photos by www.wingedfootfotos.com and Don Rich/PennTrackXC.com
Wayne Seaton said he was hoping. He hoped that every time he tore through another step on the track and Sheepshead Bay’s anchor leg would draw nearer. The Fordham Prep senior hoped with each step until he closed even with his team’s rival and barreled across the finish line.
“I just wanted to do everything I could pass him,” Seaton said.
Seaton turned a three-step deficit into a dynamic comeback and a national record for Fordham Prep in the 4x55-meter shuttle hurdles relay. Andrew Hemmings, Ed Allison, Bruce Grant and Seaton finished in 29.15 seconds at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships, breaking the mark set by Trenton Central last year of 29.38. Sheepshead Bay followed second in 29.18, the second-fastest
“Our teammates picked the perfect day to pull it all together on the same day,” Seaton said.
In truth, Fordham Prep seemed almost out of it after Sheepshead Bay’s leadoff, Darryl Bradshaw, opened a solid gap. Sheepshead held the advantage until the third leg when Richmond Ahadzi banged a hurdle that allowed Fordham Prep’s Bruce Grant to close in. Seaton erased the rest of the lead and squeezed ahead of Lavaughn Harris just before the finish.
“It was a surprise that they put their best guy first,” Seaton said. “Normally teams put their best guy last so that threw off a bit. I was nervous. But everyone ran great. Bruce did a great job and I was able to catch him.”
Seaton also led off Fordham Prep’s sprint medley relay that finished second in 3:29.87. But Burnt Hill-Ballston Lake dominated the relays. The school won both boys and girls distance medley relays. First the boys team secured a win on the heels of a tremendous 4:16.1 anchor-leg split by sophomore Otis Ubriaco. With Scott Maughan, Chris Fernandez and Kent Harlow, the squad won in 10:17.76.
Burnt Hills was buried in fourth when Ubriaco took the baton but on the rear of a chase pack that was closing on Warwick Valley’s anchor Dave DeWan. Ubriaco worked up ahead of Bishop Ford and catapulted ahead of DeWan and dropped the rest of the field in last 200 meters.
“I wanted to try to sit and hang but it didn’t feel like we were running that fast,” Ubriaco said. “I just felt like I still had a lot of energy.”
Ubriaco said he wanted to make his move with 600 left but forced himself to hang back. He moved into position with two laps remaining then made a decisive move on the back straightway on the last lap.
“He kind of just abruptly shifted his entire face and at that point I knew he could do anything,” Fernandez said. “He just had that look in his eyes.”
They joked afterward that the girls team would run faster. The girls didn’t quite match the boys’ time but they didn’t take as long to put the race away. Meaghan Gregory (3:37.1), Kendra Adams (59.8), Molly Pezzulo (2:17.4) and Sam Roecker (4:58.4) won the girls distance medley relay in 11:52.61. Burnt Hills had placed second the past two years in the race. Pezzulo pulled the ahead on the third leg and Roecker made sure no one threatened their national title.
“We’ve never been satisfied in the DMR because we’ve never won,” said the Providence-bound Roecker. “We finally got it. Finally.”
North Babylon’s Vanessa Stewart issued the same sentiment. The junior finished second in the shot put and tossed a personal best 47 feet, 5.25 inches, almost six inches farther than her previous best. Julia Labonte of Sainte-Justine, Quebec won with a throw of 51-10.50.
“I thought I was never going to throw 47,”’ she said. “Finally, something that I deserve and worked hard for has come to me.”
New York State champ Melissa Kurzdorfer of Lancaster, struggled early with two fouls and never regained form. She finished third in 46-8.25. She threw 48-2.50 to win the state meet. Stewart, who was second at the state meet, made her best throw on her first attempt Friday though she would have thought it was her worst attempt.
“When I threw it, I thought it was like a 43,” she said. “Then they measure it and my coach converted it and told me it was 47. I was so hyped. I was going crazy.”
Zelma Morant, Asheka Gibson, Donna-Lee Hylton and Charlene Lipsey won the sprint medley for Hempstead in 4:00.36, the fastest-time in the nation this season. Hempstead sat in third before Lipsey, who’s headed to LSU, chopped down O’Hara and then Bishop Ford with a 2:09.4 anchor leg. She was about 70 meters behind when she took the baton.
“I just didn’t want go out too hard and die out,” Lipsey said. “It’s all about the timing.”
Brooklyn’s Janice Jackson is the top qualifier after the 60-meter hurdles preliminary round, running 8.58. Latiesha Philson of Cardozo had the second-fastest time in 8.77.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.