By Christopher Hunt
Great Neck senior Terrance Livingston makes no secrets about his plans for the season.
“To be honest with you, I want two national records,” he said.
Livingston announced his intention to break both national marks in the 600 and 800 meters, which would then make him one of the greatest scholastic middle distance runners in United States history. Hey, it’s worth a shot.
His goal isn’t only lofty but it’s legitimate. He showed his strength Saturday at the Molloy Stanner Games, winning the 1,000 and 600, both in the fastest time in the nation this season. First, Livingston dominated the 1,000 in 2:30.81 then doubled back to win the 600 in 1:20.41.
“I kept it easy,” Livingston said about the 1,000. “I really wanted to the state record (2:24.1 by Miles Irish of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in 1983). I felt good because I felt relaxed and easy. I’m just trying to get in some good races.”
It’s clear that Livingston is thinking long term although he may be running out of chances. He plans to run the 600 at the Hall of Fame Classic and his best chance at the 800 is at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. The 600-meter national record is 1:17.9 by Shaquan Brown of JFK-Paterson. The 800-meter national record is 1:50.55 by Californian Michael Granville in 1995.
In the 600, Livingston tucked in behind Randy Patterson of Newburgh for the first two laps. Then he fell into third when Fordham Prep’s Zach Keefer zipped by on the outside with 150 left. Apparently, that’s what Livingston needed to change gears. He regained position on Keefer then went around Patterson all before the last turn.
Livingston never gets excited about a solid performance – always looking ahead.
“I can go faster,” he said. “That’s what I know. It’s nice to run fast, but I want to run faster.”
Doug Smith of Gill St. Bernard’s (N.J.) was thinking the same thing in the boys invitational mile. But the running clock at the New Balance Track and Field Center malfunctioned just before the race and showed the actual time instead of a running race clock. Smith said he hoped to depend on the clock to monitor his lap splits.
But an official called out the half mile split – 2:09 – and Smith realized he was too slow.
“Not having the clock killed me,” he said. “When I heard them call out 2:09 I had to put the jets on a little after that.”
But when Smith accelerated, so did Bobby Andrews of Shoreham-Wading River. Andrews had been riding Smith’s shoulder the entire race and didn’t let go even when the pace quickened.
“He kept getting on my shoulder and waiting to see what I was going to do,” Smith said. “I just tried to kick early. I tried to pull the kick out of him.”
Andrews couldn’t find a gear to get by. Smith won in 4:16.36, breaking a meet record of 4:18.86 set by Jason Romaniuk of Suffern in 2001. Andrews finished second in 4:17.39. Both were in the invitational mile last weekend at the Hispanic Games. Smith was elbow-to-elbow with Brett Johnson of Ocean City with 60 meters left when Port Washington’s Marco Bertolotti went by like to flash to win.
Smith said he thought about not even running Saturday because of a cold he battled all week. But he wanted to secure a spot on the starting line in the invitational mile at the Millrose Games and his performance likely made his case.
Even Hempstead senior Charlene Lipsey took a shot at qualifying for the girls mile at the Millrose Games Jan. 30 at Madison Square Garden. Lipsey won the first mile of her career in 5:02.62. Despite her inexperience, the national leader in the 800 led from the gun and finished her last lap in 29 seconds.
“I felt pretty good,” she said. “I was more at ease than anything. I had too much left in me at the end. If I can close in under 30 seconds, I definitely had too much left.”
At the Hispanic Games last week, Lipsey expected to matchup with all-American Phyllis Francis of Catherine McAuley in the invitational 800, but Francis fell playing soccer and bruised her right knee last week and never made it to the meet. Francis returned to win the 600 Saturday in 1:32.30, but not without more tribulation.
Francis got stuck on the train and was late to the meet. She got into the race as a late entry and shared Lane 1. She was fourth after 200 meters but worked her way to the front and was in control with a lap remaining. She didn’t have an opportunity to warm up or stretch before the race but, in typical fashion, Francis was unfazed.
“My dad told me to just work myself into it,” she said. “Everything went according to plan. It was unusual. But it’s all good.”
It may have gone unnoticed in the infield, but Fordham Prep’s Andrew Hemmings, Ed Allison, Bruce Grant and Wayne Seaton broke a meet record and the school’s own national catholic schools record by winning the boys shuttle hurdles relay in 30.13. They topped Fordham Prep’s 2007 record of 30.22 when they finished second at NSIC.
“They’ve been trying to work on the transition,” Prep’s hurdle coach George Febles, Sr. said. “In the shuttle hurdles the biggest thing is that transition between when one runner finishes and the next starts. We’ve really worked hard on that.”
The team has been able to use the track at Fordham University to practice hurdles a few times a week, which Febles, Sr. said is the key to their performance. Hemming also won the triple jump in a school record 45 feet, 2 inches.
“Today it just came together,” he said.
Roslyn junior Emily Lipari followed her win at the Hispanic Games last week in the mile by winning the 3,000 Saturday in a time of 9:50.21, a meet record and a personal best.
“I felt awesome today,” she said. “My workouts have been great this week and going into this race I just wanted to run a time under 10 minutes because that would be my PR for indoors and racing Emily Menges (of Garden City) who is an awesome runner, I knew I had to take it out hard.”
Much like last week, Lipari controlled the race. Menges finished second in 10:03.68 and also finished second in the 600 in 1:33.67.
Hempstead newcomer Donna-Lee Hylton won the girls 300 in 39.27 with teammate Velma Morant second in 39.83. Newburgh’s Fred Locklary won the boys 300 in 34.55 beating out Sean Atkinson of Nazareth in second in 34.79.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.