By Christopher Hunt
NEW ROCHELLE – Iona Prep senior Sean Halpin lay under legs of a movable scaffold, his only moment of solitude from the back-patting and hand-slapping and the beating sun. That moment provided his first chance to reflect while the nausea subsided and he could breathe long enough to see straight again. In that moment he found himself among the best half-milers in Westchester County history.
With a frantic finishing kick that has personified his running style, Halpin won the 800 meters on his home track at the Eastern States Championships in a personal-best 1:51.55, the second-fastest time in the state and ninth-fastest in the country this season.
"I've known for a while I had it in me," said Halpin, who is committed to the University at Albany. "It just wouldn't come out. I had a lot of sit-and-kick races and some bad ones. I just really needed on that went out and that happened here."
Halpin said his teammate, Nick Athanasidy, agreed to pace him through the first lap but the field swallowed Athanasidy off the start line. Halpin set a goal to hit the qualifying standard of 1:52.54 for the USATF Junior national championships. Fortunately for him, Nyack's Lyle Haywood jetted to the front and towed the field to 54-second first lap with Halpin in third and running wide in Lane 2. Halpin made a hard surge on the back straightaway, one that Ryan Gomba of John Jay-East Fishkill and Haywood would challenge.
"I was a little scared at that point when they were holding me off," Halpin said. "That was about as close to all-out as I get. Then I pretty much had to keep running all out just trying to get home as fast as I could."
The race makes Halpin a major contender for a state championship. The conversation mostly – if not only – included Great Neck South's Terrance Livingston and Zavior Brown of Pine Bush.
"I've seen Livingston and Zavior be the match up," Halpin said. "That's what people were talking about. They are both great but I felt like I knew I should be right there with them."
Livingston was there to see Halpin's performance. He later leisurely won the 400 meters in 48.12. Livingston holds the state's fastest time, winning at the Danbury Dream Invitational in 1:50.39 two weeks ago.
The Tennessee-bound senior said Halpin changes the dynamic of the race at states because it gives one more runner to be concerned with, especially with Halpin's closing speed. But mostly he responded to Brown's comments on Thursday that the state championship would come down to guts and that Brown had the better leg speed.
"My whole thing is leg speed and guts," Livingston said. "Look at my portfolio. Leg speed and guts. That's it."
Of the 400 he ran Saturday, Livingston called his start horrific yet managed to gain a solid leg by the finishing stretch to run a time that only one other person in the state, including Livingston, has clocked this season.
While many of the athletes used Eastern States as a tune-up for the New York State Championships next weekend at Cicero-North Syracuse, Westbury used it as a platform for validation.
After being disqualified for a false start at the Section 8 state qualifier Monday, Eric Banks (49.9), Jean Saint Germain (47.5), Rani Nimblette (49.9) and Lamard Herron (49.2) won the 4x400 Saturday in 3:18.51, the fourth-fastest time in the state this season.
"We had to send a message to everyone upstate that we're supposed to be there," Herron said.
Banks, who was responsible for the false start, said he had already gotten over the folly earlier in the week but the race helped him put the missed opportunity in the rearview mirror.
"Sometimes things happen for a reason," he said. "I guess this was our opportunity to prove ourselves."
Chaminade's Michael Kiley was one of the runners using the meet for a tune-up. Kiley won the mile in a personal best 4:18.64. Kiley started stretching the field after the second lap but all his work started to go out the window when Jared Leslie of Arlington made a big move with a lap to go and Farrell's Alex Orlando followed. Then Kiley latched on and sling-shotted around the last turn for the win.
"Basically I read my opponents," he said. "When they went by I could hear them huffing and puffing and I knew then that if I just made one more push I could get them."
Kiley will be one of the top contenders in the 3,000 steeplechase at the state meet as will Iona Prep's Kyle Shepard, who won the 2,000 steeplechase in 6:05.85, the fourth-fastest time in the country this season.
"Originally I wasn't going to run this today," he said. "But at the last minute I asked (head coach Jan) Mitchell to put me in. The last few times our have kind of been rough. I wanted to get this one for my confidence."
Shepard fell over the last hurdle at the Loucks Games and tripped on another barrier last week at the CHSAA championships. This race he led most of the way and dropped the chase pack on the bell lap.
The morning SAT exams marred attendance at the girls meet, which also ran in the morning. But the session still provided solid performances. Bronxville's Caitlin Hudson won the girls 800 in 2:15.51.
Haley McMahon of Arlington won the mile in 5:02.49. She admitted she was disappointed because she intended to break five minutes. But McMahon said she felt good headed into the state meet, where she'll compete in the 1500.
"I went to states indoors and I psyched myself out pretty bad," she said. "I ended it running pretty bad too. This time I just have to stay focused and know that I can run with them."
Bronxville's seventh-grader Mary Cain finished second in the race in 5:03.08. Allie Bernasconi of John Jay-East Fishkill came from the second heat to win the 400 in 57.95, a hundredth of a second ahead of Holy Child's Katelyn Racanelli, who won the faster-seeded section in 57.96. Shilesha Johnson of Spring Valley won the 100 in 12.41. She'll compete in the 200 at states.
"I'm nervous but excited," she said. "I know there's going to be some good competition and I know that it'll bring the best out of me."
By Christopher Hunt
NEW ROCHELLE – Iona Prep senior Sean Halpin lay under legs of a movable scaffold, his only moment of solitude from the back-patting and hand-slapping and the beating sun. That moment provided his first chance to reflect while the nausea subsided and he could breathe long enough to see straight again. In that moment he found himself among the best half-milers in Westchester County history.