Track & Field: Irvington relay breaks 48-year-old record at Somers Lions Joe Wynne Invitational
SOMERS — When Liam Lyons hit the finish line of the boys 4x1,600-meter relay Friday at the 44th annual Somers Lions Joe Wynne Invitational, his Irvington coach, Chris Barry, sprinted over, a grin decades in the making on his face.
Lyons, Max Shevrin, Indy Minkoff and Lucas Turano clocked 18:39.96, which not only gave Irvington the Class C title for the even, but was also the overall top time among all teams.
It also is the top time run by any 4x1,600 high school squad in the state this spring.
But that's not why Barry was so excited.
The time broke Irvington's school record, which was set back in 1974, even before the Somers track was constructed.
"I was 11 years old," Barry said, noting at the time as a kid growing up in Huntington, Long Island as a "Section 11 guy," he'd never even heard of Irvington.
He has coached there now for better than a quarter of a century.
"It's a good record to have," Barry said, adding his runners had to average 4:40 1,600s to get it.
The previous record was more than a second slower.
Arlington (Brian Brutting, James VanDongen, Michael D'Orazio and Jake VanDermark) won the Class A title at the distance in 19:31.61.
Class B went to Nanuet, Derick Mendoza, Ryan Sung, John Fontanez and Sebastian Figueroa) in 19:35.
The races were part of a rain-soaked, abbreviated day one of the two-day mee. Friday's field events, as well as hurdles, were postponed to Saturday.
Other results
Somers' girls 1,600 sprint medley relay team was young but ran like veterans to win the girls Class A title in 4:24.32, which was also the fastest time of the day.
With Lakeland/Panas disqualified for a lane violation, Carmel (Erin Lee, Julia Aiello, Megan Wiener and Lauren O'Rourke) captured the girls Class A SMR crown in 4:27.68.
Briarcliff (Devin Franks, Suraya Chalabi, Mirabel Solomon and Lauren Isebell) took the Class C championship in 4:43.91.
Valhalla (Thomas Casale, Chris Purchia, Gabriel Franchi and AJ Shikapwashya) clocked 3:47.73 to win the boys 1,600 SMR's C title. The time was also the best for all classes.
Lakeland/Panas captured the A boys SMR title as TJ Smith, Brian Martins, Paul Ronga and Bobby Mayclim ran 3:50.1.
Somers (Andrew Fasone, Jaden Abreu, Matt Horowitz and Connor Phillips) took Class B in 3:58.51.
After his team did so well, Smith, who's hoping to qualify to run the 400 at nationals, said his squad planned to do more SMRs.
But their expectations will be higher. Smith and Mayclim both noted the conditions made them cautious with the handoffs, slowing them.
"We can take at least five seconds off on a nice day," predicted Mayclim, who'd like to qualify for either states or nationals at 3,200 meters.
The two fastest times in the girls mile racewalk belonged to Class C runners.
Briarcliff freshman Sophie Tanios clocked the second fastest time in Section 1 this spring, crossing the finish in 9:19.04 with Irvington junior Lila Juenger finishing in 9:23.66, 30 seconds faster than she was seeded.
The Class B race went to Hen Hud's Isabella Zahl, who edged teammate Chloe Howard 9:47.36 to 9:47.64 for the gold.
Lakeland/Panas's Cailin Jones finished in 10:05.32 for the A racewalk title.
The class winners in the girls 4x1,600 all finished in 23 minutes and change.
The fastest overall time in the girls 4x1,600 relay belonged to Arlington, the Class A winner.
Emma Drumm, Bailey LaGuardia, Madeline Green and Samantha Guckian ran 23:03.4.
Somers (Julia Aquilino, Jessica Masterson, Emma Murphy and Brooke Fazio) won Class B in 23:30.14.
Class C went to Rye Neck (Camila Anderson, Hanae Daumasson, Phoebe Carmel and Ainara Schube Barriola) in 23:39.84.
Drumm said Arlington was working toward building "team energy," in preparing for the Northern Counties (Dutchess and Putnam) championship.
Arlington coach Steve Arnett noted his team was seeded fourth in the event.
"Like I say, 'You've got to run the race,' " he quipped.
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.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Track: Irvington breaks school record at Somers Lions Joe Wynne Invitational
