Track: Greeley, Fox Lane, Pearl River's Moroney, P'ville's Lynch strike it rich at Gold Rush

WEST NYACK — Many weren't in typical uniforms.

Too wet.

Too cold.

Too uncomfortable for that.

Saturday's Gold Rush Invitational track and field meet at Clarkstown South High School pitted athlete-vs.-weather as much as it pitted athlete-vs.-athlete or athlete-vs.-self.

Some teams bailed from a normally 40-or-so-school meet and some opted to keep a few stars home.

But plenty of the area's top athletes did compete and despite the smaller field and weather hurdles, multiple personal-best performances were logged.

One was by Horace Greeley's Niko Wright.

Wright, who hopes to qualify for, then medal, in both the 100 and 200 dashes at the state championships, ran 22.27 to win the 200.

In fact, with 137 boys running the 200 in heats, Greeley swept the top three spots. Seamus Finn clocked 22.37 for second and Ben Ho (22.87) was third.

"I was just going in to win," Wright said. "I just tried to ignore the fact it was miserable outside and just suck it up."

It seemed harder in some events than others to tune the wet conditions out.

Multiple discuses, for example, slipped from athletes' hands earlier than intended and landed outside (with righties, to the right of) the measuring zone, resulting in fouls.

"No, no, it wasn't good. ... But there's been worse," said boys winner Shane O'Neill of Nanuet.

He managed a 121-11 throw on his last attempt after fouling on the preceding one. Teammate Joe D'Amano (99-2) was second and Rye Neck's Nathan Shpilberg was third (96-11) was third.

The junior Shpilberg, who has thrown better than 127 in meets and into the 140s in practice, said, "This discus slipped out every time I threw."

O'Neill, a junior whose personal best is 134-0 and wants to hit 150 this season, was cautious on his last attempt.

"I was just trying to get it out," he said, noting he went more slowly than his norm.

O'Neill also won gold in the boys shot put with a 41-6.25 throw.

Rye Neck's Jaden Snow (41-10.25) was second and Aakash Yarlagadda (41-5) of Monroe-Woodbury was third.

Weather a motivator to run fast

Pearl River's Mady Moroney, fresh from earning all-Rockland girls basketball honors, won and set a personal-best mark at 2:23.44 in the girls 800.

Runner-up Katrina Torelli of Harrison (2:24.16) and Moroney's teammate, Claire O'Sullivan (2:25.29), who was third, also ran personal-best times.

Moroney, who said she's "not in great shape at all" yet for track, used the weather as motivator.

"I was just thinking, 'I need to finish this race.' I was so nervous, for some reason The weather was so cold," she explained.

Four of the top five boys in the 3,000-meter steeplechase clocked personal-best times.

Pleasantville's Theo Lynch took gold in a 10:33.08 PB.

Tappan Zee's Bryce Anderson (PB 10:46.64) was second.

And Fox Lane's Matt Krasnow (11.16.85) edged Somers' Christian Wissa (PB 11:18.08) for third.

Clarkstown South's Julian Rime (1:58.63) captured the boys 800. Rye Neck's David Magill (2:04.46) was second.

"It was sloppy and cold and the air was a bit heavier and it was a bit windy," said Rime, whose personal best in the 800 is 1:55.6,

He'd hoped to break Patrick Tuohy's 2018 meet record of 1:57.6 for North Rockland.

"It just didn't pan out the way I wanted," said the University of New Hampshire-bound Rime, who hopes to get under 1:54 to qualify for the top level in the 800 at New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Philadelphia in June.

Rime also anchored Clarkstown South's second-place boys 4x400 team, which ran 3:38.4

First place went to Horace Greeley in 3:33.46 and Yonkers won bronze in 3:53.33.

Finn, who anchored Ben Ho, Wright and Matthew Carnes for Greeley's relay, called their time "not bad."

He said the team focused in part on being "safe" with the baton.

"We just had to get around. We've got the speed to win. We just had to be safe," Finn explained.

Other winners

Somers (Matt Hirsch, Luke Armstrong, Jaden Abreau and Sam Parsons) won the boys 4x100 in 47.55.

Yonkers (48.03) edged Rye Neck (48.09) for second.

Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel cruised to the win in the girls 1,600 in 5:15.29.

Pearl River's Maura Durcan (:5:49.25) was second and Sleepy Hollow's Amina Aizeki-Nevins (5:57.88) was third.

Fieldston's Owen Larson (4:30.52) was the boys 1,600 winner.

That wasn't a personal best and neither were the times posted by runner-up Mason Barlow (4:33.95) of Greeley and third-place finisher Joe Lavelle of Rye Neck (4:34.65). But the fourth- and fifth-place finishers in that race, Somers' Aiden Meza (4:36.32) and Rye Neck's Micah Taffet (4:37.31) did record big PBs.

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John Jay-Cross River's Sloan Wasserman clocked 7:24.9 to win the girls 2,000-meter steeple chase.

Somers' Jessica Masterson (personal-best 7:47.66) was second and Rye Neck's Mirabelle Brown (8:02.55) was third ina field of 19.

Spring Valley swept the top three spots in girls long jump.

Giselandra Clerge (16-6.5) won gold. Sydney Grey (PB 15-6) took silver and bronze went to Destiny Lawrence (15-4).

John Jay-Cross River's Aya Schwartz also went a personal-best 15-4 but in more attempts, so she was fourth.

Clerge also captured the girls triple jump at 34-0. Schwartz was second at a personal-best 32-5.2 and Greeley's Meredith Feiner (31-2) was third.

Feiner was also second (30.55) in the girls 200-meter hurdles.

The hurdles win went to Bergen Tech's Mackenzie Burke (30.25) and third place was captured by a hair by Clarkstown South's Larissa Reddington (32.11) with Pearl River's Alyssa Croke just .01 behind.

While Bergen Tech also took the boys 200 hurdles, Anthony Senatore (27.04), Yonkers made a statement, taking the next three slots.

Jason Konadu ran 27.48 for second, Akeem Carnegie (27.84) was third and Ben Domingo (27.97) was fourth.

At a personal-best 20-6, Rye Neck's Ilias Alradi captured the boys long jump.

Stepinac's Ryan Cardichon (20-2.5) was second and North Rockland's Shamell Roberts (19-8.5) was third.

Quincy Sanchez of Nanuet soared a personal-best 39-8.25 to win the boys triple jump.

Sam Parsons of Somers (39-1.25) was second and Albertus Magnus's Xavier Reyes (PB 38-0.5) was third.

At 10-0, Sleepy Hollow's Aaron Bell won the boys pole vault.

Stepinac's Chris Nugent (9-6) was second and Clarkstown South's Vegas Peterson (9-0) was third.

With shot puts slipping from throwers' hands before plopping into the ground for easy marking no girl throwers approached personal bests.

North Rockland took the two top spots with Ket-Helene Forestal throwing 29-9.5 and Elyssa Adu-Gyamfi close behind at 29-9.

Ramapo's Michaella Meritil took bronze at 25-5.

Bergen Catholic's Emily Chen (27-5) won the girls, 92-runner 200 with Fox Lane's Abigail Charles (27.78) second and Ramapo's Bellecky Durosier (27.98) third. In a personal-best 27.54, Yonkers' Jenna Bertrand was fourth.

Yonkers took the girls 4x100 relay in 53.57. Ramapo (54.0) was second and Monroe-Woodbury (56.23) was third.

Perhaps due to the conditions, no personal-bests were logged among girl pole vaulters.

The win went to Fox Lane's Patricia Wiltse at 7-0. Julia Duzynski of Somers was second (6-0), edging Fox Lane's Ashley Nappi, who cleared the same height but in more attempts.

High jump performances also appeared to fall victim to weather.

Yonkers' Kwame Boateng and John Jay-Cross River's Byron Wilson tied for first at 5-4 in boys high jump. Somers' Luke Wilson was third (5-2).

Kelly Roth of North Rockland cleared 4-3 for the girls win. At the same height but in more attempts, Fox Lane's Joey Hollander and Clarkstown South's Raquel Guzman tied for second.

Team champs

While some teams stayed home, plenty did show up.

On the girls side, 16 scored in the girls team competition.

Fox Lane finished first with 52 points. Clarkstown South, which had a very strong meet but also got a bonus of first- and second-place points in the girls 4x400 relay, as the only school to run in the event, was second with 37 points. Spring Valley edged Pearl River 34-33 for third and John Jay-Cross River rounded out the top five with 28.

Nineteen squads recorded placement points in the boys team competition, which was tight at the top.

Horace Greeley edged Nanuet 47-45.5 for first place. Yonkers was close behind with 43 points for third. And Somers, with 41 points, claimed fourth over Clarkstown South by just one point.

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: Track: Greeley, Fox Lane, Pearl River's Moroney win at Gold Rush