Track: Somers, Hen Hud, New Ro, Arlington, Hackley have big days at Somers Lions Wynne meet

SOMERS — When Stepinac's Ryan Cardichon started the spring track season he decided based on clearing 6-0 in the high jump during his first season of track this past winter, he'd figuratively and literally set the bar high and make his goal 6-4.

So when he "no-heighted" at the mid-April Mountie Madness invitational, failing to even clear 5-6, that was a major disappointment.

But Saturday at the 45th annual, 48-school, 2,000-plus-athlete Somers Lions Joe Wynne Track and Field Invitational, Cardichon's problem wasn't that he couldn't clear 5-6.

His problem — a happy one to have — was his need to rethink his season goal after having underestimated his abilities.

The track newcomer cleared 6-5, tying him for third best this season among all high school boys in New York.

Now he's thinking "If anything, 6-8" as a season goal, Cardichon said.

Cardichon, who captured the meet's Class A boys high jump title, was the overall winner for all three classes and took home the award for being the meet's most outstanding male field athlete, passed around the credit, taking little to none for himself.

"It was really by the grace of god. ... During my jump, I was talking to him," said the junior, who's also a wide receiver on Stepinac's football team.

He said being pushed in practice by teammate Nate Alvarez, who's currently No. 1 in the state at 6-7 but who missed Saturday's meet with an injury, had helped him, as was jumping Saturday against Edgemont's Connor Fischer. Fischer, who'd previously cleared 6-5, won Class B at 6-4.

And, finally, Cardichon pointed to fans of and athletes from multiple teams, who rhythmically clapped for him before his 6-5 attempt.

"It calmed my nerves," he said of hearing that.

Cardichon, who considers his speed an asset in high jumping, sounded anxious to get back to practice to get that 6-8.

Asked about Alvarez, he said, "He pushes me at practice."

And Cardichon will push him?

"A little bit," he said with a smile.

Pleasantville's Etai Nunberg won the boys Class C high jump title at 5-10.

Rye's Boisseau, Arlington's Cargain javelin winners

Javelin and hammer are two Olympic events not included in the New York state high school track and field championships.

But, despite that, the events are popular locally and area throwers are among the state's elite in both events.

Saturday, Rye's Dalton Boisseau moved into the top spot statewide in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 157-4, which was, of course, the meet's best and gave him the Class B boys title.

Ryan Shapiro of John Jay-East Fishkill won Class A at 137-5 and Class C went to Irvington's Hudson Fallia at 121-10.

On the girls side, Arlington's Riley Cargain threw a big personal-best 87-0 for the top throw and the winning throw in Class A.

Pleasantville's Roxanne Smith (80-4) took Class C and the Class B win went to Ardsley's Floriana Novaj (74-0).

"It felt good when I let it go," Cargain said of her winning throw, which exceeded her pre-meet personal best by more than 14-and-a-half feet.

Unlike many schools, Arlington allows its athletes to practice the javelin daily and Smith, a senior but first-year thrower, noted her success in it has made javelin her favorite event.

Also in girls throws, Nanuet's Gabriella Vizcarrondo threw a personal-best 125-6 to win the girls Class B hammer title. That was also the best throw among all girls.

Mount Vernon's Tiana Stewart captured the girls Class A hammer at 121-10 and the Class C title went to Hackley's Ella Rodriguez at 80-5.

Often second place stings.

But not so much when you've broken your own school record.

That's what happened when Hen Hud's Karli Martin unleashed a hammer throw of 122-7. That was second in Class B and second overall.

But Martin wasn't done there. She won the girls Class B and the overall girls discus at 95-6. (Class A went to Stewart at 93-11 and Class C went to Rodriguez at 71-6.)

Those performances earned the senior the meet's girls field MVP award.

"I'm feeling strong in hammer and discus," Martin said, grinning.

Martin's discus throw wasn't a personal best but she's confident she'll break that soon.

"I need triple digits," she said, noting her PB is 102 and she'll aim for a school-record 105 at the upcoming Loucks Games.

Martin, who'll throw for Vermont State University at Castleton next year, where she plans to study physical education, didn't throw the shot Saturday but her goal is to make states in that event and discus.

Qualifying in the two would be a good accomplishment, especially after the COVID interruption Martin feels cost her.

"I feel like my PBs would be much higher (if COVID hadn't happened) but I probably should have put in more work (during the shutdown). But I'm definitely seeing what my full potential could be," Martin said.

Donovan, Fassone win gold in 200 for home squad

It may be some time before Haylie Donovan knows her full potential.

After all, she's only a sophomore at Somers

But she's a sophomore who's already drawing notice and who has already set high standards for herself.

Donovan, for instance, was kicking herself after the girls 200-meter final.

Yes, she broke her personal best, running 25.56 in the final after breaking her pre-meet PB in the prelim.

And, yes, that time won the Class B girls title.

And, well, yes, that was the overall best time of the day.

And second best among girls in Section 1 this season.

But, if only, Donovan, lamented, she'd leaned at the finish like she normally does.

The lack of lean may have cost her — for now, anyway — the Somers school record in the event

Her time was a microscopic .01 off the Tusker record held by Ashley Moon, a D-I Pitt women's soccer player.

Still, Donovan, who hopes to qualify for the state championships in the 100, 200 and 400, was hardly disappointed.

Her overall 200 goal was to win and she knew 100 meters into the final she was on track to do just that.

Class A winner Arianna Gonzalez of John Jay-East Fishkill crossed in 26.36 and Class C went to Sacred Heart's Elle Tracy (27.2).

"My goal was I just wanted to be of the right mindset and go out hard and do what I needed to win," said Donovan, who followed her normal pre-starting gun routine of telling herself positive things aloud, like, "You've got this."

That seemed to also work well in the 100, where she won the Class B girls title in a personal-best 12.48. a big .22 improvement.

The overall girls winner was another sophomore, Arlington's Riley Pettigrew, who clocked 12.14.

The Class C title went to Valhalla's Juliette Sullivan in 12.23.

Donovan's teammate, Andrew Fasone, captured the meet's boys track MVP award after his personal-best 22.36 200 run.

That time gave the junior the Class A title and was also No 1 overall on the day. It was also the third fastest 200 time run by a Section 1 athletes this season.

Horace Greeley's Ben Ho (22.92) took the Class A boys 200 title and Briarcliff's Will McLay (23.27) won C.

Austin Benjamin of New York City's Success Academy clocked 11.02 to win both the Class C boys 100-meter race and the overall title.

Edgemont's Peter Ellinikos ran 11.24 for the Class B title and Arlington's Nicolas Williams (11.51) took the Class A 100.

Vandy-bound Ford runs 3,200 PB for win, Brown-bound Doherty mile winner

Brewster senior Pat Ford opted, as he had throughout high school, to play for the Bears' basketball team, rather than run indoor track, although track will be his collegiate sport.

Ford ran on the side this winter but was a little nervous about whether he was in top running shape entering his last season of track.

That question didn't last long.

Ford, who'll run for Division I Vanderbilt next year, has recorded personal bests in multiple events this season

Saturday, the 3,200 was added to the list.

Ford, who hopes to qualify for, then place high at the state championships in the steeplechase, clocked a school-record 9:17.9 in the boys 3,200.

That won him the Class B title and was also the overall top time of the day.

"I think the key today was running even splits," Ford said, although allowing he'd gone out a little fast.

Since getting Brewster's school record, which had been 9:18, was his season goal, Ford, whose time is currently No. 2 Section 1, said he'll now do a "re-set" on his 3,200 goal, looking to run 9:13 or 9:14.

Fox Lane senior Noah Bender got the Class A win in 9:21.8 and Joe Lavelle of Rye Neck ran 9:24 for the C crown.

Mamaroneck's Matt Doherty has won lots of medals and trophies in his Tiger career. But he clutched his first-place trophy for capturing the boys mile like it was particularly treasured.

And, in fact, Doherty, who'll run for Brown next year, was treasuring the entire Somers Lions Joe Wynne experience after missing last year's with an Achilles injury.

"It's a super fun meet. Everyone is great. I've been talking to all my Section 1 boys," Doherty said with a grin.

Doherty finished in an overall and Class A-best 4:24.14. In 4:39.11, Pleasantville's Theo Lynch won the Class C boys mile and Class B was captured by Brewster's Brice DiCarlo (4:51.68).

Last throw a winner

Rian Kelmendi's last shot put throw Saturday was, at 43-4.5, three inches shy of his personal best.

But he wasn't too unhappy about that.

After all, it was good enough for the Briarcliff junior to overtake Alexander Hamilton's Anthony Eannazzo (42-11.25) for the boys Class C title and the overall win.

"I don't want to make myself too stressed out," Kelmendi said, noting, while he knew he needed a good throw to win, he entered the circle just "trying to have fun."

Kelmendi, who likes the event because it's technical and it's tough to improve, still thinks he can significantly improve this spring. His goal is to throw at least 45 feet.

Brewster's Andrew Pfeffer, at 41-1.5, won the boys B shot put. Mamaroneck's Colin Plunkett (38-4) captured Class A.

Rye's Caleb Kaplan (131-4) was a double winner.

He captured the Class B and overall titles in both boys discus and hammer.

Plunkett (127-5) won Class A in sicus and Pleasantville's Aiden Kayizzi (118-11) won Class C.

In hammer, Kaplan threw 167-0.

Kayizzi threw 123-5 for the C title and Mount Vernon's Matthew Samuels hit 114 for the Class A hammer win.

Yorktown's Jane Hanson (29-6.5) was both the Class A girls and overall girls shot put winner.

At 26-7, Somers' Lauren Castillo took Class B. The Class C girls shot put champ was Briarcliff's Kaitlyn Lopparino (24-11.75).

At 1:10.49, Isabella Milojevic of Somers recorded both the girls Class B and overall top girls 400-meter hurdles time.

That edged Class A winner Bailey LaGuardia of Arlington's 1:10.87.

Julianne Hickey of Pawling (1:14.32) won C.

"It feels good to do good on home turf," said Milojevic, a three-year Tusker varsity runner. "It's definitely really cool to have (the meet) here. It's definitely cool to host a meet this size."

The top girls 800 time belonged to Juliette Salazar of Class B Peekskill, who ran a personal-best 2:14.69 and was named the meet's outstanding female track athlete.

Rye Neck's Phoebe Carmel captured the 800 girls Class C crown in 2:20.1 and New Rochelle's Kaitlyn Casas (2:26.31) was the A winner.

Salazar, a senior who'll run for Buffalo next year, wants toslash her time to 2:12.

Currently, she's just off her school record, which is 2:14.47.

But Salazar captured another school record Saturday.

She knocked eight seconds off her personal best in the 1,500, winning the Class B girls title in 4:41.29, which was also the overlal winning time.

She described herself as stuck between the two distances, trying to decide what to try to qualify for for the state championships.

With top-five individual varsity finishers in each class being awarded T-shirts, Salazar's wardrobe expanded.

"Two T-shirts is a good day," she said with a grin.

Rye Neck's Ainara Schube Barriola clocked 4:48.05 to win the Class C 1,500 and New Rochelle's Casas (4:55.79) won Class A.

Schube Barriola, who noted she missed last year's Somers Lions Joe Wynne meet with COVID, also ran a season-best 10:21.05 to win both the Class C girls 3,000 and overall girls 3,000.

Schube Barriola, who has run in a lot of cold and rain this spring, pointed to Saturday's sunny, mid-60s weather as a plus.

Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel (10:23.77) won the 3,000 in Class A and Somers' Julia Aquilino (10:33.15) took Blass B.

Other winners

Miles Demarest from Class C Irvington ran the fastest overall boys 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 57.67. Class A went to Arlington's Noah Beaudoin in 1:00.64 and B to Gabe Vega in 1:02.4.

Running just off his personal best in 1:56.08, Briarlciff's Kornel Smith posted the best 800 time of the meet in winning the Class C title.

Arlington's Ethan Green, who's normally a strong threat to win gold at long distances, ran the 800 for the first time in two years and won boys Class A in 2:03.22.

Somers' Connor Phillips (2;08.5) won Class B

Hen Hud's Trey Feirman (12-6) won the overall boys pole vault and the Class B title.

Ben Hambleton of Arlington (12-0) won Class A and Irvington's Ben Kasoff (10-6) captured Class C.

At 10-0, John Jay-East Fishkill's Maia Perillo won the overall and the Class A girls pole vault.

Gabrielle An of Ardsley took girls Class B at 8-6 and, at 6-0, Valhalla's Vaniah Watson won C.

Scarsdale's Henry Rifkin (20-3) took the overall and Class A boys long jump. Sleepy Hollow's Bradyen Richardson (19-10) won B and Rye Neck's Ilias Alradi (19-4.75) took C.

Valhalla's Sullivan, the girls Class C 100-meter winner, also took the girls Class C and overall girls long jump title, going 17-7. Morgan Davis of Hen Hud (16-11) won B and New Rochelle's Alexis Smith (16-3.5) took A.

Arlington's Sierra Kraemer was the girls Class A and overall triple jump winner at 34-2. Hen Hud's Jessical Redmond (33-10) won Class B and Hackley's Gabrielle Hogrefe (30-1.5) won girls C.

At 42-5.5, the overall and Class A boys triple winner jump went to John Jay-East Fishkill's Nathaniel Johnson. Pleasantville's Caleb Bronkema (40-3.5) won Class C and Sam Parsons of Somers (38-9.75) won B.

Hen Hud's Chloe Howard (9:01.8) won the girls Class B and overall 1,500 racewalk. Samantha Delgado of New Rochelle clocked (;05.82 for the Class A win and Ava Schwartz of Briarcliff (12:3.14) was the C racewalk winner.

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Relay team winners

Multiple relays were held. Below are team winners by class wiith * denoting overall winner.

Boys SMR

Class A: John Jay-EF (3:43.02)

*Class B: Somers (3:37.58)

Class C: Briarcliff (3:53.26)

Girls SMR

Class A: Scarsdale (4:24.51)

*Class B: Somers (4:20.17)

Class C: Hackley (4:31.69)

Boys 3x110 shuttle hurdle relay

*Class A: Arlington (50.83)

Class B: Nanuet (52.32)

Class C: Briarcliff (1:06.08)

Girls 3x100 shuttle hurdle relay

*Class A: New Rochelle (51.03)

Class B Harrison (56.26)

Class C: Rye Neck (1:00.17)

Boys 4x200

Class A: :Stepinac (1:35.34)

*Class B: Ardsley (1:33.96)

Class C: Rye Neck (1:32.61)

Girls 4x200

*Class A: Arlington (1:49.66)

Class B: Edgemont (1:57.66)

Class C: Hackley (1:52.44)

Boys 4x400

Class A: John Jay-East Fishkill (3:30.01)

Class B: Ardsley (3:57.47)

*Class C: Alexander Hamilton (3:29.48)

Girls 4x400

*Class A: Carmel (4:12.85)

Class B: Hen Hud (4:24.09)

Class C: Rye Neck (4:13.35)

Boys 4x800

*Class A: Arlington (8:32.05)

Class B: Somers (9:47.24)

Class C: Rye Neck (8:37.14)

Girls 4x800

*Class A: Arlington (10:12.44)

Class B: Hen Hud (11:55.13)

Class C: Pleasantville (10:41.53)

Boys 4x1,600

*Class A: Arlington (18:58.26)

Class B: Nanuet (19:23.3)

Class C: Briarcliff (19:36.21)

Girls 4x1,600

Class A: Arlington (23:37.66)

*Class B: Somers (22:44.16)

Class C: Briarcliff (27:44.33)

Top 3 teams scoring by class

Class A boys (14 teams scoring

Arlington (125.5), John Jay-Eastfishkill (87), Stepinac (71.5)

Class A girls (12 teams scoring)

New Rochelle (188), Arlington (158), Mount Vernon (48)

Class B boys (12 teams scoring)

Somers (162), Hen Hud (99), Brewster (84)

Class B girls (10 teams scoring)

Hen Hud (169), Somers (160), Ardsley (115)

Class C boys (16 teams scoring)

Briarcliff (159), Rye Neck (90), Pleasantville (79)

Class C girls (16 schools scoring)

Hackley (110), Rye Neck (68), Briarcliff (62)

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: Somers, New Ro, Hen Hud, Arlington win at Somers Lions Wynne meet