Track and field: North Rockland girls, Suffern boys capture Rockland indoor team titles
Two powerhouse programs split the team titles Sunday during the Rockland County Indoor Track and Field Championships with North Rockland capturing the girls title and Suffern the boys title.
Samson Joseph had a huge day for Suffern, winning at 55 and 300 meters, as well as taking the boys triple jump.
North Rockland's Jade Pazmino was also a triple winner and her day might have been been even more taxing. She won the girls 1,000-, 1,500- and 3,000-meter races.
Joseph took the 55 in 6.6 seconds with Clarkstown North's Alexander Bilello running a personal-best 6.66 for second and North Rockland's David Joseph taking third in a 6.83 PB.
Joseph, who plans to compete at the March New Balance Indoor Nationals in the 300 in the highest division, won that event in 35.37.
Clarkstown South's Robert Blake ran a 36.46 PB for second and Spring Valley's Andrew Sutherland was third in 37.51.
Joseph edged North Rockland's Zack Ceasar, 41-11 to PB 41-8, for the triple jump win.
Clarkstown North's Bilello was third at 40-1.
Joseph, a senior who has run outdoor track since eighth grade, but is in his first season of indoor track, pointed to his 300 win as being especially satisfying.
"It's a new distance for me this year. It's really nice to be dominant at that distance," said Joseph, who's undefeated this season in both the 55 and 300.
Joseph was also pleased with his team's overall win.
Suffern took the title with 129 points. North Rockland was second (117), Clarkstown South third (77), Pearl River fourth (49) and Nyack fifth (41) out of 10 teams.
Joseph, whose squad also recently defeated North Rockland for their league title, noted Sunday's win was not a given.
"We were a little scared at the end," Joseph said, explaining just a few points separated the teams late in the meet and he and his teammates were doing the math through the final events, calculating who was ahead.
"It was such a relief when we won," he said.
North Rockland's girls team win came with a little bit more room to spare but was also certainly not guaranteed.
The Red Raiders finished behind Suffern at the recent league meet.
But Sunday North Rockland won with 138 points. Suffern was second (108.6), Nyack third (59), Pearl River fourth (58) and Tappan Zee fifth (40.6) out of 10.
The win was particularly meaningful to Pazmino, who, of course, played a huge role in it.
Pazmino, who entered the season with a personal-best time in the 3,000 of 10:51, clocked 10:29.01 for that win, a time good enough to qualify her to compete in nationals at the second-tier "rising" level.
Pearl River's Una Boylan (nationals-qualifying 10:40.22) was second and Tappan Zee's Cassidy Donovan (PB 11:04.72) was third.
Pazmino recorded a personal-best 3:06.48 in winning the 1,000 with Suffern's Brooke Hirsch (season-best 3:07.09) second and Tappan Zee's Mackey Donovan (PB 3:09.4) third.
And Pazmino also ran a personal-best in winning the 1,500 in 4:54.47.
That time and runner-up Boylan's season-best 4:54.96 were nationals rising qualifying runs.
Tappan Zee's Sofia Fenton (PB 4:55.46) took bronze.
Pazmino's 1,000 run came only minutes after she ran the 3,000, making the 1,000 "probably the most painful" race of the meet for her.
Pazmino pointed to the meet's importance in explaining how she did so well.
"This is my last year and I definitely tried to give it all I have and lay it all on the table. It was kind of an emotional ending ... I was running for everybody on the team. I knew how important it was for everyone else," Pazmino said.
Indeed, she said she and her teammates had a shared goal.
"I think everybody wanted to win. Everyone on the team was super-hyped and it was contagious," Pazmino said.
Also contagious were the strong performances that occurred in the girls 1,500 racewalk.
Remarkably, every one of the 12 sanctioned finishers recorded a personal-best time.
North Rockland's Gaby Gonzalez's personal-best 7:49.5 not only was a nationals championship-division qualifying time, but also placed her at No. 6 in the state among high school girls in the walk this season.
Pearl River's Emily Dwyer (PB 8:20.06) was second and North Rockland's Alannah Perkins (PB 8:54.52) was third.
The top three finishers in the boys 3,200 all ran personal-best times.
Nanuet senior John Fontanez took the win in a nationals rising-qualifying 9:37.77.
North Rockland finished second and third with Michael Niero clocking 10:05.73 and Eduardo Nava 10:06.1.
In a personal-best 4:34, Matt Schutzbank of Nyack captured the boys 1,600.
Clarkstown South's Kieran Dudek ran 4:36.04 for second. Pearl River's Ryan Paradine (PB 4:38.35) was third.
Dudek clocked 2:40.62 for the boys 1,000 win.
Suffern's Lorenzo Solimine (2:43) took silver and Pearl River's Finn Farrell-Painter (2:47.47) won bronze.
In 7.93, North Rockland's David Joseph won the boys 55 hurdles.
Suffern's Jeffrey Li Rivera (8.43) and Travis Iwuagwu (8.64) finished second and third, respectively.
Clarkstown South's Madison Chalfin cleared 10-6 in the girls pole vault, a height that was the best overall for both girls and boys.
Suffern's Olivia DeBellis (9-6) was second and Pearl River's Kate Dowling (7-6) was third.
Nanuet's Declan Kelly won the boys title at 10-0.
Suffern's Emanuel Ramirez (PB 9-6) was second and teammate Todd Korman (9-0) was third.
The top three finishers in the boys 600 ran personal-best times.
Nyack's Freddie Hurson won in 1:26.12.
Clarkstown South's Ethan Lin (1:26.73) was second and Suffern's Cooper Mitchell (1:27.14) was third.
Suffern's Kaya Duran qualified for the nationals top division in the girls 600, running a personal-best 1:36.73.
Nanuet's Samantha Dow finished second with a nationals rising-qualifying time of 1:42.29.
Clarkstown South's Peyton Kelly (PB 1:43.88) was third.
Duran also turned in a memorable performance, anchoring Suffern to a come-from-behind win in the girls 4x400 relay.
Duran got the baton in fourth place, about 30 meters back, and made her way to the front, just edging Nanuet (4:22.48-4:22.89) at the line for the win.
Pearl River was third in 4:24.01. Both its time and Nanuet's were season-bests.
Clarkstown South's Isaiah Williams took the boys shot put title at 45-7.5.
North Rockland's Don Jordan Duplan (42-9) was second and Suffern's Trevor Iwuagwu (41-2.25) was third.
Both Clarkstown South's Skylar Rosenberg's first-place, 39-5.25 girls shot put throw and North Rockland's Deborah Estabine's second-place 36-3.75 throw met the nationals' rising requirement.
Third place in the event went to Pearl River's Julia Neubauer (30-2).
Alexander Bilello of Clarkstown North went 20-11 to win the boys long jump.
Clarkstown South's Robert Blake (19-9) was second and Clarkstown North's Shane McCorry (18-11.75) was third.
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Nyack's Dorvil wins three events
In leaping a personal-best 37-5 to win the girls triple jump, Nyack's Makayla Dorvil also qualified to compete in the top division in the event at nationals.
Suffern's Karen Augustin was second at 33-8.75 and Spring Valley's Simara Miller (33-6) was third.
Dorvil also won the girls long jump at a personal-best 16-8.
Nyack's Nephlini Desrosiers (16-4) was second and Miller was third (16-2.5).
And Dorvil (9.24) captured the girls 55 hurdles with North Rockland's Dami Modupe (9.37) second and Suffern's Marianna Vynnyk (PB 9.5) third.
Two girls hit the nationals rising time in the 55 dash.
Spring Valley's Anaika Louis won the title in a season-best 7.34. Modupe was second in 7.58.
And North Rockland's Esther St. Fort was third in 7.68, a PB.
The top three finishers in the girls 300 qualified for the nationals rising division.
St. Fort won in a personal-best 40.8. Modupe was second (PB 42.14) and Suffern's Duran was third (42.36).
Liam Morrissey of Pearl River captured the boys weight with a personal-best 45-4.75 throw.
North Rockland's Detton St. Paul (45-0.5) was second and Clarkstown South's Isaiah Williams (PB 44-0.25) was third.
The top three boys high jump finishers all cleared 5-8.
Suffern's Matthew Oluwole won in the least number of attempts.
Teammate Travis Iwuagwu tied with North Rockland's Sebastian Farrar for second.
Suffern's Kyra Skoglund qualified to compete in the nationals' rising division in the girls high jump by winning in a personal-best 5-2.
Suffern's Olivia DeBellis was second (4-8) and Spring Valley's Miller tied with North Rockland's Skylah Zamor for third at 4-6.
Relay winners
North Rockland ran a season-best 1:34.37 to win the boys 4x200 relay. Clarkstown South was second (season-best 1:36.98) and Ramapo (season-best 1:40.23) was third.
The boys 4x400 went also went to North Rockland (season-best 3:37.16). Suffern was second (3:41.46) and Pearl River (season-best 3:47.86) was third.
Nyack clocked a season-best 8:34.93 to take the boys 4x800 relay. Clarkstown South (season-best 8:40.4) was second and Pearl River (8:45.56) was third.
North Rockland (1:51.17) took the top spot in the girls 4x200. Nyack (1:52.51) was second and Spring Valley (season-best 1:53.54) was third.
Tappan Zee (10:15.38) took gold in the girls 4x800. Suffern (10:33.51) won silver and Nyack (10:39.92) captured bronze.
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: North Rockland girls, Suffern boys capture Rockland indoor team titles
