Track and field: Loucks Games are back with 3,509 athletes from 10 states and Canada

The very good news about this year's Loucks Games is the lobster bisque will be coming.

Last year, while embraced as a step in the "return to normalcy" after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled local high school sports the previous spring, there was little normal about the Loucks Games.

A premier track and field meet of more than 3,000 athletes from up and down the East Coast, garnished with a sprinkling of Canadians, was reduced to 971 athletes, solely from local high schools in Sections 1 and 9.

No fans were allowed and girls and boys competed at different times with the mandate girls depart the track facility at White Plains High prior to the boys events.

"It was a different world," 22-year Loucks director Fred Singleton said. "It certainly gave a lot of (athletes) a goal to know there was light at the end of the tunnel."

Last year's structure — Singleton calls it "Loucks Light " — is now a footnote as the 54th annual Loucks Games, which run through Saturday, are launched.

When Singleton's wife, Margo, asked as she always does, "Is that team from Maine coming?" she was thinking more about her taste buds than times run.

That team, Mt. Ararat High School of Topsham, Maine, is coming and bringing the Singletons their treasured lobster bisque.

If everyone who has registered shows up, Singleton will, in fact, welcome 3,509 athletes from 10 states and two Canadian providences to compete, as well as an unlimited number of fans, who can watch the event free of charge.

After six varsity events Thursday, competition swings into high gear on Friday (4 p.m. until about 7:40 p.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m. until an estimated 6 p.m. finish).

'Loucks Light' look: 53rd annual Loucks Games Men's and Women's Mile highlights

With more than three times as many athletes, times should be faster than last year, throws farther and distances jumped higher or longer.

The girls mile, scheduled to be run at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, is expected to be among the top events.

That's because local standout Karrie Baloga of Cornwall, who won last year's Loucks 3,200, will compete against the likes of Vancouver, British Columbia's Maya Baechler (best 1,500 meters 4:34.31) and Angelina Napoleon of Western New York's Allegany-Limestone High, the state indoor 1,000-meter champion, who ran a 4:35-and-change 1,500 earlier this spring.

With a mile stretching 1,609 meters and Baloga having run an indoor mile in 4:43.35, she'll be the favorite but the race is expected to be tight.

Last year's boys mile winner, Matt Doherty of Mamaroneck, had talked earlier this season about defending his title. But coming off an injury, he'll run the 800 on Friday night.

"My goal is just to go out there and stick with the great competition," he said.

Singleton expects strong showings throughout the meet but, mostly, he's just looking forward to Loucks being Loucks again.

He got the thumbs up for a full Loucks Games from White Plains' superintendent of schools, athletic director and high school principal about six months ago and put out feelers to coaches.

"Almost everyone said they'd be able to come," he said, noting that included several regular participating teams from Massachusetts.

All, he said, are very happy to be back.

Remembering past contributions

The Games will be tinged with sadness, however, due to the deaths of four long-time contributors, who'll be recognized during ceremonies Saturday.

Among them are Josephine "Jo" Falcone, who'd served on the Games' committee and had been affiliated with Loucks for decades, serving, at one point, as the head of housing, when the Games helped arrange housing for out-of-area athletes.

Officials Dave Horne, who Singleton recalled driving from his Florida home to White Plains to work the meet, will also be remembered, along with retired official and White Plains resident Oscar Bunche.

Mason Donaghey, co-founder of the Games, will also be honored following his passing.

Donaghey, the former White Plains High School principal (1967-80), who, in his retirement from education, ran a Christmas tree farm in New Hampshire and drove by himself to every Loucks Games despite being well into his 90s, founded the Games with then-track and field coach Ed Kehe.

The two started the meet when a canceled meet left a void in the schedule. The Loucks Games were first held amid a time of national discord, occurring with the controversial Vietnam War raging, civil rights being both championed and violently opposed, and occurring between the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.

Donaghey, a former New Hampshire high school cross-country runner, who'd fought as a member of the U.S. Army in France during World War II, shared with Kehe a desire to mend.

"They wanted teams from the inner city and suburbs to get people together again," Singleton explained.

That goal has been met on the track since the beginning, as Singleton can testify.

He competed at Loucks as a member of the Mount Vernon High School track and field teams of 1968, '69 and '70.

That 1970 team, which was the first New York squad to finish first among teams at Loucks, will be honored Saturday.

Singleton and his teammates will be joined by their long-ago coach, Dave Rider, and his wife, Donna, who are driving from their Florida home.

Singleton is, of course, looking forward to seeing his old buddies and coach again.

But excitement appears to be widespread.

Baloga, for instance, described herself as "thrilled" to compete at Loucks.

She's looking at it as both an important meet and a springboard toward next month's state championships.

"I'm feeling healthy and so excited to have a true outdoor season," she said. "Saturday will be a great opportunity to run a fast mile and another step to being at my best at the end of the season."

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 & field: Loucks Games to host 3,000 athletes, fans welcome