Section V indoor track: Warsaw senior Auble sets record at state qualifier

When Warsaw senior Matt Auble was just a "little" kid, a mere shadow of his present 6-foot-6-inch, 200-pound self, he liked to throw things.

"Footballs, rocks, whatever . . . " he recalled Thursday night, shortly after breaking his own Section V high school indoor track and field weight throwing record again.

"I tried pole vaulting like my older sister, Carmen," he said, "but it wasn't for me. I wanted to go a different path. Things have really worked out."

And then some.

Auble's 70-foot, three-quarters of an inch heave of the 16-pound ball at the section's Meet of Champions at Nazareth College was the most exceptional among many signature performances at the event that determines who qualifies for the state championship meet March 4 on Staten Island.

Among others: Senior O.J. Singletary's sprint double for University Prep after a false start in the 55 meters at sectionals; Webster Schroeder senior Camryn Cole's near triple sweep, and an oh-so-close attempt at the high jump state record; teammate Corintia Griffith's sweep of the horizontal jumps; Victor eighth-grader Emma Goodell's 55 hurdles victory; teammate Melody Harloff's sprints sweep with Churchville-Chili junior Ay'rianna Moore right behind in both; East Rochester senior Manny Sepulveda's sweep of the horizontal jumps … and more.

The top two in each individual event qualify, plus a third-placer if he/she has met the state qualifying standard.

A big personal record

Auble, who has locked up a full scholarship to Clemson University as its top throws recruit, said he approached this meet like all others.

“I go for it every time. For me, it's not enough to just qualify. Every opportunity I have I want to throw it farther than before. I finally got a good one. I popped it."

Only one state athlete has thrown it farther, Auburn senior Dustin Swartwood reached 70-3 at the Section III championships Feb. 9.

"I know Dustin," Auble said. "we're buddies. States will be fun."

All that throwing in the back yard over the years, while Carmen was pole vaulting to sectional titles training on her coach/dad, Mike's, custom pole vaulting pit, has paid off.

"I even threw the javelin some," Matt said. "I think I was eight at the time."

A stirring comeback

Singletary was mighty unhappy after his false start in the 55 a week ago at the A1 sectionals at Nazareth. His top-seeded and personal best 6.45 time, which he equaled Thursday, meant nothing when he rocked forward just a touch at the first gun at sectionals and was done when the second gun followed.

"I spent all this week teaching myself to be patient," he said. "No rocking. No movement."

His winning 300 time – 35.04 – was off his PR, but he pulled off his pace when he felt his right hamstring give way.

He was limping noticeably afterward and did not run UPrep's second-place 800 relay as he'd planned.

Really good relays

The section is sending just one relay from the six contested, with one exception.

Batavia and Wayne finished 1-2, within a half second of each other, and both met the state qualifying standard of 3:32.44 in the 1,600.

Fairport 3,200 girls relay was notable as eighth-grader Madison Hansen, who was sick and missed sectionals, ran a strong second leg against Rush-Henrietta's Hailey Smith, the 3,000 individual winner. Fairport's 9:40.18 time dropped its season best by 7.5 seconds and resulted in an eight-second victory over R-H.

Pittsford Mendon's Colin Burke, who had eased up for a second-place finish in the 1,600 to save something for later, held off R-H's Sam Yacob in the last leg of the 3,200 and pulled away in the last 400 meters.

"That was amazing," said Burke’s coach, Josh Dougherty. "I had him at a 2:02 split. The others all ran 2:03s."

Mendon’s winning time was 8:11.21.

"We were also worried how much Ethan Shea would have after winning the 1,000."

Their foursome, in order, was Shea, Ryan Umker, Alexandre Leduc-Etile and Burke.

Jake comes through

Fairport junior Jake Passalugo worked his usual magic to win the 3,200, helping Webster Thomas senior Connor Thomas and Oakfield-Alabama senior Connor Domoy qualify as well. They all finished within a half second of one another.

"We were working to get all three of us," Passalugo said. "We wanted Section V to be well-represented."

Passalugo is the only Fairport boy to qualify for states, following the abrupt absence of longtime coach Sean Van Laeken the Monday before sectionals. Assistant coach Kim Deprez is acting head coach now and assistant Ben Bulkeley, a six-time Al-Greater Rochester first-teamer, continues to coach the distance runners.

"I have not heard one thing from Sean," Bulkeley said. Passalugo said the team was notified by text or e-mail and that's all they know.”

“It’s been hard,” he admitted, “but we’re doing the best we can."

Van Laeken, a Newark High School and SUNY Geneseo/SUNY Brockport graduate, has coached cross country and track and field at Fairport for 22 years.

Raising the bar

Camryn Cole, the Webster Schroeder senior leaper and jumper, says she's still learning the nuances of reaching lofty heights.

After Thursday's relatively easy 5-10 winning jump, she told her coach Dan Graf she wanted to shoot for the state record.

"Why wait until next week, or the week after?" she said. "I'm aiming for the state record, so as many meets as I can get it in, I try to get it in."

The bar was raised to six feet, one and a quarter inch, a quarter inch above the state mark set by Allison Smith of Clarence 36 years ago. All other events were finished. All eyes were on Cole as rhythmic clapping began.

She rocked back and forth, head to the ceiling and took off. On each of her maximum three jumps she grazed the bar off its pins.

"I have to work on my approach more," Cole said. "As I make the circle turn toward the bar I've had a tendency to stay down some, bend at the knees. I have to keep my legs straight."

Cole was two inches behind teammate Corintia Cole in the long jump, at 18-3.5, and ran second leg on Schroeder’s winning 800 relay.

More is possible

Shelby Boise continues to drop her times and achieve her goals as a Webster Schroeder senior, winning sectionals and qualifiers for the first time in the 600.

"I was worried about making the cut in (at the first turn) so I knew I had to go out hard. The race goes very fast so there's no margin for error. Polly (Mercy's Polly Bergan) was right on my tail for awhile.

"I’m so happy things are coming together," Boise said while getting a hug from her strength and conditioning coach Paul Dick after running a PR 1:37.54. "He has made such a difference for me."

Dick's techniques helped Webster Thomas grad Amanda Vestri become an All-American at Syracuse, and Anna Kostarellis of Churchville-Chili at Xavier.

"Shelby," he said to her, "the best is yet to come. You're not done. Mark my words."

Hard work to walk

Williamson senior Alexa Governor race walks year-round and admittedly has worked "really hard" to improve.

So when she was disqualified for "losing contact" at a race at Houghton College she said it made her work even harder.

"I found that running the thousand outdoors has helped me for race walking. It dropped my time almost two minutes."

She's ranked sixth nationally by race walking website hsrw.net with her 7:06.85. She finished in 7:09.14 Thursday.

The Goodell tradition

Eighth-grader Emma Goodell of Victor knows full well what sports means to the family name.

Her dad, Bob, coaches at Victor and is Section V’s indoor track and field co-chairman. Her late grandfather, Bob Sr. was a hall of fame coach for 43 years, most of them at Victor.

So qualifying for states before she's even in high school, in the 55 hurdles, is very special.

"I kept telling myself 'be aggressive. You can do this'," she said after winning with an 8.74 personal best and perhaps benefiting from Ava Bagley's fall at the last hurdle.

"I'm not sure, but I think I was just ahead of her," Goodell said. "This was a big PR. I was really just hoping to make finals."

Brown out

If you think athletes are just blowing smoke when they say at sectionals they’re taking one for the team, consider Collin Brown of McQuaid. He was nowhere to be found at Nazareth Thursday, where he could have matched up against Fairport's Passalugo in the 3,200.

Instead, Brown was vacationing on a cruise in the Caribbean with his father, Jeffrey Doran-Brown.

"Collin flew to Florida right after sectionals,” said his coach, Todd Stewart. "He said the important work was done, that he was all about us winning sectionals as a team. We did that and so this trip was important to him.

“He has the qualifying standard for nationals anyway, so that's what he'll do when he's back."

Working together

Gates Chili senior Kara Pellegrino qualified in two events – with a second in the 3,000 and third in the 1,500 race walk – and always gracious, praised the help others gave her.

"This is all to Ari's credit," Pellegrino said. Fairport junior Ari Reback, seeded second and already holding the state standard time of 10:21.14, stuck right with winner Haylie Smith of R-H and Pellegrino. In the last 50 meters Pellegrino edged past Reback for second.

"We were hoping we could do this, get all three of us to go," Smith said. "This was the plan. We want to get as many to go from Section V as we can."

Jim Castor, retired assistant sports editor of the Democrat and Chronicle, has covered high schools and the running sports in the Rochester area for more than five decades. He can be reached at jcastor@jimcastor.com

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Section V indoor track: Matt Auble sets record at state qualifier