By Christopher Hunt
Farrell’s James Farley took the baton. His strides were decisive and aggressive but somehow still smooth and methodical. Fordham Prep’s Carlos Petrovich had 40 meters on him and it was down to the anchor leg of the CHSAA boys 4x800 at the Millrose Games Trials.
Farley chomped away at the lead in chunks until he rode Petrovich’s shoulder with two laps to go. Petrovich had been waiting for a signal to start moving. Petrovich started to try to pull the finishing kick out of him. Farley had to break some time. He just had to.
Farley tried to a move down the back straightway with 300 left. Petrovich covered. Farley tried again on the home stretch. No go. Petrovich was clinging to the lead and trying to ensure Farley would be dragging his legs along by the finishing stretch.
But Farley never backed off. His arms never stopped driving and inched by Petrovich on the home stretch to lead Farrell to a comeback victory in 7:54.73 with Alex Orlando (2:00.8), Corey Orazem (2:00.7), Mark Bernardo (1:58.5). Farley ran 1:54.7 on the anchor. Fordham Prep finished second in 7:55.11 with Zach Keefer (1:58.9), Mike Jennings (1:57.4), Harley Griffiths (2:00.6) and Petrovich (1:58.8).
“It’s Fordham,” Farley said. “You gotta beat Fordham.”
Fordham Prep led the entire race with Farley as far back as fifth before Bernardo ran the team back into contention on the third leg when it looked that Fordham Prep had already put the race away. Bernardo got just close enough for Farley to take a shot to win.
“I haven’t been really getting out in races and I needed to get out hard,” he said. “This was just the perfect situation.”
With Keefer and Jennings running the first two legs for Fordham Prep, the relay was set up for the Rams to build a big lead. And it worked all the way until the last 40 meters when Farley found one last burst of energy.
“The plan was just to sit and relax until he caught me,” he said. “I knew he was coming. I just didn’t have enough at the end. I couldn’t pull away far enough.”
Fordham Prep still has the fastest time in the state this season, having run 7:52.99 Saturday at the Hispanic Games. The two will lock up again at the Millrose Games Jan. 30 at Madison Square Garden. Fordham Prep won five straight Millrose titles before Kellenberg won back-to-back in 2007 and 2008.
The Cardozo girls will also return to the Garden to defend their title in the PSAL girls 4x400 relay. Tessa West (58.2), Claudia Francis (56.0), Ahtyana Johnson (60.0) and Chamique Francis (57.2) won in 3:51.55, the leading time in the nation this season.
“Going out with a new relay, we were kind of scared but we knew the amount of talent that we have on this team,” said West, the only returner from last year’s relay. “
There is a chance that this may not even be the relay that competes at the Millrose Games because Cardozo could possibly field an even faster squad.
“We’re experimenting right now,” Cardozo coach Gail Emmanuel said. “We have so much depth and talent on this team that any one of these girls could be on the relay.”
That includes freshman Lateisha Philson and sophomore Alexis Mapson. Even for Francis, it was her first time on the relay. Medgar Evers finished second in the race in 3:55.08 and last year’s Millrose champ Boys & Girls finished third in 3:57.32.
Brentwood won the girls Suffolk County 4x400 in 3:56.92. Hempstead won the girls Nassau County 4x400 in 4:00.41 with Donna-Lee Hylton (55.8), Velma Morant (61.3), Asheka Gibson (65.9) and Charlene Lipsey (56.9).
“It’s just teamwork,” said Hylton, who moved to the U.S. from Jamaica last year and is in her first season on the team. “We’ve all worked really hard. I’m excited.”
Newburgh’s Doris Little (58.8), Dasia Jones (59.3), Chante Coppedge (60.1) and Danielle McHolder (59.3) won the Orange/Rockland County relay in 3:57.82.
“I’m excited because it’s my senior year and I’ve been praying for this,” McHolder said.
Newburgh’s boys squad also won the Orange/Rockland race in 3:21.30, the fastest time in the state this season. Newburgh fielded Robert Graham, Akino Morgan, Fred Locklary and Randy Patterson . Ramapo finished second in 3:23.54. Rahway had the second fastest time of the day, winning the New Jersey 4x400 in 3:21.76.
“It’s an honor,” Newburgh’s Graham said about qualifying for Millrose. “We work hard. We try to get noticed. We just really want to go out and do big things.”
Mount Vernon on the boys and girls Westchester/Putnam 4x400. Jessica Avila, Tanya Yarde, Shamika Mingagil and Breanda Crump won the girls race in 3:56.57, the second-fastest time of the day. Justin Allen, Jerome Hines, Davon Moore and Casey Williams won the boys race in 3:27.35. New Rochelle finished second in 3:27.45.
Williams held off a charging Aki Bajulaiye just before the finish.
“I wasn’t really nervous,” Williams said. “I was just trying to focus and finish. I saw him coming out the corner of my eye. We knew we could beat them. We raced them before and it was close but today we just beat them.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.