.
Her teammate, Ivana Richards, was fifth at 36-0.
"Today I told a friend, 'I'm going to jump 40,' " Seely said. 'It was 39, 39 and I said, 'Last one, best one.' "
"My steps combined (right). Everything just worked," said Seely, who, when not running and jumping in track, competes nationally and internationally (the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland to date) in synchronized skating.
"It's my double life," Seely joked.
Nyack's Ryan Cardichon may not be doing that, but there's no doubt he can get good air in track.
Cardichon took bronze at 6-4 in the boys high jump, which Bloomfield, CT's Ja'mari Manson won at 6-6.
Connor Cruz scored a point for Cornwall in the event in sixth place at 6-2.
White Plains' Logan McCormick and Pleasantville's Etai Nunberg also cleared 6-2 but in more attempts for seventh and eighth place-respectively.
Friday Loucks Games: Arlington's Pettigrew, Fordham Prep's Santiago win 200s, SV's Dessalines 2nd in jump
More relay finishes
While Bloomfield (CT) captured the girls 4x400 relay in 3:52.86, the local area also fared well.
Scarsdale ( Ariella Sobel, Leia Patel, Maria Roberts and Shannon Kelly) ran 3:57.59, the third fastest time in the state among high school girls this season.
Cornwall (Kristina Garcia, Madeline Larkin, Caigan Leonard and Lia Mellon) clocked 3:58.81 for third place and fifth overall at states.
Cornwall won silver in the boys 4x400.
Maneel Bijur, Ethan Cypress, David Holloway and Reid Johnson clocked 3:22.7 to finish behind Windsor (3:18.69).
With Guilderland winning in 9:15.52, Cornwall (Noemi Goitia, Kerry Murphy, Maris Potter and Sophia Semo) ran 9:28.32 for fourth in the girls 4x800.
Ursaline (Richards, Olson, Sofia Henao and Seely) medaled in fifth in the girls 4x100, running 49.32. The win set to Ballston Spa in 48.14.
With no points awarded in its initial year, the new mixed (boys and girls combined) 4x400 relay drew only six teams.
But two local teams did well with Blind Brook taking silver and Rye Neck bronze.
Massapequa won in 3:43.82.
Blind Brook (KayLeigh Curran, Danny Keilman, Sena Tarnoff and Will Jaffee) ran 3:48.79 and Rye Neck (Phoebe Carmel, Matthew Rubin, Ainara Schube Barriola and Micah Taffet) clocked 3:52.4.
Scarsdale (Brandon Lin, Rishi Shadaksharappa, Jack Sherman and Charles Rich) was runner-up at 8:17.54 in the non-scoring boys 4x800 NIck Panaro relay. Brooklyn Tech won in 8:12.82.
Sayville won the Panaro girls 4x800 relay in 9:31.5 with Tappan Zee (Alyssa Connolly, Mia Dellolio, Cassidy Donovan and Ryan Donovan) taking fifth in 10:15.9 and Scarsdale (Sydney Geringer, Morgan Greco, Rachel Rakower and Lilly Streicher) right behind in sixth in 10:15.96.
The girls non-scoring Section 1 mile went to Eastchester's Eva Muzichenko in 5:16.72, Ursuline's Kyleigh O'Keefe (5:20.24) was second and Arlngton's Samantha Guckian (5:24.25) was third.
The boys Section 1 non-scoring mile was fast and close. Scarsdale's Charles Rich won in 4:26.25. John Jay-Cross River's Andy Condon clocked 4:26.26 for second and Rye Neck's Micah Taffet was third in 4:26.57.
Other strong showings
John Jay-East Fishkill's Maia Perillo cleared 11 feet for third in the girls pole vault.
The win went to Bethel, Connecticut Talia Graham at 12-6.
Cornwall's Anderson Farina was fourth, also at 11-0, but in more attempts.
Somers' Haylie Donovan ran a personal-best 57.18 for sixth in the girls 400, just edging Nyack's Jayda Johnson (57.26). North Babylon's Samara Lawrence (56.6) took gold.
Cornwall's Ninalyn Montero, with 2,386 points, finished fifth in the girls pentathlon.
The win went to Nyrah Joseph (3,194 points) of Billerica Memorial High in Massachusetts.
Also taking fifth from Cornwall was Caigan Leonard, who clocked 1:03.42 in the girls 400 hurdles.
Ava Weiss of Rhode Island's Columbia High was the winner in 1:00.98.
Nanuet's Sam Dow finished just off scoring in seventh at 1:05.41.
The top finish by a Hudson Valley athlete in girls javelin was by Section 9 Marlboro's Victoria Maher, who threw 104-5 for sixth.
Nyack's Ghianna Smith was seventh with a 100-3 throw and Yonkers' Oliva Coleman was eighth at 97-0.
New Canaan, Connecticut's Lauren Smith won at 114-2.
Bronxxville's Gravier finished just outside scoring in the 400 hurdles with a seventh-place 56.32. Taconic Hills' Neil Howard, the boys field MVP, who, in addition to winning the long jump Friday, cleared 16-3 for the boys pole vault win, took the hurdles in 52.68.
Nanuet's Gabriella Vizcarrondo threw a personal-best 115-9 for eighth place out of 56 in girls discus.
With his brother, Pat, who now runs for Vanderbilt University, cheering him on, Brewster's Liam Ford, running in the supposedly slower of two boys 3,000-meter steeplechases, knocked six seconds off his personal best time to finish ninth out of 28 overall in 10:05.58 behind eighth-place Rafael Castro of Hackley (9:54.31), who ran in the top group.
No local medaled in the Loucks girls mile, which was won by Bayport-Blue Point's Sophia McInnes in 4:51.22.
The top Hudson Valley finishers were Caitlyn Murphy of Section 9 Wallkill (eighth place, 4:56.61) and Tappan Zee's Bridget Dunn, who broke five minutes at 4:59.75 for 10th.
The girls high jump also produced no local medals. Paige Rider from upstate Central Square won at 5-2.
The top local finishers were Cornwall's Carson Villani in sixth at 5-0 and Ardsley's Gabriele A and Eastchester's Phoebe Gauld, who were among four jumpers tied at 4-9 for seventh.
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: LouckGames: Olson win on B-day, Thomas, Gravier, Furman also excel
