Nike Indoor Track Nationals: Karrie Baloga wins silver in mile, Negrete silver weight throw

NEW YORK — The color of the medal she'd just won wasn't gold, but Karrie Baloga smiled as if it were.

Smiled as if she'd just knocked five seconds off her personal-best time in the indoor mile, which she had.

Two days after running a 9:28.98 for bronze in the girls 3,000 at New Balance Indoor Nationals in Boston, Baloga clocked 4:39.96 for second in the girls mile Sunday, during the final day of the three-day Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory.

Her time is a state record for 12th-grade girls, competing on the high school level, and is second all-time among all high school girls in New York to former North Rockland High runner Katelyn Tuohy, a multiple high school and now-collegiate record-holder.

"I went for it. I took it out. ... I broke 40 (4:40), which is really awesome for someone who runs a fast 3K and 5K," Baloga said.

Expanding on that versatility, Baloga, who won the Champs girls national cross-country championship in the fall, also ran a fast 800 meters on Cornwall's girls 4x800 relay, which also competed in the top (championship) level.

Baloga overtook four runners during her anchor leg to secure a bronze medal for Cornwall (Kerry Murphy, Frances Teague, Maris Potter and Baloga).

Fordham Prep relay No. 1

Fordham Prep's relays had a big weekend with multiple medals. But the biggest were gold and went to its shuttle hurdle relay team, which is coached by Yonkers resident Ignacio G. Febles.

In clocking 30.93 seconds, Alfonzo Pimentel of the Bronx, Christian Camara of Bronxville and Yonkers resident Jonathan Bailey and Aden Bedford (all underclassmen) not only took the championship-level event but set a new Catholic High School Athletic Association record.

Negrete finishes indoor season with medal and PB in weight throw

Prizila Negrete will throw for Bucknell next year.

And like, Baloga, the Ursuline senior showed why college track programs wanted her.

Negrete, the the silver medalist in both girls shot put and the weight throw at the recent indoor state championships, threw the weight a personal-best and NY girls No 2 for the season at 49 feet, 1 inch to medal in sixth place at Nike.

In doing so, she broke her own Ursuline school record.

Green grabs fourth

Arlington's Ethan Green ran a swift 14:53.9 for fourth place in the boys championship 5,000.

Fox Lane's Noah Bender just missed out on medaling in that race, running a seventh-place 15:04.12.

Green's time is No. 1 all-time in Section 1 and No. 8 all-time in the state among high school boys. Bender's time is No 3 all-time in the section and No. 12 all-time in New York.

Monroe-Woodbury golden in relay, Spain medals twice

Monroe-Woodbury (John Urciuoli, Collin Catherwood, Gavin Catherwood and Collin Gilstrap) ran 17:30.76 to win the boys championship 4xmile relay.

The four also won bronze in the boys championship 4x800 in 7:51.01.

And silver went to Collin Catherwood, Ronaldo Rodriguez Perez, Urciuoli and Gilstrap is the boys championship distance medley relay (10:09.06).

James O'Neill senior Jadon Spain hasn't decided which college he'll run for next year but his list of suitors is probably growing.

Spain, the state 55-meter champion, ran 6.78 for bronze in the Nike boys championship 60-meter dash.

He was also third (4.6) in the 40-yard emerging elite dash and third in the 55-meter emerging elite dash (6.31).

Also on the emerging elite level, Cornwall's Ilunga Salerno, Ellis Urgent, D'Antonio Lawrence and Walesky Nowack clocked 1:31.93 for the boys 4x200 gold medal.

Also in EE, Newburgh (Brady Danyluk, Devin Batelic, David Pinnock and Jordan Hildago) ran 8:08.72 to capture the boys 4x800 relay.

On the championship level, Tyler Swint (9:01.86) of Middletown was fourth in the boys racewalk and teammate Ella Galloway (12-8.25) was fourth in girls pole vault.

Warwick's Lily Beattie tied for second in that event, clearing the same height but in fewer attempts.

Warwick's Luke Beattie just missed medaling in seventh in the boys emerging eltie pole vault at 14-0.5.

No. 1 in cross-country:Cornwall's Karrie Baloga pulls away on uphill to become national champ

High school, now college dominant:Katelyn Tuohy wins her third individual NCAA title

Ursuline and Iona Prep are akin sister-brother schools and Iona Prep didn't go home empty-handed.

In the Nike boys 4x200-meter championship relay, Matthew Davitt, Terron Johnson, Kyle Stewart and Marcus Nahim clocked 1:30.16 to gain a Nike fourth-place medal.

And Iona Prep's Tommy Flynn ran 9:24.72 for fourth in the emerging elite boys two-mile. Flynn's time is seventh best among high school runners in New York this season.

Other medalists

Suffern's Zoey Orlando, Olivia Alm, Karen Augustin and Kaya Duran ran 4:13.76 for fourth in the girls championship 1,600-meter sprint medley relay.

Rye (Cate Doyle, Mali White, Claire Curran and Isabella Lulaj) won gold in the emerging elite 1,600-meter sprint medley relay. The four clocked 4:16.69.

In that same race, Warwick (Katherine Finnerty, Lily Beattie, Soria Roberts and Julia Singh) were sixth (4:14.29).

At 42-9.75, Ketcham's Hailey Hrouda took third place in the girls emerging elite weight throw.

Nyack's Putu Sutayasa went 21-8.25 through the air for fourth in the boys emerging elite long jump.

Running a collective 3:23.23, Fordham Prep (Dakota Strain of the Bronx, Keegan Doody of Eastchester, and Nick Avery and Jaylin Santiago, both of Mount Vernon, took fifth in the boys championship 4x400 relay.

Lourdes (Alex Latsko, Tanner Powell, William Bellardo and Matthew Ferreri) clocked 3:42.45 for sixth in the boys emerging elite 1,600 SMR.

Fordham Prep also claimed the final medal spot in the boys 4x800 championship race that Monroe-Woodbury won.

Stamford, Connecticut's Lucas Chrostowski, New Rochelle's Gabriel Kramer-Griffith, Pelham's Ergi Agaj and White Plains's Sean Reidy ran 7:58.71 for the medal.

Besides Fox Lane's Bender, there were also some near-misses with medals, including with New Rochelle, Ursuline and Pearl Riverrelays.

New Rochelle's girls shuttle hurdle team of Gabrielle Barnett, Alexis Smith, Alivia Smith and Eko Dodd-Brown finished seventh in 36.81.

Ursuline's Madeline Mobilia, Ivana Richards, Elena Olson and Alexa Grassi were seventh in the 1,600 SMR, running 4:19.91.

And Pearl River's Ryan Paradi, Finn Farrell-Painter, John Hannagan and Max Prunty were seventh in the boys emerging elite 4x800 in 8:13.66.

With a seventh-place 43-10.75 triple jump, Monroe-Woodbury's Kyle German also missed medaling by a single spot and similarly Lakeland/Panas's Maya Edwards missed the podium by a hair in girls emerging elite weight throw at 40-4.

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: Nike Indoor Track Nationals: Baloga, Negrete win silver personal bests