Clayton has stellar meet at Rockland champs
By Christopher Hunt
The day had mercifully come to a close and Jen Clayton, with her parents and sister Janelle went out to dinner to relax and celebrate a tremendous effort and another Rockland County title for Suffern.
Finally, she could sit still a moment. That was until the cramps seized her legs and nearly put her dinner on the floor.
“I think even the cook thought I was being murdered or something,” Clayton said. “I was kicking the table. I was going crazy.”
But Clayton saved her only weak moment for the dining table at Applebee’s. At Tappan Zee High School though, she was practically invincible. Clayton won the 100, 200, long jump and triple jump Saturday helping Suffern to the Rockland County championship, which is impressive enough in itself. But it’s the way she did it that should make it one of the most memorable single-meet performances in recent memory.
Clayton started by clocking a 24.6 in the trials of the 200 meters. Then she went over to the triple jump, an event she only participated in twice this season at two dual meets. But on her first attempt, she popped 38 feet, 9 3/4 inches, the second-best jump in the state this season. Then the sophomore returned for the 200 final and buried the field, winning in 24.3 seconds, the fastest time in the state this season. She won the long jump in 19-2, a performance only bettered by the 19-4 3/4 she jumped at Penn Relays. Then she won the 100 meters in 11.8, also the second fastest time in the state.
“I was moving the whole day,” she said. “I didn’t even have five minutes to sit on the bleachers.”
Suffern coach Jeff Dempsey said it was only the third time in school history that one athlete was solely responsible for 40
points. The second was also on Saturday when teammate Shelby Greany also claimed quadruple-gold by winning the 2,000 steeplechase, 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters.
For Clayton, Saturday’s performance followed a horrendous meet at the Loucks Games a week earlier where she failed to qualify for the final in the long jump and then false-started in the final of the 100 meters.
“She’s letting it come to her now,” Dempsey said. “That’s the best way to put it. She’s starting to figure out how to compete more. She’s not quite there yet.”
Clayton was favored to win the 100, 200 and long jump but the triple jump was more a wild card. She could conceivably qualify for the state meet in all four events. Her performances Saturday were good enough that she should medal in all four as well. Clayton said she wants to compete in four events at the state meet at the University at Buffalo, June 13-14, but she said she planned to compete in the 200, long jump and triple jump and hoped to qualify in either the 4x100 or 4x400.
“She’s a specimen,” Dempsey said. “As a raw athlete, she’s as good as anyone. Even going back to her as a seventh-grader or even a sixth-grader, she was just raw unpolished power.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.