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Faulkner runs 47.49/21.33 double
By Christopher Hunt
photo by www.wingedfootfotos.com
NEW YORK – Julian Wood gave his Transit Tech teammates an honest assessment of his team’s potential at the start of the school year.
“I told everybody when the year started that we weren’t going to do anything this year,” Wood said.
Even when his team led the PSAL championships by a point with one event left Sunday, he still didn’t believe it.
“I still thought it was impossible,” he said. “I told them if I’m wrong they tell me, ‘I told you so,’ all they want.”’
The time for rubbing it in can come later. Transit Tech won the PSAL city championship with 70 points at Ichan Stadium on Randalls Island. Sheepshead Bay, the likely favorite, finished second with 64 points.
“It’s a true underdog story,” Wood said.
The most impressive part was that Transit Tech won just two individual events in the meet, in the 3,200 and discus of all things for a school known for its sprints and relays. Kameron George won the 3,200 in 9:46.39 and Errol Jeffrey tossed 136-1 to win the discus. Transit coach Sydney Mcintosh said the team never won the discus before.
“What I’ve tried to create this year is a more balanced, well-rounded team,” Mcintosh. “I told my athletes that if we’re in it going into the relays that we have a chance.”
Sure enough, Transit Tech held a one-point lead headed into the 4x400 relay, where they third in 3:24.98, Sheepshead Bay finished sixth. Mcintosh said stayed up nearly the entire night Friday trying to plan the meet, figuring where his points would come from. He decided that if his team had a chance. A small one. But a chance.
“If we were horse racers what shot would we have?” he said. “We’d be the long shot.”
Transit stayed in the meet by scoring points in the places that Sheepshead Bay couldn’t score big. Transit grabbed nine points each in the 400 hurdles and shot put then scored 16 in the discus and another eight in the 4x800. It even sweetened the win that Sheepshead Bay coach John Padula and Mcintosh are best friends.
“We really came together and that’s how we got here today and we beat Sheepshead,” he said. “That’s all that matters.”
While Tranist Tech quietly crawled its way to a championship, Curtis junior Troy Faulkner owned the spotlight. Faulkner won the 400 in 47.49 then won the 200 final in 21.33, both the fastest marks in the state this season. Faulkner dominated the 400 but gave off the curve in the 200 trailed Keith Nkrumah of Midwood by about two strides.
Then Faulkner, who won most outstanding performer, switched gears of the home stretch and cranked past Nkrumah just before the line in a race that produced personal best for them both.
“I got out kind of slow but once I got off the turn and I could see him I knew it was time to go,,” Faulkner said.
The junior said he would not contest the 200/400 double at the state meet. He also qualified in the 4x400, anchoring his team to a win. He will likely race in the 400 at states.
The most hotly-contested event of the afternoon though, was the 100 meters. Jovannie Gardner of Kennedy shaped up to be the favorite head into the final after running 10.80 in the prelims and then smoking a 10.67 in the semifinal. But the hard running and a sub-par start doomed Gardner in the final. Sheepshead Bay’s Ayo Ishola Isijola got a jump on Gardner from the gun and Gardner couldn’t close. Ishola Isijola won in 10.71.
Gardner’s semifinal time is the fastest in the state this season. He finished second in the final in 10.72. The winner was barely discernable until the results flashed on the screen. But Ishola Isijola knew.
“I felt tired,” he said. “But you have to go out and have heart. When I hit the finish line I knew I had it. It was really close but I just knew I had it.
The scorching heat and competition pumped out fast times. Sheepshead Bay junior Darryl Bradshaw won the 110 hurdles in 14.17. Grady’s Jeremy Rosado, who’d been enjoying a stellar season in the hurdles, slipped at the start and never regained his rhythm. He stumbled badly over two hurdles and finished second in 14.71. He ran 14.38 in the prelims.
His teammate Taylor Dressman won the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:00.27 then later came from fourth to outkick the field in the last 100 meters of the 1,600. He won in 4:27.59.
“Coming off the 100, I knew they couldn’t match my kick,” he said. “This is what I’ve been trying for all year. I tried to do everything right this year.”
Jason Browne of Boys & Girls produced a career best winning the 800 in 1:55.82. Bradshaw also won the pentathlon and finished second in the long jump.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.