By Christopher Hunt
UNIONDALE – Meet director Dennis Kornfield uttered the words into the microphone while officials stood drenched head-to-foot and athletes hid quivering under tents.
“At these big invitationals, they run no matter what,” he said. “Rain, sleet or snow.”
Only lightening could have mercilessly ended or at least fruitlessly stalled the Knight Time Invitational at Uniondale High School. All 58 teams that entered showed up for the competition Saturday. Few stayed beyond midway through the meet as the a relentless rain marred the day cancelling some track events for lack of competitors and field events for safety reasons.
But nonetheless the track meet continued and runners still reported to the starting line to brave the winds and cold and annoying precipitation. The ones that did compete didn’t complain though.
Ossining senior Jesse Drinks won the boys 200 meters in 22.90, far from his personal best, but Drinks saw no point in packing it in and heading home early.
“I mean, we came all the way out here,” said Drinks, wrapped in an oversized Ossining football rain jacket. “We might as well run.”
Drinks, a senior considering the University of Connecticut, knew enough not to overwork himself a race where the conditions wouldn’t allow for fast times.
“I just took it as a practice run,” he said. “A plaque and a t-shirt sound great to me.”
It never bothered Hempstead’s Terrell Williams either. Williams, an all-purpose back who won the Thorp Award in the fall as Nassau County’s most outstanding football player, won the boys 100 meters even while conditions worsened.
“This is nothing,” he said. “It’s like football weather. I’ve played in the snow.”
Hempstead’s Donna-Lee Hylton won the girls 400 in 61.80. She had no expectations for time but wasn’t fazed by the rain either.
“Sometimes we practice in the rain so it wasn’t a problem,” Hylton said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be fast. I was wearing sneakers. But it wasn’t that bad. We just wanted to get out there.”
Hempstead girls coach Lenroy Raffington echoed the same thoughts.
“I told them Penn is like this,” he said. “You never know, Penn Relays and the weather could be like this. At least this way they all know they’ve done it before and they are going to have to be able to run.”
With no sign of the rain easing up and only two other competitors entered in the girls 800 meters, Hempstead all-American Charlene Lipsey pulled out of her race and Raffington and boys coach Michael Higgins packed their squads into the bus and scraped the rest of the meet.
Chris Davis of Roosevelt (L.I.) won the boys 400 in 50.82, teammate Stephan Linton won the 400 hurdles in 59.45 and Tanaya Yarde of Mount Vernon on the girls 200 in 26.38.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.