Andre Wacasey’s school record high jump of 6-7 helped Longwood defeat Floyd in boys track. He broke the mark of 6-6 set by Tillman Doe in 1986. April 7
Longwood‘s Danny Murphy won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the County championships in 9:48.3 and qualified for the State meet to be held June 5 at Kingston. Connetquot’s Jay Moore (9:57.0) and Longwood‘s Dan Stevenson (9:59.7) also qualified. May 28
Dan Murphy won the 1,600 meters (4:25) and the 3,200 (9:42) to lead Longwood (131 points) to its seventh straight Conference I boys track and field championship at Centereach.- Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 19 May 1992
Unexpected The Norm In Boys Meet: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
By John Valenti. STAFF WRITER. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 31 May 1992
You know what they say about best-laid plans. Well, if you don’t, you should have seen the Suffolk County boys track and field championships yesterday at Longwood – a day when you could throw favorites and probabilities to the fates and the wind.
You want unexpected?
Try this: Longwood hurdler Jeff Liggon, beaten all season by Whitman’s Greg Hines in the 110-meter high hurdles and 400 intermediate hurdles – the latter by two seconds just last week – beat Hines in both events yesterday. And Hauppauge’s Antoine West, the favorite in both the 100 and 400, instead was disqualified with a false start in the semifinals of the 100 and was beaten in the 400. Copiague’s Earl Hassel won the 100 in 10.6 seconds. Whitman sophomore Chad Rowe won the 400 in 48.4. West was second in 48.6.
Then there was Bay Shore senior Matt Key. He didn’t figure to place in the 800, but he turned in the most dramatic victory of the wind-blown afternoon.
Key, whose previous best in the 800 was 2:00.0, came from back in the pack on the last lap, went past three runners – including the fading favorite, Amityville’s James Slater – and then caught
leader Anthony Green of Newfield at the finish to win in 1:57.1. Green finished in 1:57.6. Slater was fourth in 1:59.2.
“I knew somebody was coming,” said Green, who beat Key in a conference meet last week. “But he was the last person I expected to come up with that. I was surprised.”
So was Key. “I didn’t think I would get him, didn’t think he’d give me the chance. But my father always taught me it’s in your mind. All the way down the backstretch I was yelling, `This one’s mine! This one’s mine!’ It’s so hard to believe I got it. This means I’m going to the state championships. You can’t believe the joy. I didn’t expect this to happen. Not at all.”
Few things that were expected did happen. Sure, Longwood ran away with the team title with 108 points. And, sure, Longwood runner Dan Murphy was a triple-winner, capturing the steeplechase Wednesday, the 3,200 Friday and the 1,600 yesterday.
But few things fell into place as they were supposed to. Liggon knew that, too.
Liggon had gone head-to-head with Hines, the sophomore who is regarded as the premier hurdler in Suffolk, four times this season in both the high and intermediate hurdles and lost all eight races. But yesterday, Liggon took control of the high hurdles out of the blocks and won in 14.0 while Hines ran 14.2. Liggon won the 400 hurdles in 53.4, catching Hines out of the final turn and holding him off. Hines finished in 53.7.
“He’s a great runner,” said Liggon, who won the pentathlon championship as a freshman and sophomore and the high hurdles title last season. “He’s been beating me all year, so I figured I had nothing to lose here. I guess today was just my day.” As Hines said, “I guess something just went wrong today.”
It’s This Close For Boys: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
By John Valenti. STAFF CORRESPONDENT. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 07 June 1992
One hundredth of a second. To put it in perspective, a blink of an eye takes longer – in the area of three to four hundredths of a second, actually. One heartbeat takes longer still. A breath? Forget it.
No, there isn’t much one can do in one hundredth of a second. Except, as Greg Hines of Whitman and Jeff Liggon of Longwood both found out yesterday at the State Track and Field Championships at Dietz Stadium, win a race. Or lose one.
Because, not only was Liggon edged for second in the 110-meter high hurdles by T.J. Petersen of Fonda-Fultonville – Petersen ran 14.56 seconds, Liggon 14.57 – but the senior found himself in the lead off the final hurdle in the 400 intermediate hurdles, only to lose in a photo-finish as he was edged at the line by Hines. Hines, who won the high hurdles in 14.4, won the intermediate hurdles in 53.75. Liggon ran 53.76.
“I saw him out of the corner of my eye,” said Liggon, who had beaten Hines in both events last weekend at the Suffolk County Championships. “I thought I had him, too. But in the last two steps, my body gave out and he snuck up on me and took it. What can you do? It‘s just one of those things.”
“I was pretty surprised,” said Hines, a sophomore, “because I thought he beat me. I didn’t realize how close he was until the top of the turn. But I thought I had a little bit left in me; I thought I could catch him. I did.”
It proved to be a day filled with close calls – some victories, some losses – for the Long Island boys. Patchogue-Medford’s Mike Hansen, forinstance, threw 172-5 to edge Newfield’s James Heizman (170-1) and Kings Park’s Tucker Grace (164-9) in the discus as Suffolk took first, second and fourth. It also marked the third straight year a Suffolk thrower won the event, with Rich Tizzard of Centereach winning in 1991 and Mike Ventura of Longwood in 1990. And the 4 x 800 relay team from Chaminade, which entered with the best time in the nation this season, exited with a hard-won state titleafter spending the morning at St. Benedict’s Hospital with teammate Matt DiRusso, who tore his Achilles tendon in the high jump. The relay team of Mark Caprise, Ed Himmel, Neil Riordan and Sean Cooney ran 7:47.18 to hold off North Rockland, which ran 7:48.46. Mepham was fifth in 7:59.0, and Longwood was sixth in 8:01.44.
Of course, not everyone who came close came out on top.
Tom Thompson of St. John the Baptist almost cleared 6-10 on his final attempt in the high jump, only to see the bar wobble and fall after he had landed on the mat. “I nicked it with my ankle,” he said. “I was this close.” He was second at 6-8. Brett Stearns of Jamestown went 7-feet, then missed three chances at 7-1 1/2 – all as Alex Rosen, who set the state record of 7-1 last season at Oceanside, watched.
And Dan Murphy of Longwood and Jason Caamano of St. Anthony’s knew that first was nearly unattainable in the steeplechase. So while Bill Vespe of Archbishop Molloy (Queens) won in 9:24.03, Murphy and Caamano battled it out for second; Murphy finished second in a hot 9:27.91, with Caamano third in 9:36.42. John Honerkamp of Chaminade was fifth (9:44.86), and Jay Moore of Connetquot was sixth (9:46.34).
Perhaps the toughest close call of the day was suffered by Dan Donohue of St. Anthony’s in the 1,600. Having led Reynaldo Mendez of Fordham Prep (Bronx) into the final turn, Donohue not only lost his lead by the time he reached the final straight, he also lost any hope of placing in the top three. He faded in the final 100 meters to finish fifth in 4:18.84.
“My legs just started to go, then the body went,” he said. “Then my back began to tighten up and my arms were going different ways. Your mind can say a lot of things, but if your legs don’t listen, you’re not going to win.”
STATE HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS Wasting No Time Jermyn’s mid-race move keys 1,600 win: [CITY Edition]
By Michael Dobie. STAFF CORRESPONDENT. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 07 June 1992
Finishing well never has been a problem for Kevin Jermyn, the man with the devastating kick. But the middle of a race, that has been worrisome.
“I normally run too easy in the middle,” the Tottenville junior said. “They would’ve dusted me today.”
So yesterday, at the state track and field championships, Jermyn made a deal with Tottenville coach Pete Whitehouse.He would run the middle of the 1,600-meter run hard and see if his kick still was up to snuff. Was it ever.
Jermyn moved from last to fifth after two laps, took over third with 400 meters to go, then kicked past Dan Donohue of St. Anthony’s and Reynaldo Mendez of Fordham Prep on the final turn at Dietz Stadium. His winning time of 4:15.32 was a personal best by five seconds and 1.13 seconds better than Mendez.
“As the race went on, I gained a lot of confidence,” Jermyn said. “I really knew I could put them away in the last straightaway.”
Jermyn keyed on Donohue and Mendez and started closing the gap between himself and the duo on the back straightaway. When Mendez passed Donohue on the final turn just in front of him, Jermyn knew the race was his.
“I saw {Mendez} was flat out when he passed {Donohue},” Jermyn said. “I wasn’t flat out, so I was pretty confident I could pass him.”
The dramatic finish, though, paled beside that of the 200, in which Courtney Currie of Evander, Jamaica’s Byron Logan and Mike Ballard of Monroe Woodbury-IX battled all the way down the straightaway. Currie led off the turn but Ballard moved into a slight lead shortly afterward. Then Logan caught Ballard just before the finish, which required a photo to determine Logan indeed had won. He and Ballard each was timed in 22.22 with Currie (22.38) in third.
“I got a late start and I said, `Well, you have to come back,’ ” Logan said. “I think I outleaned him.”
Andre Inniss needed no such last-second gyrations. The Robeson senior continued his domination of the 800, turning away a challenge by Mike Schroer of Clarkstown South-I at the 600-meter mark and kicking away to win in a fine 1:50.58.
“I just started tightening up,” Inniss said of the timing of Schroer’s challenge. “It was no concern. I knew if they came at the turn and tried to go with me I could outkick them. That’s the best part of my race.”
Molloy’s Bill Vespe proved once again that every part of the race is the best part for him. After winning the 3,200 Friday night, Vespe cruised to a win in the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:24.03. Dan Murphy of Longwood-XI was second in 9:27.91.
The PSAL again won the boys sectional title with 101 points, well ahead of Section XI’s 85. Solomon Humphrey took second in the 400 and anchored Clinton’s 4 x 400 relay team to a second-place finish. Sean James of Evander finished fourth in the 400 and 800 and Beach Channel’s Wolfgang Hyppolite was third in the shot put and fifth in the discus.
LONG ISLAND GAMES Ending on a High Note Grace wins two as prep for national: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
By J.P. Pelzman. STAFF WRITER. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 13 June 1992:
Tucker Grace called the fourth annual Long Island Games, co-sponsored by the Nassau Recreation Department and Newsday, “a nice way to end the season.”
No wonder. The Kings Park senior won both the discus and the shot put at Mitchel Park in Uniondale last night. He was one of two double-winners among the boys. (Athletes were limited to a maximum of two events.)
Although this was an end-of-the-season meet, it also served as a warmup for Grace, who, among others, will be competing in a national invitational meet in Chicago next Saturday.
“I like the atmosphere of this meet,” said Grace, who had efforts of 159-7 in the discus and 52-9 in the shot put. “It’s one of the best meets of the year.
“It’s one last chance to compete against your friends,” he added, pointing to Mike Hansen of Patchogue-Medford, who finished second in the discus at 157-8. “Mike and I have become good friends.”
Earl Hassell of Copiague won both the 100 (10.5) and the 200 (22.1). “It’s a fast track,” he said, “and the weather was excellent.” Hassell’s time in the 100 was a season-best on Long Island.
Senior Jeff Liggon of Longwood, who lost by a hundredth of a second in the 400 intermediate hurdles at the state meet last weekend, managed to win a close decision in the 110 hurdles.
He finished in 14.4, just ahead of Jamal Hodges of Centereach, who ran a 14.5. Still, it wasn’t exactly redemption.
“I came here just wanting to run a good time and try to win if possible,” Liggon said. “This isn’t the state meet, but I’m over that.” Liggon is headed to Tulane on a football scholarship, but said he may run track there as well.
Greg Hines of Whitman, who edged Liggon for first place in the 400 hurdles at the state meet, skipped the 110 hurdles yesterday in order to
focus on the 400 hurdles.
“I’m pretty happy,” Hines said after winning the event in 53.0 seconds, establishing both a meet record and a state record for sophomores, according to his coach, Kevin Johnson. (The meet record was 53.6, by Ken Torres of Centereach in 1990. The previous sophomore record was 53.1 by Hines earlier this season.)
“I’m trying to make {the intermediate hurdles} my main event,” Hines said, “because I’m not that tall.” He said he will compete in both hurdle events next season.
Tom Thompson of St. John the Baptist won the high jump with 6-10, matching his personal high set earlier in the season. He is the only jumper on Long Island to have cleared 6-10 this season, and he made three attempts at 7-0 yesterday, but failed.
He came close on his final effort. “I almost made it,” he said, “but I hit it with my calf.”
Dan Murphy of Longwood, who finished second in the 3,000 steeplechase at the state meet, won the event in 9:33.4.