Track: Bronxville wins 2 Section 1 Class C team titles, Greeley boys, Suffern girls win A

NEW YORK — After the finish line, Joe Lavelle still worked a bit to catch his breath.

The Rye Neck senior was pretty much cruising for 15-and-a-half laps Wednesday night of the Section 1 Class C boys 16-lap 3,200 race at The Armory.

Lavelle, who'd been sick for about a week, wasn't looking for a personal-best time, just a win.

Then he heard the crowd.

Loud. Excited.

"The crowd screaming might be an issue," he dryly explained.

And so, Lavelle looked up at the huge, live video screen that hangs from the ceiling at the center of the track.

And there was Bronxville sophomore Kieran McBride absolutely flying by him on the curve.

A teammate had warned him about McBride's kick.

It was no joke.

"That was terrifying," Lavelle said later of that kick.

Terrifying, but not, necessarily, deadly.

The veteran, who'll run next year for Elon University, found another gear and on the final straightaway, caught, and then passed McBride.

Lavelle, who a couple of months ago won silver at the boys Class C state cross-country championship, finished in 10:03.6 and McBride in 10:04.1.

His time was nowhere near Lavelle's personal best (9:42.96), which he'll try to meet or break at the upcoming Section 1 state qualifier. But finding a good kick after being ambushed and when still a bit sick was satisfying.

"I kind of, in-the-moment, decided to leave it all out there," Lavelle said.

A busy night

Lavelle's race was part of a busy night at The Armory with both the Section 1 Class A and C boys and girls championships decided.

Horace Greeley sophomore Ben Ho was smack in the middle of the action.

His busy night included the triple jump, long jump and anchor leg on the Quaker boys 4x200-meter relay squad.

Even before arriving at The Armory, Ho, who was also bracing for a Thursday math test (assigned, by of all people, his coach/math teacher James Howard), was tired.

But, hours later, Ho would leave energized.

Ho went 41-4.25 to win the boys Class A triple jump, then sailed a personal-best 20-8 to win the Class A long jump before anchoring Greeley's relay to a second-place Class A (1.37.82) finish behind Clarkstown South (1:36.79).

Ho, whose relay team had dropped the baton earlier in the 4x200, took his squad all the way from last place to that silver medal with a 22.3 split.

"I'm proud I pulled us back to second. We worked as a team to pull it back," he said.

Bronxville wins boys and girls Class C team titles, Suffern A girls champ and Greeley A boys team champ

Those relay points and the points Ho won in his other events were key as Greeley won the Section 1 Class A boys team championship.

With 12 teams scoring, Greeley finished with 134 points. Clarkstown South (106 points) edged Suffern (105) for second, Yorktown was fourth (66) and Fox Lane rounded out the top five (32).

Greeley won the boys 4x800 relay (8:39.67). It also got first-place points from Nico Wright at both 55 meters (6.59) and the 300 (35.93); Matt Carnes in the 1,000 (2:33.4) and Finn McGuire (43-8) in the boys weight throw.

The Class A girls title went to Suffern. It finished with 201 points. With 12 teams scoring, Ursuline (112) was second, Scarsdale (52) was third, Yorktown (34) was fourth and Greeley (26) edged Fox Lane (25) for the fifth spot.

Suffern garnered first-place girls points in the 300 (Kaya Duran, personal-best 41.81); the 600 (Duran again in 1:37.94); 3,000 (Lily Diamond, eight-second PB of 10:43.79); 1,500 racewalk (Sophia Poehlsen, PB 8:48.2); high jump (Kyra Skoglund, 5-2); long jump and triple jump (Karen Augustin, 16-0.75 in the long and Augustin, 35-4 in the triple jump); and pole vault (Olivia DeBellis, PB 11-2).

The biggest winner in the team competition was Bronxville, which won both the boys and girls Class C titles.

Fifteen teams scored in the girls competition. The Broncos amassed 156 points. The top five were rounded out by Hastings in second (47.5 points), Albertus Magnus third (40.5) and Irvington and Valhalla deadlocked in fourth (36).

Bronxville won girls Class C titles in the 4x200 and 4x800 relays, 55 meters (Danielle Dragoni, 7.44); 1,000 meters (Mady Williams, PB 3:01.64); the long jump (Juliet Winiecki, 15-8) and the triple jump (eighth-grader Eva Mihova, 31-3.25).

With 16 schools scoring, the Bronco boys finished on top with 155 points. Briarcliff was second (92 points), Rye Neck third (64), Valhalla fourth (51) and Irvington fifth (37).

Bronxville boys won the boys Class C 4x800 relay; the 55 hurdles (Wyatt Gravier, personal-best 8.14); the 300 (Davis Paterson, PB 36.71); the 600 (Ellis Goodson, 2:32.91); the pole vault (Max Dicker, 13-0) and the shot put (Chris Lockwood, PB 43-2.5).

Other top distance performances

The boys Class A 3,200 went to Clarkstown South sophomore Harrison Caprara, who ran a personal-best 9:41.64.

Hastings' Caitlin Thomas clocked a 10:38.89 PB to capture the girls Class C girls 3,000.

Rye Neck's Ainara Schube Barriola (4:51.18) won the girls Class C 1,500 and the girls A 1,500 went to Fox Lane's Morgan Eigel (5:06.96).

Eigel also won the Class A girls 1,000 (3:07.69).

Irvington's Lila Juenger was the Class C 1,500 walk winner (8:31.86).

'Makes me feel good to be a section champ'

Noah Bender, who was the boys Class A 1,600 champion, started running indoor track for the Fox Lane during the 2019-20 season and next year will wear a University of Chicago uniform.

Bender, who was trading first and second place back and forth early in the 1,600 with Horace Greeley's Mason Barlow, took the lead for good with about one-and-a-half laps left.

Bender knocked more than nine seconds off his personal best in winning in 4:29.19. Barlow crossed in a 4:31.8 PB.

"The goal coming in was to break 4:30," Bender said. "The splits weren't ideal but I think I handled the situation well. It was a great race with very good competition. ... I'm very happy. It makes me feel really good to be section champion."

From non-hurdler to hurdles champ in two months

As a freshman last year, Brian White had no interest in trying the hurdles.

"I was kind of scared of the hurdles," he admitted.

And, even if he had his desire had been there, his opportunity would have been limited , since his winter season consisted of only a few races before he was sidelined by injury.

But, recovered, White had a change of heart this winter.

In December, he decided to try hurdling at a practice.

He instantly fell in love.

White went home that day and told his dad what happened and the two created hurdles from piping for at-home training.

The result?

Two months later, White was Section 1 Class A boys 55 hurdles champion after clocking a personal-best 8.24.

White, whose time was the fifth fastest in Section 1 this season, isn't expecting to qualify for the state meet but he's hoping for a good showing at the qualifier.

"The goal is just to PR (set a personal record) and run a good race in the finals," White said.

The girls Class A hurdles went to Ursuline's Elena Olson (8.73) and Pawling's Julianne Hickey took the girls Class C hurdles (9.58).

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Other winning performances

Ursuline's Prizila Negrete, who'll compete Thursday in the Millrose Games girls weight throw, tuned up for that by winning two section titles.

The senior captured the Class A girls weight throw (46-0.25) and the shot put (36-10.5).

DeBellis, Suffern's pole vaulter, claimed the Rockland County girls indoor record with her 11-2 clear. The old mark was 11-1 and wasn't very old, set just last year by the since-graduated Madison Chalfin of Clarkstown South at Nike Nationals.

DeBellis, who'll pole vault next year for Quinnipiac, nearly cleared 11-6 on her last of three attempts at that height.

DeBellis hopes to qualify for the state championships and get 11-6 at some point this season.

"I'd been working toward (11-2) for awhile," said DeBellis, whose previous personal best had been 11-0. "(To get 11-6,) I need to work on my swing and be quicker and it's definitely mental, too," she added, alluding to confidence.

Suffern's Todd Korman, at 12-0, took the boys Class A pole vault.

Briarcliff's Will McLay, who started the meet No. 2 in Section 1 in the boys 55 dash (6.53) cut his time to 6.51 in winning the boys Class C crown. He remains behind Greeley's Wright, whose top time this season is 6.46.

Yorktown's Reileigh McEnroe ran 7.58 to win the girls Class A 55.

Teammate Jake Wilson, with a personal-best 42-4.5, captured the boys Class A shot put.

Albertus Magnus's Ava Scolaro threw 31-11 for the girls Class C weight throw win and she also threw 29-4 for the Class C girls shot put win.

In a personal-best 1:23.66, Clarkstown South's Julian Rime captured the boys Class A 600. Irvington's Miles Demarest was the Class C boys 600 winner, clocking 1:27.57.

Luciana Forte, also of Irvington, ran a 1:40.3 PB in taking the girls Class C 600.

Crossing in 4:36.06, Briarcliff's Kornel Smith won the boys Class C 1,600.

Both the boys Class A and C high jump winners cleared 5-8 with Croton's Dylan Chan taking Class C and Suffern's Christian Scott winning A.

Hastings' Samantha Guilfoyle, at 4-6, was the girls Class C high jump winner.

In a huge personal best, Rye Neck's Ilias Alradi, who'd never before hit 20 feet, won the boys Class C long jump at 21-1.75.

Also hitting big PBs were boys Class C triple jump winner Jayden Tsoi of Valhalla, who went 39-4.75, and boys Class C weight throw winner Aiden Kayizzi of Pleasantville, who threw 51-3.5.

Magnus's Kate Nell (6-6) took the girls Class pole vault.

The other relay winners were Rye Neck (boys Class C 4x200 in 1:34.73), Ursuline (Class A girls 4x200 in 1:52.08), Scarsdale (boys Class A 4x400 in 3:35.97 and girls 4x800 in 10:11.74) and Briarcliff (boys Class C 4x400 in 3:48.06).

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: Bronxville wins 2 team section titles; Suffern, Greeley also win