Track and field: Horace Greeley and Ursuline win first ever Section 1 class titles

NEW YORK — There were personal bests.

Too many to easily count.

And there were expected finishes, as well as upsets.

But, once every point was counted, what stood out from Wednesday night's Section 1 Class A indoor track and field championships at The Armory was who stood atop the podium for the class team championships. That was Horace Greeley and Ursuline.

Both for the first time ever in the history of their track and field programs. 

Greeley captured the boys team title and Ursuline the girls championship.

The difference: Ursuline's victory was decided early, as it racked up point upon point in a dominating performance, and Greeley's win came down to the final event in which "longshot" might have best described its chances. 

In fact, the Quakers, who lost sure point-scorer Stephen Hotchkin to a pulled hamstring in the 55 dash qualifier, went into that last event, the boys long jump, trailing Somers 100-93. 

Greeley's two jumpers were seeded sixth and ninth. Points were awarded for only the top six finishing places.

"Nerve-wracking" is how former head and now-assistant coach Steve McKenney described things.

But his jumpers didn't fold under the pressure. 

In fact, quite the contrary.

They soared -- figuratively and literally.

Ninth-seeded freshman Ben Ho jumped more than a foot farther than he ever had in competition. His 18-7.75 leap was good for second place and eight points. 

And teammate Connor Evans jumped an indoor-best 18-2.5 to secure fifth place and two points. 

Those performances lifted Greeley to a 103-100 win over the Tuskers. 

Clarkstown South (95) was third, Clarkstown North (55) fourth and Rye (43) was fifth among the 12 teams that scored. 

Greeley also gained multiple points in the boys pole vault. 

Quaker Alex McKenney (13-0) easily won. 

Somers' Matthew Horowitz (9-0) was second and Fox Lane's Jacob Nahmias (8-6) was third. 

But Greeley also got fourth-place points from Justin Ng (fourth place, 8-6) and fifth-place points from John Weynand (8-0) and Nicolas Craig (8-0). 

Of his team's section title, four-year head Greeley coach James Howard said, "It's testament to you don't have to get first, you just have to score."

"A total team win" is how assistant coach Kim Lindner described it. 

"As a senior, I've grown up with all the upper classes running well but this championship always eluded us. This is ridiculous. I'm very prideful," said Colby College track-commit Hugh McGuire, who won the boys 1,000, finished fifth in the 1,600 and was on the Quakers' second-place 4x400 relay squad. 

"Going into it (today), it was less about personal goals and more about coming together as a team," added McGuire, who noted Wednesday's championship gave the Quakers the Triple Crown for the season, since they previously won their indoor league team title and the Westchester County boys indoor team title. 

Sophomore Niko Wright, echoed Howard about each point's importance. 

He pointed to teammate Spencer Katz, saying, "He may not be the fastest, but he's definitely the heart of the team."

Katz, the team's motivational guru, contributed one point with his sixth-place shot put throw. 

Wright generated 16 points on his own, winning the boys 600 (1:27.08) and placing third in the 300 in 38.44 behind winner Robert Blake of Clarkstown (37.28) and runner-up Andrew Fasone of Somers (37.32).

And he also joined with Aniruddh Dhanawade, Carter Nocca and Seamus Finn to win the boys 4x200 relay, the group finishing in 1:38.0, just .75 in front of second-place Somers. 

Wright wouldn't have gotten his six third-place 300 points if his coaches had listened to him.

"A huge thank you to our coaches, who forced me to do the 300," Wright said. ... "I was so tired from the 600, I didn't want to run the 3."

Of his team winning the title, he said, "It is extremely, extremely special."

Ursuline dominates 

So was Ursuline's dominating win. 

Like Greeley, the Koalas benefitted from the largest of Section 1's schools competing this year in an AA division. 

But Ursuline, a program coach Jan Mitchell began 32 years ago, also got the title due to its depth, not to mention to its elite runner in Princeton-bound Daphne Banino. 

With 13 girls teams scoring, Ursuline finished with 125 points. Somers, which was also the runner-up in the girls division, had 76. 

Spring Valley took third (62), Clarkstown South fourth (54) and Rye fifth (50). 

Banino, who on Sunday ran a second-place personal-best 4:33.6 1,500 at the multi-state New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Staten Island, wasn't looking for records but only team points Wednesday. 

She won the 1,500 in 4:51.09 after winning the 3,000 Class A girls title in 10:07.98. 

Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel (4:57.55) was second in the 1,500 and Yorktown's Sydney Leitner (5:08.55) third. 

And Banino took the 3,000 in 10:07.98 with Leitner second (10:34.84) and Ursuline's Kyleigh O'Keefe third (11:08.2).

Ursuline's Elena Olson garnered individual first- and third-place points and was also part of one of the Koalas' two winning relays.

Olson won the girls 55 hurdles in 9.37 with Rye's Logan Brady clocking 9.84 for second and Yorktown's Makayla Winslow 10:33 for third. 

And she took bronze (44.59) in the 300 behind winner Anaika Louis of Spring Valley (42.98) and runner-up Abigail Charles of Fox Lane (43.77).

The Koalas gained second- and third-place points in the 600. 

That race was won by Clarkstown South's Peyton Kelly (1:42.75). 

Cara Kelley (1:43.32) was second and Koala teammate Anna Galdabini was third (1:46.39).

Ursuline (Jessica Tejera, Emily Duhaney, Maddy Mobilia and Olson) won the girls 4x200 relay in 1:53.14. 

And Ursuline (Claire Hickey, Kelly Geoghegan, Niamh Coleman and Cara Kelley) also won the girls 4x800 relay (10:55.17).

Ursuline picked up second-, third- and fourth-place points in the girls 1,000.

Carmel's Lauren O'Rourke won that in 3:05.95.

Alexa Grassi (3:11.87) was second, Stella Gassman (3:15.97) third and Niamh Coleman (3:18) fourth. 

And Prizila Negret picked up second-place points in the shot put, her 35-10.75 throw putting her behind only Clarkstown South's Skylar Rosenberg (37-6.5).

(Clarkstown North's Ella Maerz, at 31-8.25, was third.)

Banino noted she and a fellow senior both got emotional recalling all their Armory meets 

"We have a pretty young team, so I don’t know if this goes for them as much just yet, but for girls like her and like myself, I think it was just the coolest culmination of so many years competing with this team, since it’s the first time we’ve ever done it. So, yes, I would say (winning the title was) definitely very, very special," Banino said.

While she won't be around, Banino laughed as one of her young teammate's reactions to Mitchell's reaction, the girl obviously not considering the win a one-and-done matter.

"It was ...very fun when Mr. Mitchell called it 'once in a lifetime' because it had taken us so long to win the section meet, and one of the freshen girls asked, 'What about next year?' Banino noted. 

Spring Valley's Miller wins three events

Spring Valley's Simara Miller, like Banino, doesn't have a next year for high school goals, since she's also a senior.

Her focus is instead on February 20 and the Section 1 state qualifying meet. 

Miller hopes to qualify for her first indoor state championship and in all three events she won Wednesday. 

She recorded a personal-best 37-8 to capture the girls triple jump with Clarkstown North's Maerz second (31-11) and Rye's Blanca Navarro Bandeira third (31-7.5).

That distance qualifies Miller to compete in the event in the top division at New Balance Indoor Nationals. 

Miller took the long jump at 17-6.5 with Rye's Blanca Navarro Bandeira jumping 16-0.5 for second and John Jay-Cross River's Aya Schwartz taking third (15-3.5).

And Miller cleared a season-best 5-0 to win the girls high jump. 

Rye's Signe Olsborg took second at 4-8 and Carmel's Greta Vaughn third, also at 4-8 but in more attempts. 

Miller, who's being pursued by multiple college track programs, is looking tomy  hit 38 feet in the triple jump, 18 in the long jump and 5-2 in the high jump.

Of the triple and long, she said, "I've been behind the board (on my takeoff) a lot and I'm working to get on the board and then, hopefully, those numbers will come." 

Miller's teammate, Louis, also had a strong showing. 

Her 300 time of 42.98 was a season-best and nationals' second-tier- (rising stars) qualifying time.

And Louis also captured the girls 55 dash in 7.45.

Rye's Cate Doyle (7.69) was second and Poughkeepsie's Christina Stone (7.74) was third.  

Bilello also triple winner

The Clarkstown School District swept the top three spots in the boys 55. 

Clarkstown North's Alexander Bilello won in 6.72 despite a poor start, with Clarkstown South's Robert Blake second (6.78) and North's Shane McCorry third (6.9).

Bilello also captured the boys triple jump at 40-2.5.

Yorktown's Alexander Olener (39-7.25) took silver and Horace Greeley's Connor Evans (36-4.5) won bronze. 

While much of the focus might have been on Greeley, Bilello also won the boys long jump at 19-3.75. 

His teammate, Shane McCorry, jumped 18-6.5 to finish in third, close behind Ho.

Bilello might have PB'd in the long jump (exceeding his 22-4.5 current PB) but his last attempt was ruled a foul and, so, not measured, his takeoff foot perhaps half an inch past the board. 

For all his success and Bilello has had a lot over four years, he has never qualified for either the indoor or outdoor state championships, so that's this season's goal, along with hitting a 22-5 long jump to qualify for the event in the top division at nationals. 

"I'm not really thinking of the ending (of my high school career). I'm just kind of focusing on meet by meet," said Bilello, who wants to run in college but has yet to decide where that will be.

More sectional results: Joseph leads Suffern to boys Class AA title, North Rockland wins girls

Broncos rule sectionals: Bronxville lives up to reputation with girls and boys Class C title wins

2022 county championships: North Rockland girls, Suffern boys capture Rockland indoor team titles

Other top finishes

With less than a lap to go, Rye's Dominick Cich, who'd been sitting in second in the boys 3,200, found another gear and outkicked leader Harry Griff of Fox Lane to the finish. 

The two not only pushed each other to personal-best times with Cich clocking a huge, 17.71-second PB of 9:36.39 and Griff a 2.2-second PB of 9:39.14 PB, but the those times were good enough to qualify both to compete in the event in the New Balance Indoor Nationals' second-level, rising stars division. 

Fox Lane's Noah Bender also hit an indoor PB at the distance in 9:54.54 for third.  

The boys 1,600 went to Fox Lane's Bruce Lenes in 4:29.75.

John Jay-Cross River's Max Goodman (4:31.77) took silver and Rye's Cich won bronze (4:33.84).

Hugh McGuire, who entered Wednesday with the second fastest 1,000 time in Section 1, clocked 2:37.71 for the win in that event. 

Clarkstown South went 2-3 with Kieran Dudek (2:39.9) second and Julian Rime (2:43.95) third. 

Yorktown's Olener got a gold in the boys 55 hurdles to go along with his triple jump silver. 

He clocked 8.17.

Runner-up Evan Rich of Somers crossed in 9.21 and Jonathan Livadhi of Yorktown was third (9.4).

Clarktown South's Isaiah Williams captured the boys shot put with a 45-7.75 throw.

Somers' Brian Luciano (45-0.75) was second and Clarkstown South's Luke Mallory

(36-9.5) was third. 

Luciano, who'd previously qualified for nationals in the weight throw in the top division, did so again and won the event with a 61-6.25 throw. 

Fellow Tusker Jared Googel (48-3.75) was second and Clarkstown South's Williams (46-9) was third. 

Neha Madhwesh of Somers, who won her league title in the 1,500 racewalk, also won the Class A title, clocking 10:01.33.

Yorktown's Eilish Buckley (10:14.27) was second and Ursuline's Hannah Roughneen was third (10:45.04). 

Somers also won the girls weight throw with Megan Spencer not only PBing but also qualifying to compete in the top division at nationals with her 43-3.25 throw. 

Teammate Lauren D'Agostino was second (34-8.5) and Clarkstown South's Rosenberg (32-4.5) was third. 

Madison Chalfin of Clarkstown South cleared 10-6 for the girls pole vault win. 

Somers' Corryn Watt and Greeley's Helen Van Denbergh-Curry tied for second at 7-6. 

Liam Kim of Somers cleared 5-8 for the boys high jump win.

Teammate Daniel Haigh (5-3) was second and Greeley's Connor Evans (5-0) was third. 

Second and third in the boys 600 came down to a s split second with Clarkstown South's Ethan Lin grabbing silver in 1:27.26 and Rye's Christian Ellis bronze (1:27.87).

Other relay winners

Rye captured the boys 4x400 relay in 3:37.72.

The boys 4x800 went to Clarkstown South in 8:52.06.

Somers clocked 4:20.28 to win the girls 4x400 relay. 

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.