Clarkstown South’s McGill wins 55H and LJ
By Christopher Hunt
Lawrence Campbell walked off the track with the kind of decisiveness that made it apparent that his adrenaline hadn’t subsided yet. The intensity still shot through his eyes until his heart finally stopped thumping through his chest and he smiled.
The Section 1 state qualifier has brought both triumph and disaster to the Peekskill senior. Today was triumph. Campbell won the 600 meters in 1:20.40, the third-fastest time in the country this season. His performance broke a Section 1 record set by Paul Joyce, assistant coach and graduate of Clarkstown South in 2000.
“My coach told me I had a chance to break the Section 1 record and that’s what I was trying to do,” Campbell said.
A year ago at the state qualifier, a controversial mistake with meet entries left Campbell, among others, from competing at the meet and having a chance to qualify for the state meet. He was one among about 40 athletes and sat on the finish line at West Point in protest. The state meet at Cornell University March 8 in Ithaca, will be his first.
“That was real frustrating,” Campbell said of the ordeal. “I almost quit track. I really wanted to come out here today and prove that I belong in the state meet.”
Campbell dashed out to the cut-in point off the second turn with Scarsdale’s Caleb Duncanson trailing. The powered through the first two laps but accelerated even more at the bell.
“Coming off the turn all I could think about was the section record,” he said. “Just get that section record.”
Clarkstown South senior Antoine McGill qualified for the state by winning both the 55 hurdles and the long jump. First McGill upset New Rochelle’s Menelik Lewis in the 55 hurdles. Both of them smashed into the first hurdle but when Lewis stumbled on another, McGill took advantage.
He set a personal best, winning in 7.49 seconds. McGill ran the leading time heading into the final, 7.48, the leading time in the state this season. Claudio Delli Carpini of Harrison finished second in 7.66 (7.59 in the trials). Lewis finished third in 7.67.
“”I knew I had two good races next to me,” McGill said. “It was all about getting out. Me and Lewis got out at the same time but once I knew that Lewis slipped out it was all about focusing and getting to the finish line.”
McGill only started focusing on the hurdles last spring. He characterized his race as sloppy and said that if could get through the race cleanly over the hurdles he knows he can run faster. McGill also won the long jump in 22 feet, 7 1/4 inches, the third-best performance in the state this season. Delli Carpini was third in 21-3 and Darrell Carter of Poughkeepsie second in 21-5.
Pat Porteus (1:57.8), Todd Apgar (2:01.7), Vinny Cascio (2:03.5) and John Turro (1:56.4) won the 4x800 for Somers in 7:59.39. The entire relay decided to not run any individual events so they could all be fresh for the relay.
“We’ve been focusing on the 4x800 all season,” Porteus said. “I think I’ve run like three individual events this season. This is want we wanted.”
Porteus gave the team the lead on the leadoff and no one could get within striking distance after. Somers is the fifth-fastest team in the state this season (7:58.65). CHSAA schools Chaminade and Kellenberg have been the best but Warwick Valley will be their top competitors for a public school state championship.
“We were pretty much by ourselves today,” Porteus said. “It’s different when there are people in the race with you. I think we can definitely run 7:55 or under. We just ran a second off our best today. I think that’s pretty awesome.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.