Track and field: Put Valley's Givan, Cornwall's Baloga, NR's Estabine win NY championships
CICERO —Nia Givan is still going to pursue competitive cheerleading at Spelman College.
But Saturday, after medaling in winning gold in the 100-meter dash and also medaling at 200 at the state track and field championships at Cicero-North Syracuse High, Givan, lamenting how she was going to miss the sport, opened the door ever so slightly to possibly doing a little collegiate track, on the club level, anyway.
And she had good reason for second thoughts.
Putnam Valley's Givan won the Division 2 (small-school) girls 100 title in 12.34 with Valhalla's Juliette Sullivan sixth (12.74).
And she finished third in the D2 girls public school 200 in 25.3 with Sullivan fifth (25.66).
"I'm very proud of myself," Givan said. "I knew my goal coming in to states was to make the podium but being first never crossed my mind."
She credited her 100 finish to "believing in myself and trusting in God."
Givan also medaled in sixth (12.45) in the girls state Federation (public and private schools of all sizes) 100.
Baloga wins D1 steeplechase gold
Karrie Baloga, who won the girls 3,000 championship Friday, added another gold to her collection Saturday. But she was hardly satisfied.
The Cornwall junior won the girls Division 1 2,000 steeple in 6:32.58 but finished second overall to Angelina Napoleon of Division 2 Allegany-Limestone, who clocked 6:30.59, for the Federation title.
Both times broke the Cicero-North Syracuse High School's facility record for the race.
Baloga put on a kick on the last lap but was critical of her timing, saying she should have started a little earlier.
"I definitely feel this is a learning experience. I'm not exactly happy," she said.
North Rockland's Estabine Fed champ, Iona Prep's Milillo third among boys
North Rockland's Deborah Estabine, who won the Division 1 girls shot put title Friday, threw 40-7.5 to capture the girls Federation shot championship.
Clarkstown South's Skylar Rosenberg was fifth at 38-6.75.
At 52-8.75, Iona Prep's Chris Milillo took bronze in the boys Federation shot put.
Broken leg to a medal and personal best
This spring wasn't exactly as Daphne Banino would have drawn it up.
But it definitely had a satisfying near-ending.
The Princeton-bound Ursuline senior went into Saturday's 1,500-meter girls championship race wanting to break 4:30.
Seeded eighth, she hit the finish line in 4:29.11, earning a fifth-place medal.
Moments after finishing, Banino, who was out for weeks earlier in the season with a femur fracture, gasped, "It hurt," when asked about the race.
But she added, "I went with a time goal, so I'm so happy."
She noted she'll run with teammates in a sprint medley relay at the June 16-19 New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia and might also compete in the mile there.
Asked whether she'd be recovered from Saturday's race by that time, Banino joked, "It will take me a bit."
Her coach, Jan Mitchell, noted Banino's time is sixth best all-time for a Section 1 girl and No. 4 all-time among Westchester girls.
Briarcliff wins 4x800 gold, 5th in Fed
Finishing in 7:53.54, Briarcliff (Kevin Callaghan, Kyle Phillips, Giovanni Culotta and Kornel Smith) captured gold in the boys Division 2 public school 4x800-meter relay and fifth in the state in the Federation against all public and private schools of all sizes.
At 7:55.43, Ketcham (Connor Hitt, Nicholas Taylor, Eddy Corporan and Nicholas Castorina) medaled in fifth in boys D1 in that race and was sixth in the Fed.
Bronxville gets relay silver vs. all-comers
Bronxville girls have always had a sterling reputation in relays.
Saturday, they grabbed, if not sterling, then at least a replica of it in taking silver in the girls Federation 4x800 relay.
Hope Hershberg, Madeline Stupart, Katharine O'Hare and Ava Black clocked 9:14.76.
Tappan Zee also medaled with Cassidy Donovan, Mackey Donovan, Sofia Fenton and Grace Reynolds running 9:20.09 for sixth.
Lyons, Pettigrew take bronze
Clocking 4:17.32, Irvington's Liam Lyons won bronze among New York State Public High School Athletic Association runners in the boys 1,600.
Also taking home bronze was Arlington freshman Riley Pettigrew, who ran 25.32 for third in the girls Federation 200 after qualifying for that race with a medal-winning, fifth-place performance in the girls public school 200, where she clocked 25.09.
Pettigrew was also fourth among public high school runners in the girls D1 dash at 12.57.
A gold rush: Hogan, Estabine, Baloga, Brightman, Bronxville relay win gold at state championships
They're Cicero-bound: Luciano, Franchi, Miller, Bronxville relays big winners at state qualifier
Medals, more medals
Arlington's John Zelker amassed 3,120 points to finish second in D1 and fourth overall in the boys pentathlon.
Nursing a bad hamstring, Suffern senior Samson Joseph, who'll run next year for Division I Binghamton, was third in the Division 1 boys public school 200 (22.3) and third in the Federation 200 (22.46).
"My goal (this season) was just to run fast, stay healthy and deliver myself in the best way to college to win for them," Joseph said.
Running 3:59.94, Suffern (Maraly Hector, Julia Ros, Karen Augustin and Kaya Duran) medaled in fourth place in the girls Federation 4x400-meter relay.
Bronxville (Juliet Winiecki, Millie Koenig, Danielle Dragoni and Donna Napolitano) was fifth in 4:01.17.
Duran also medaled in fifth in the girls public-school D1 400, clocking 58.74.
Bronxville junior Ellis Goodson ran 9:50.97 for third among NYPHSAA athletes in the boys 3,000 steeplechase.
North Rockland's Michael Niero was close behind (9:53.84) for sixth among Division 1 boys.
Cornwall's Jiles Addison, who'll run next year for Iona College, clocked 10.92 for bronze in the boys D2 100 dash.
"I'm not astounded but I'm happy where I placed," said Addison, who noted he has battled injuries this spring.
Addison also edged fellow Section 9 runner Jadon Spain of O'Neill for third in the Federation 100 (11.04-11.06).
Spain had run 10.93 for fourth in the Division 1 boys 100.
Lourdes' Chris Boston (11.04) medaled in fifth in that race.
The win went to Rondout Valley's Cameron Sands in 10.82.
He ran in the eighth lane after being the bottom qualifier.
"I had a bad time yesterday. My legs died out at the end," Sands said of the qualifying race. "I came in (to today) not really expecting to win. But I looked to my left and saw nobody."
Washingtonville's Elijah Mallard clocked a personal-best 52.72 to win the boys Federation 400-meter hurdles championship after winning the D1 title in 52.8.
Stepinac sophomore David Davitt medaled in fourth in that Federation 400 hurdles in a personal-best 55.51.
Davitt noted that left him short of his goal of 55.3 to qualify for nationals but said he was still satisfied with a PB.
Mallard, who joked he was a "little more satisfied" than he was earlier in the day, edged Franklin Lane's Shane Ashton (52.97) at the finish.
That was the third time Mallard had raced and beaten Ashton but Saturday's race could have gone either way.
"I had him, but, with 300 meters (to go), he brought it back," Mallard noted. "We were even the last two hurdles. I went over the last hurdle and booked it."
Mallard, who'll compete in the upcoming nationals in Pennsylvania in the 400 hurdles, also clocked 14.45 for second in the boys D1 110-meter hurdles with North Rockland's David Joseph (14.59) fourth.
Joseph, in 14.69, also took silver in the Federation 110 hurdles.
Monticello's Evan Waterton (9:13.79) was second among public school runners and fourth overall in the boys 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The best boys high jump finisher from the Hudson Valley was Monticello's Jadden Bryant at 6-4, good for fourth in the boys Federation and second among D1 public-school jumpers.
Edgemont's Connor Fisher was sixth in the D2 boys high jump at 6-0.
Westlake's Glen Ahern amassed 2,942 points, a personal best, to medal in sixth among public school competitors in the Division 2 boys pentathlon.
Among his five events, Ahern clocked a personal-best 17.14 in the 110-meter hurdles and also recorded an unofficial PB in the long jump at 20-1. The distance could not be counted as a PB due to wind velocity but was still good for sixth overall out of 24 private and public school competitors from schools of all sizes.
Suffern's Matt Oluwole, at 6-2, was seventh among D1 public high jumpers.
Nanuet's Samantha Dow clocked 1:04.2 for fifth in the girls Federation 400 hurdles.
Valhalla's Gabe Franchi, who plans to walk on at the University of Wisconsin in track and/or soccer, ran 22.46 for sixth place in the boys D2 200.
Woodlands' Leelan Maxwell was seventh in that race at 22.7.
Franchi also ran Saturday with Jecaryous Poteat, Thomas Casale and Tyler Drummond in the boys Federation 4x100 championship, finishing seventh in 43.44.
Clocking 43.63, Mamaroneck (Nicholas Obregon, Oliver Smeal, Vincent Repoulis and Anthony Alves) was eighth in the Fed in that race.
At 3:21.23, Cornwall (Charles Cypress, MarcSean Monter, Avo Sarkissian and Victor Perez) finished fourth in the boys 4x400 Federation championship.
In 15.06, North Rockland's Dami Modupe took fourth among NYSPHSAA runners in the girls 100 hurdles.
Lakeland/Panas's Grace Adeyeye (15.24), who qualified for states in the 11th hour at Eastern States, medaled in sixth.
"I' very surprised. I didn't know I'd be able to make it so far (and reach the finals), especially in my first year (of competing in hurdles). I thank God for everything," Modupe remarked.
With that showing, Modupe qualified for the Federation 100 hurdles, where her 15.24 placed her seventh.
Scarsdale's Diya Shadaksharapp went 36-9 for fifth in the girls triple jump Federation competition and Spring Valley's Simara Miller (36-5) was seventh.
At 20-11, Albertus Magnus's Deion Joseph was seventh in the boys Federation long jump.
Valhalla's Tyler Drummond, who only got one jump in due to a conflict with the Fed 4x100 boys relay, triple jumped 39-9 for seventh in the boys Fed.
He joined with Jecaryous Poteat, Thomas Casale and Franchi to run a collective 43.44 for seventh in the relay.
Mamaroneck (Nicholas Obregon, Oliver Smeal, Vincent Repoulis and Anthony Alves) ran 43.63 was eighth.
Hen Hud's Jonathan Wong missed medaling by one spot in the boys D2 110 hurdles. But Wong still recorded a big personal-best 15.63 in the race.
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: NY track and field state championships: 3 take home gold
