Track: Ursuline wins first Westchester title, Iona Prep takes boys crown, little schools roar

CROSS RIVER  — Some things in sports, while not exactly ho-hum, are expected.

The favored team wins. Again.

Other things are to be savored because their happening is rare and who knows whether there will ever be a repeat?

Like one coach winning two county team titles on one day.

That's what happened Saturday at John Jay-Cross River High School during the second and final day of the Westchester County track and field championships.

With 29 squads scoring, Jan Mitchell's Iona Prep squad amassed 132 points to easily take the boys team title with Somers (52), Valhalla (51), Mamaroneck (46) and Yonkers (41) rounding out the top five. 

But that was only half the story. 

Mitchell's Ursuline team, which trains at Iona Prep, made history, winning its first girls team title. 

The Koalas, led by Prizila Negrete's wins in the javelin, discus and shot put and Daphne Banino's wins in the 1,500- and 800-meter races and her second-place finish in the 3,000, won the girls team title in a much tighter race.

Ursuline had 124 points. New Rochelle was second (113.5) with Bronxville (47), Somers (45.35) and Valhalla (37) completing the top five with 28 teams scoring. 

"I can die in peace," a grinning Mitchell said. "We've done something I've been trying to do for 32 years and win both meets."

A day of firsts 

But even less likely things occurred. 

Consider Corinne Wierzchowski, competing in her first pentathlon, and Jack Travis, competing in his second, and the two not only winning Westchester County titles but also setting Fox Lane school pentathlon records.

Wierzchowski's had 2,388 points. Travis, the Fox Lane football team's QB, who, looking to participate in a spring sport before graduation, decided to try track for the first time, had  2,863 points. 

Travis, who finished his first pent an unlikely eighth out of 14 finishers at the vaunted Loucks Games, long jumped 19 feet, 9 inches Saturday, three feet farther than he had at Loucks.

Wierzchowski, who was introduced to track as a school mandate while a middle school student in China and Japan, is now weighing whether to try to qualify for the state championships in her long-time sport, the high jump, or to try in the pentathlon. 

Travis would like to try for states in pent, if eligible. 

"I wish I'd done this earlier," he said. 

Rye Neck's Jaden Snow (2,728) was second in the boys pent with Yorktown's Jonathan Livadhi (2,596) third. 

For the girls, New Rochelle's Gabrielle Barnett (2,321) was second and Yorktown's Melissa Severino (1,952) was third. 

Small schools, huge relay results

Per conventional wisdom, big schools should, more often than not, beat small schools. 

But smaller schools certainly left their mark Saturday, particularly in relays. 

Bronxville, one of the smallest schools in Westchester, swept the girls relays. 

And small schools Briarcliff and Valhalla took the top spots in the boys relays. 

In the girls 4x100, Bronxville (Juliet Winiecki, Danielle Dragoni, Donna Napolitano and Milly Koenig) won in 50.1 with New Rochelle second (50.16) and Ursuline third (50.59).

Koenig, a senior who'll run track and play soccer next year for the University of Chicago, said the team has had one goal all season. 

"We're looking to make states. We're almost there," she said. 

She, Winiecki, Dragoni and Napolitano also captured the girls 4x400 relay in 4:06.01 with New Rochelle (4:10.97) second and Ursuline (4:11.09) third. 

 "Right after (Friday night's) prom, we came back strong," Koenig said. 

The same was true in the 4x800, where Bronxville's Ava Black, Maddy Stupart, Hope Hershberg and Katie O'Hare won in 9:52.48. 

New Rochelle was second (9:57.18) and Rye (10:03.82) was third. 

Of Bronxville's longtime dominance in relays, coach Keina Samuels said, "It's the drive. I think they're hungry for success. It's continuing a Bronxville tradition."

Briarcliff (Kevin Callaghan, Giovani Culotta Kyle Phillips and Kornel Smith) clocked a season-best 8:12.73 to win the boys 4x800 relay with Irvington (8:25.95) second and Rye Neck (8:27.23) third. 

The group hopes to break 8:10 and qualify for the state championships.

"We can squeeze under. We're not there yet but we can go to higher levels," Smith said. 

Valhalla took both the boys 4x100 and 4x400. 

Jecaryous Poteat, Thomas Casale, Tyler Drummond and Gabe Franchi ran a school-record 43.34 that was also the top time this season in Section 1 and the eighth fastest among boys high school teams in the state. 

Poteat believes his squad, which will compete at nationals, can be even faster. 

"We have to work out and practice way more. We've got to work for it," he said. 

Chris Purchia, AJ Shikapwashya, Casale and Franchi also won the 4x400 in 3:31.25. Mount Vernon (3:32.6) was second and Iona Prep (3:32.88) was third. 

Franchi said his team was underrated at the distance entering the meet because in prior meets it had "messed up handoffs."

"We always knew we could run this. We knew the time was going to come and today is the day," he said. 

Franchi also ran the second fastest time this season in Section 1 and a personal-best 22.17 to capture the boys 200.

Iona Prep's Marcus Nahim (22.23) was second and Mamaroneck's Anthony Alves (22.68) was third. 

Valhalla also came up big in the girls 200, where county 100-meter champion Juliette Sullivan won in 25.79. 

New Rochelle's Olivia Moxey (26.08) was second and Ursuline's Sarai Sealy (26.24) was third. 

Valhalla's Drummond recorded a personal-best 42-7.25 to win the boys triple jump. The distance was the second best in Section 1 this season. 

Iona Prep's Justin Hargraves (42-1) was second and Hen Hud's Charlie Corrado (41-11) was third. 

Jack Gallagher of Yonkers, who won the boys 110-meter hurdles on Friday, captured the 400 hurdles Saturday, clocking 56.28.

Stepinac's David Davitt was second (57.46) and Mount Vernon's Jamar Matthew (59.01) was third. 

Counties in pictures: Day 1 of the Westchester County Championships

Loucks in photos: Day 2 of the Loucks Games at White Plains

Final Loucks photos: Day 3 of the Loucks Games at White Plains

Somers rebounds

Somers' second-place boys team finish was its best in six years, according to coach Mike Lacko, who noted the Tuskers had strong teams in those intervening years. 

Friday, the team suffered a blow when Brian Luciano, a favorite in the hammer throw, fouled out. 

But Luciano and his squad bounced back. 

"With Brian fouling in the hammer, the kids though it was over but everyone came together as a family," said Lacko. 

That included Luciano, who won the discus and placed second in the shot Saturday, and teammate Aiden Meza, who won the 3,000 steeplechase. 

Luciano won the discus at 158-2.

Iona Prep's Christopher Milillo (144-9) was second and Rye's Caleb Kaplan (138-9) was third.

Milillo, Friday's hammer winner, won the shot at 50-11.75. Luciano threw 48-6.5 for silver and Iona Prep's John Khader (44-8) was third. 

The sophomore Meza set a better than 10-second personal best in winning the boys 3,000 steeplechase in 10:02.2. 

Iona Prep's Tommy Flynn (10:04.4) was second and Lakeland/Panas's Bobby Mayclim (10:22.4) was third. 

Clocking 7:33, New Rochelle's Kaitlin Casas captured the girls 2,000-meter steeplechase.

Peekskill's Brianna Carter (7:48.2) was second and New Rochelle's Rosie Palmer (7:51.1) was third. 

Negrete, pre-Honduras competition, Banino power Ursuline 

Ursuline's Banino helped power the Koalas Saturday, winning the girls 800 and also anchoring Ursuline's third-place 4x400 squad. 

In the 800, she clocked 2:16.77.

Peekskill's Juliette Salazar ran 2:16.82 for second and Harrison's Katrina Torelli (2:18.8) was third.

Banino's teammate Negrete, a force in the throws, was happy with but not completely surprised by her dominating performance.

On Friday, she recorded a 22-foot personal best in the hammer and also won the javelin and Saturday she won both the discus and the shot put, the latter with a personal-best throw of 38-11.5.

Of the shot, she remarked, "I was feeling it all week. It was not as (far) as I wanted it to get but it's going to come sooner than later."

Hen Hud's Karli Martin (31-9) took second and New Rochelle's Genesis Bratcher (30-8) was third. 

While not quite as far as her Loucks Games 117-6 PB, Negrete won the discus at 115-2. with Somers' Megan Spencer second (101) and Mount Vernon's Tianna Stewart (90-8) third.

Her silver medal-winning Loucks throw also gave Negrete, whose mother comes from Honduras, the national Honduran women's record for the discus. 

Negrete has been asked to represent Honduras in international competitions and plans to do so and hopes to set national records for that country in all throws.

But Saturday her focus was on throwing far and helping Ursuline win the team title.

She laughed, noting Mitchell repeatedly emailed the team prior to Saturday with messages like "hydrate, hydrate" with one message coming in at midnight. 

"It's good to have that. It makes us excited to work hard," she said. 

Other winners 

Ursuline got some important points toward its girls team title by going 1-2 in the girls 400 hurdles. 

Ivana Richards won in 1:07.66 with Elena Olson clocking 1:08.53 for second. 

Somers' Isabella Milojevic (1:08.96) was third. 

Mamaroneck's Matt Doherty ran 1:56.16 to win the boys 800 championship. 

Bronxville's Ellis Goodson was second (1:56.95) and Fox Lane's Bruce Lenes grabbed bronze in 1:58.96.

Ardsley's Caitlin Maher went a personal-best 36-0.5 to win the girls triple jump. 

Ursuline's Sealy (35-8) was second and New Rochelle's Nia Perry (34-0) was third. 

Friday's girls long jump winner, Gabrielle Brown of Hamilton cleared 5-0 to win the girls high jump.

Hen Hud's Morgan Davis (4-10) was second and Harrison's Ami Goble (4-6) was third. 

Edgemont's Connor Fisher cleared 6-0 to win the boys high jump. 

There was a three-way tie for second with Briarcliff's Callaghan, Lakeland/Panas's Oliver Smith and the champion hurdler Gallagher of Yonkers clearing 5-9. 

White Plains went 1-2 in the girls 1,500 racewalk. Mia Priore won in 7:59.62 and Julia Beckman crossed in 8:32.48.

Bronxville's Scarlett Kane (8:39.46) was third. 

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.