Records fall, Section V athletes grab gold at state track
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – Before Camryn Cole began making magic in track and field, she was a gymnast.
A good one.
She vaulted, she swung from the bars, she leaped off the pommel horse, and she tumbled.
Saturday, at the high school track and field state championships in the lower Catskills, the Webster Schroeder senior tumbled again.
This time it was very accidental, super scary and triggered by the momentum of lunging at the finish to win the 100-meter hurdles federation race.
"I don't know what really happened," Cole said. "I was determined to beat that girl next to me (North Rockland's Dami Modupe). She got me by a tenth of a second yesterday (in the Division 1 public schools race) so I pushed really hard across the line.
"I lost my balance. I just pitched forward and rolled over."
It was a full 360 textbook tuck and roll, like from her days on the floor exercise mats.
"Just a reflex action, I guess," Cole said after hobbling with help to the athletic trainer's station with a sore left kneecap. "It saved me from something worse."
As it was, she then rushed off to the high jump pit, where it was her turn. She chose to attempt a 5-foot-7-inch height, passing at 5-6. She tried three times to clear it and just missed each one to tie for fourth at 5-5.
Her day was done, with three golds — sweeping the long jump competition with a New York-second best 19 feet, eight inches — and that silver on Friday. It was a highlight among solid performances from many of the 98 Section V athletes entered in this 75th edition of boys outdoor states and 49th for the girls.
Six boys and four girls earned state championships for Section V. Five were by Division 2 athletes from the smaller schools and six came in federation events, in which public, parochial, private and charter schools all compete against each other.
OJ comes through
University Prep's Connecticut-bound senior OJ Singletary captured the title he said wanted most, the 400.
"I had to go out hard," he said, "then kick hard. I worked on that all week."
It paid off in both the D2 public school and federation races. He and Attica senior Simon Lamparelli and East Rochester junior Jalen McCoy swept gold, silver and bronze in 47.58, 48.30 and 48.47 in the D2 race Friday. Saturday Singletary blazed a 47.07, tops in the state and 33rd in the U.S., in the federation race in which Section V had four of the eight finalists. Lamparelli was fourth (48.31), Hilton junior Jake Palermo sixth (49.45) and McCoy seventh (49.58).
Singletary started but didn’t complete the 400 hurdles, an event he's been competing in for just four weeks.
"I needed to save myself for the four by one," he said.
UPrep's sprint relay won the D2 title in a season-best 41.82 with its foursome of Singletary, Juelz Russell, Jayvon Johnson and Christopher Jean and they were second in the federation relay to Iona Prep with a 42.08. But Singletary missed a shot at a fifth medal when UPrep's sophomore Tavion Byrd cramped up leading off the D2 1,600 and the team did not finish. The team was second to Iona Prep of Section I in the federation race, in 42.08.
"Overall, I'm happy about today," Singletary said. "Now I'm going to try and break 40 in the 400 at New Balance nationals in Philadelphia."
Longtime record falls
Multi-talented Alexander senior Jadyn Mullen had just won her fifth and last event in the pentathlon with a stirring finish in the 800, then anxiously stared at the scoreboard to see if she had pulled off the upset she'd dreamed about.
"Oooooh . . . I did it," she said in disbelief when the scores were posted on Middletown High School stadium's big board: Mullen, 3,492 points. Imani Pugh of Section III Rome 3,420. A Section V record that had stood for 29 years fell to Mullen's determination, and the sharp coaching of Alexander assistant coach Lydia Spiotta.
"Lydia has made all the difference for me," said Mullen, who's in just her first year competing in the five-event discipline. "We figured out that coming into that 800 I had to go under 2:20 and Imani had to do no better than a 2:31 for me to win." Mullen's 2:18.15 ranks second on Section V's leaderboard for the event. Pugh managed 2:33.74.
"I could hear Lydia screaming at me 'you gotta go'," Mullen said of the push she needed on the second lap. For the record she was first in the 800, third in the 100 hurdles (15.18, third on the leaderboard), second in high jump (5-5.75, second on the leaderboard), fifth in long jump (16.7.75 but sixth on the leaderboard with an 18-1.25) and 11th of the 25 girls in the competition, in shot put (28-0).
"Those last two are my weakest events, definitely," Mullen said. "Lydia was coming in to school at 6 o'clock in the morning this week to help me get ready. I owe so much to her."
Mullen broke the record of Brockport's Apasha Blocker – 3,435 points set at state qualifiers at Hornell June 5, 1994.
Four-for-four
Warsaw senior Matt Auble says there's a unique kind of pressure being so clearly ahead of his competition in the throws.
He beat everyone else by a mile in both the shot put and discus in publics and federations, but he wasn't about to wear four gold medals around his neck to tout his superiority.
"I've got the federation discus one," he said. "I gave the others to my mom, my dad and my grandmother.
"I know there's a target on my back every time out," he said, "but it doesn't bother me. Really. I’m able to stay relaxed, enjoy the others competing and have fun with it.
"You know, there's all kinds of cheering and clapping. Throwers know each other pretty well and when there's a lot of people around cheering it gets me really pumped up."
Praise for Steve Whittemore
Arkport senior Pierce Young won silver for his second-place finish in the D2 3,000 steeplechase, but he was most enthused about Arkport/Canaseraga/Alfred-Almond’s sixth-place medal finish in the D2 3,200 relay.
"That was so exciting," he said, referring to the 8:06.67 race crafted by senior Braydon Brewster, Young, sophomore Bryson Jones and freshman Ibrahim Ford. It was just one second off the school record.
"We are Arkport's first relay to ever make states, and it's because of coach (Steve) Whittemore. He's been the mastermind. We are so grateful for his guidance. None of us ever dreamed we could do this, but his workouts and training have made all the difference. It's so great we can do this because this is his final year of coaching us."
Millimeters make a difference
Corintia Grffith, Webster Schroeder's junior leaper, used a steady progression of marks in the triple jump to win both the D1 and federation titles.
After a first jump of 39-3 she was in third place. Then her 39-9.25 was second. On her third try she reached 40-11.75, which won her the federation gold. On Friday she swept the public school competition with distances of 38-8.5, 38-9.25 and 40-3.75.
"I'm very happy with my performance," she said. "Not quite a PR (personal record 41-4.75) but close. I actually fouled on my last try in the feds but I fouled by literally a millimeter. We looked at video and if it had been legal I would have reached 41 something."
"I've been trying to not be stressed, and today I felt good."
Counting indoor track, Griffith has earned 16 medals at state meets, including two others Saturday with her 400 relay, which was sixth in D1 and seventh in feds.
Master of the 100
Irondequoit senior Mehki Christensen, in winning the D1 100, says he was happy he was able to maintain the three things he's been working on:
"Start hard, hold your place, and finish strong."
Though his prelim and final times were just a shade off his season best, the 10.69 and 10.63 in the D1 and the 10.81 for third in the federation race maintained his top ranking going into nationals this next weekend. His 10.62, run May 12 at Eastridge’s Lancer Invitational, is No. 4 in the state.
Fifth time is the charm
Hilton senior Jake Palermo and UPrep’s OJ Singletary have been fractions apart atop the leaderboard in the 400 all season. But because Hilton is a D1 school and UPrep D2, they've had few chances to go head-to-head.
Instead, their times prove their dominance.
Palermo won the D1 400 Friday in 47.89, a personal best and just .04 behind OJ’s best. He also was sixth to medal in the federation 400 Saturday, in 49.45. It's only the fifth and sixth time Palermo says he's raced the distance.
"I just started the 400 last month," Palermo said. "It was on a whim. First time was at a dual meet against Fairport. I did a sub 50 and really was just jogging it.
"My coach (Jeff Merkel) said I should get serious about it. I'd been doing the 100 and 200 but because I have good endurance the last part of the race, it suits me well."
"That's what happened yesterday. The guy (Jaydin Santiago of Section 1's Fordham Prep) I was playing catchup with in the last 100 didn't lean at the finish. I did."
Support helps Sepulveda
Manny Sepulveda says he's grateful for all the support of his Section V competitors as he won the D2 long jump in 22-6.75. Of the 22 who competed, seven qualified from the Rochester area.
"A lot of guys were in my flight, and everybody's cheering and clapping for everybody else," Sepulveda said. "That helped me a lot. I was comfortable, not tense."
He finished a half a foot short of his top-seeded distance of 22-11. The others from Section V were Newark senior Kayden Hughes (2nd, 22-3.5), UPrep senior Jamari Bullard (5th, 22-1), Aquinas freshman Celvin Kirkland (9th, 21-8.5), Hornell senior Brennan Delany (12th, 21-0), Scio senior Jordan White (15th, 20-7) and Midlakes freshman Aiden Bryant (17th, 20-5).
Delany was the only Section V competitor to take on four individual events. Besides that long jump, he was second in the D2 110 hurdles, second in the D2 triple jump and fifth in D2 pole vault.
Loves the variety
"The hardest thing about pentathlon,” Quillen Shimp says, "is you have to find time to practice all the events."
The Clyde-Savannah senior who's bound for SUNY Fredonia seems on it, all day every day.
"I’ve always liked to do lots of things," he says. His third-place 3,140-point finish in a D2 field of 12 resulted from a second in the 1,500, third in the 110 hurdles, tied for ninth in the high jump, 14th in the long jump and 20th in the shot put. His teammate, Aiden Vanamburg, was 14th.
Best of the rest
Franklin’s Perrion Williams was second in the D1 200 in 21.61, fourth in the 200 federation final, in 21.81, and third in the D1 100 in 10.76. He also anchored Franklin's D1 400 relay to sixth.
Honeoye Falls-Lima's girls missed winning the D2 1,600 relay by .81 with a season best and leaderboard best 3:59.96 and medalled in fifth in the federation championship. Their team included junior Jayne Williams and seniors Ava Bagley, Oliver Kraynick and Cayla Lawrence.
Bagley won silver in the D2 100 hurdles in 15.62 and was fourth in the D2 400 hurdles in 1:05.09.
A sophomore from Wellsville, Kaylee Oswald, edged Panayiota Anastos of Section IV's Maine-Endwell by three quarters of an inch to win the D2 girls shot put. Oswald threw 37-10, then bettered that with a 39-3.5 to finish fifth in the federation competition and occupy the top spot on the Section V leaderboard.
Fairport's girls fared well overall, with senior Jillian Ambler fifth in the D1 pentathlon, senior Zoe Marcus seventh in the D1 800, the 1,600 relay medaling at fifth in D1 and seventh in the federations with a season-best 4:00.46.
Churchville-Chili junior Ay’rianna Moore missed by .01 of qualifying for the D1 200 final. She ran 25.42 in the prelims, .08 short of her season best.
Jake Passalugo just missed two medals by finishing ninth overall in the 3,200, and seventh among D1s. But the Fairport senior's 9:12.48 dropped his PR by more than three seconds.
Penfield senior Peter Northrup earned a D1 silver medal with a shot put throw of 53-3.75.
Jim Castor, retired assistant sports editor of the Democrat and Chronicle, has covered high school sports in the Rochester area for more than five decades. He can be reached at jcastor@jimcastor.com
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: NY state track championships: Section V athletes grab gold
