Younger athletes show Delaware's track and field future is bright at Meet of Champions

WILMINGTON - The Meet of Champions, where seniors perform with wistful finality as graduation approaches, turned into a showcase for the next generation of high school track and field on Wednesday night.

Underclass athletes won 11 of the 16 running events at Abessinio Stadium. Downstate runners didn’t mind the extra 15-minute drive past Caravel, last year’s site, as Henlopen Conference athletes captured an outsized portion of championships, including overwhelming dominance of boys hurdles.

After wilting in a 95 torrid degrees at the state team championship meet last Saturday, runners thrived in 65 breezy degrees that yielded three meet records.

Wilmington got its first view of Yougendy Mauricette of Sussex Tech, who ran the state’s best times in four events last Saturday. He and two Padua sophomores, Juliana Balon and Sophia Curtis, were Wednesday’s double winners.

Mauricette conquered both hurdle events efficiently, with Smyrna’s Elijah Williams and Isaiah James second. The 6-foot-3 junior hopes to reach 51 seconds this summer in the 400-meter hurdles, his likely college specialty.

Balon handily won the 100 in a wind-aided 11.94, won the 200, was second in the long jump and anchored the Pandas’ winning 4x400 relay.

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Curtis won both hurdles, each by more than a half-second, then finished second to Saint Mark’s Danni McGonigle, who set a meet record (39-2½) in the triple jump, coming within one inch of the state record shared by Micaiah Dendy and Krystina Muhammed.

Tatnall’s Nicholas Pizarro, Padua’s Mary Kate Dorsey and Saint Mark’s Tiffany Herrera finished their high school careers with convincing distance victories.

Pizarro, unbeaten all winter and spring - including a sweep of the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 at last week’s Division II meet - focused all of his energy on the 800, where he topped Polytech’s Matt Gatune in 1:52.8 in a battle of future Ivy League runners. Pizarro is headed for Penn, Gatune to Columbia.

Dorsey won the girls 1,600 in 5:05.4, six seconds ahead of Archmere’s Maddie Priest, concluding a spring of distance superiority.

Although she won her second straight Division I cross country title last fall, “the cross country season was disappointing for me based on time,” said Dorsey, who will attend the University of Virginia. “But overall it helped me develop more as an attitude runner, and figure out my strengths and weaknesses. It motivated me to focus on track more and get my speed up.

“My mindset is to stay in control, instead of letting someone else take control, to find a way to be confident in my own race and not waiting for things to happen.”

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Herrera repeated as 3,200 champion in 11:02.16, a 17-second improvement from last year.

Bre Reid of Sussex Central broke Nikko Brady’s 15-year-old meet record by long jumping 18 feet, 11¾ inches, a foot beyond her winning performance last year.

“I had to work on getting consistent on hitting the boards, and getting my knees up,” said Reid, who also ran a leg on Central’s winning 4x100 meter relay.

Reid, the state’s Volleyball Player of the Year last fall, also took third in the high jump with a 5-4 leap to cap her first season in the event. The senior is headed to James Madison to play volleyball.

Molly Flanagan emerged as the state’s next formidable middle-distance competitor. The sophomore blazed a 2:14 anchor behind Claire Merchant, Julia Querey and Sophia Holgado on Padua’s winning 4x800 relay, then edged Dorsey in the open 800 in 2:15. She concluded her evening by joining Dorsey, Balon and Emily Haney on a winning (3:59.7) 4x400 relay.

Conrad freshman Alyssa Napier outlasted Sussex Academy’s Sadie Tunnell in the 400, then anchored the Red Wolves’ second-place 4x400 relay. Lee Simms anchored St. Georges’ winning 4x200 relay.

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Sophia Maguire of Ursuline (11-9) won her final battle with Padua’s Elce Walsh in the pole vault by three inches.

Tyra Blakeney of St. Georges won the high jump (5-4) over Smyrna’s Brooke Duke on fewer misses. Ursuline junior Gabrielle Paolella won the shot put and discus.

The boys sprints were dominated by underclassmen. No seniors even lined up in the 100 or 200.

Sophomore Amari Burke of St. Georges won the 100 in 10.92, showing mid-race drive power.

“My start is a little inconsistent,” he said. “What I have to do is work to improve it every week. I watch the videos to see what I’m doing wrong.”

Jazonte Levan, a sophomore who gained 1,600 yards for Seaford’s 7-3 football team, nipped Mount Pleasant freshman Naim Dudley in the 200. Delcastle junior Shaheam Porter edged Smyrna’s Mason Adams in the 400.

By choosing the 800, Pizarro allowed his teammate Andre Latina to shine in the 1,600. Latina, headed for RPI, won the event in 4:21.4 after finishing second to Pizarro all spring.

Kenny Guy of Polytech won the 3,200. Ryan Banko, second in the 3,200, joined Matt Filliben, Matt Barbato and Matt Miller in Salesianum’s 15-second victory (7:59.1) in the 4x800.

After finishing first for the past two years, but each time disqualified on a bad pass, Sussex Central broke through to win the 4x100, with Timothy Wright at anchor.

Michael Portale, Amari Mathis, Jasyn Truitt and Vinny DelliCompagni took Salesianum to a meet record in the 4x200 (1:27.77), supplanting Caesar Rodney’s 2013 time.

The Sals also crossed the line first in the 4x400, but were disqualified because of bumping on the stretch against Soren Smith of Delcastle, which was awarded the crown.

Matthew Klous of Salesianum, whose older brothers Charles and Patrick won state championships in the event, concluded an undefeated pole vault season in 13-6.

Brandywine’s Jason Bliey won the high jump (6-4), then finished second to Mount Pleasant’s Courtney McDermott (148-10) in the discus. St. Mark’s Max Diossi (53-9) bested Chris Gulotti of Salesianum in the shot put.

Dover sophomore Jakwon Kilby leapt 22-10½ to top Mauricette by 3¼ inches in the long jump, then finished second to Donte Dockery of A.I. du Pont (46-9) in the triple jump.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Meet of Champions track and field: Young runners shine brightest