By Christopher Hunt
Jen Clayton doesn’t excite easily. She expects more from herself than anyone else would put on the Suffern senior’s shoulders. So for her, what’s “good” is never good enough.
Then there are those times when she explodes of the board in the long jump and soars for a little longer than she’s used to. Then she lands in the sandpit in a place that she’s never been before. Then, maybe, she’ll flash a giant smile and a girly hop-clap combination that says that she’s finally pleased her worst critic.
Clayton jumped 20 feet, 5.75 inches, the best jump in the United States this season and the ninth-best in the country all-time. Clayton hoped to qualify for the senior US Indoor Championships. The standard is 6.07 meters, which converts to just under 20 feet.
“I didn’t feel anything on that jump,” she said. “I feel like I can go so much further. I didn’t get my knees up. That would help me so much.”
Clayton said he wants to break the state record of 21-1.25 set by Uniondale’s Keyon Soley in 1997. But she’s already eyeing the national record, which belongs to the legendary Carol Lewis, who jumped 21-7.5 as a senior at Willingboro in New Jersey in 1981.
“I want that so bad,” said Clayton who was award the most outstanding athlete in the field. “I don’t care about any awards or medals. I just want that so bad.”
While Clayton put on a show in the field events, the girls invitational mile provided enough drama for everyone.
A stacked field that included a handful of the best distance and middle-distance runners in the country settled into a cautious pace until Warwick Valley’s Lillian Greibesland decided to initiate a surge with two laps to go. A small pack broke away that included Greibesland, Emily Lipari of Roslyn and Cornwall’s Aisling Cuffe.
With 150 left, Cuffe rocketed down the back straight, instantly opening an astounding 30-meter gap on Greibesland and Lipari. It looked like she slammed the door on the race.
“I saw her up there and she looked awesome,” Lipari said. “In my head I was already clapping for her because she had won the race. I was just trying to get the fastest time I could.”
But Lipari went after Cuffe like a bullet and as if she transported there, Lipari had reached Cuffe’s outside shoulder with 50 meters left, gritting her teeth and wildly pumping her arms. Cuffe pushed again but Lipari wouldn’t back down. Lipari edged Cuffe, winning in 4:54.76. Cuffed was second in 4:54.84. Brianne Bellon of Saratoga Springs came up for third and Greibesland, in her best race since returning from a ruptured Achilles tendon that wiped out her entire junior year, finished fourth in 4:59.86.
“I was just amped,” Lipari said. “I saw who was in the race. The competition was just out of the water.”
She admitted that she thought the race was over when Cuffe made such a decisive move on the back straight.
“I flicked my eye up to the video screen and I saw her coming,” Cuffe said. “I thought I got her but it wasn’t enough. I felt like going into the race that it wasn’t’ my race. There were all these girls, Emily, Megan Patrignelli (of Monroe-Woodbury) and Lillian. I’ve been training for like three weeks. This is my first race. I was just like, ‘Couldn’t we do this later?’”
The winner of the mile was guaranteed a spot in the high school mile at the Millrose Games Jan. 29 at Madison Square Garden. But Lipari had already been granted an invitation. The automatic bid doesn’t roll over the second place finisher. But Cuffe’s performance should earn her spot.
Chamique Francis of Cardozo was the only double winner at the meet. She claimed both the invitational 400 in 55.69 and later won the 200 in 24.42. Both times are the best in the country this season.
Francis said she was looking to run faster in the 400 but stuck to her plan to ride Michelle Brown of Seneca (N.J.).
“She likes to run from the back,” Francis said. “So I wanted to be behind her because I know she has a strong finish.”
And true to form, Brown made a move on the leader, Brie Roller of Lakeland-Panas, and Francis followed. Then the two went shoulder-to-shoulder down the home stretch and Francis gained a slight advantage just before the finish for the win.
“I wanted to run 54 today but that’s better than nothing,” Francis said.
Cornwall’s Adrian LaChance won the pole vault, clearing 12-0 to tie the national leader in just her first competition of the season and also breaking the meet record.
“I was really nervous at first,” said the senior, who has committed to Harvard. “I just wanted to clear 11-0. I was satisfied with that so I’m really happy to clear 12 feet.”
LaChance earned the clearance on her last attempt after moving up to one of her “forbidden” poles, a 13-foot/160-pound pole.
“When I get on those bigger poles it doesn’t always go well,” she said. “But my coach told me that if I switched the bigger pole I would clear it. There was just a lot of pressure because it was my last attempt and the bigger pole and then they said it’s for a meet record. I was just happy to get over it.”
Medgar Evers reclaimed its spot atop the national rankings, winning the 4x200 relay in 1:40.41 with Kimberly Campbell, Rachel Leeke, Nyanka Moise-Joseph and Kadecia Baird.
“Our coach just told us to run with our hearts and that’s what we did,” Moise-Joseph said. “Our team still isn’t set yet. We still have two other girls that can run. So we have six good legs.”
Cardozo, which set the national leader last week, also said that they haven’t put their best team on the track yet. “We want to race them,” Leeke said. “We haven’t been able to put our best teams against each other yet.”
Medgar Evers earned another national leader when Shnell Wisheart won the triple jump 39-10.5. The 6-2 senior, who joined the team last winter after moving to from St. Catherine in Jamaica last fall, popped the jump on her second attempt. The meet was her first of the season.
“I felt good because I started out strong,” she said. “I held my phases longer. That’s what I’ve been working on. I know that if I hold my phases, I can be the best, the absolute best.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.