By Christopher Hunt
NEW YORK – They made mistakes. They can be better. But as far as making statements go, when Medgar Evers crossed the finish line they made it clear: they’ll be a contender for a national championship in the 4x100 relay this season.
Jason Genius, Jermaine Brown, Yaw Affum and Andy Williams won the 4x100 at the NY Relays in 41.68 seconds. That came after the squad ran 41.45 in the preliminary heats, the ninth-fastest time in the country so far this season. But what made the time in the final even more impressive was that Medgar Evers endured two poor baton exchange and another that could be described as decent.
To put the race in perspective, despite the botched handoffs, Medgar Evers is now one of two teams ranked in the top 30 in the country that reside north of Georgia, where the weather is more conducive to fast running. The other team is Sheepshead Bay, the reigning national champs. They finished second in the race in 41.95.
Genius said he had a shaky baton exchange with Brown and Brown and Affum couldn’t produce a smooth handoff either. However, they had the race in hand when Williams took over on the anchor leg.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Genius said. “Our coach told us that all we had to do was get the stick around and we could win.”
Sheepshead Bay and Medgar Evers will be the top contenders at Penn Relays next week when they take on the top Jamaican high school in the Championship of America. The teammates said they all feel they are capable of breaking 41 seconds, which in the Northeast region is almost like breaking the sound barrier. It’s also important that the team have a healthy Jermaine Brown. He dropped out of the 60-meter final at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships and then labored through the 200 final in March because of an injury to his left leg. Brown didn’t experience pain in the 4x100 but in the 200 final he was screaming in pain with 50 meters left. He still won in 21.29, the ninth-fastest time in the United States this season.
The first sunny weekend of the season provided an opportunity for fast times and the athletes could advantage. Great Neck South’s Terrance Livingston won the 400 in 48.07, the fastest time in New York this season. Livingston was back to dominating races after struggling at both the Nike Indoor Nationals and the New York State meet this winter season.
“I was mad about indoor,” Livingston said. “People were saying, ‘Well you ran 1:18 (in the 600 meters for a state record).’ But I’m even mad about that because I should have went faster,”
Livingston shook his head when in crossed the finish in the 400 too, feeling like he still had more to give.
“That’s OK, but my training and everything is telling me that I can run 47 or faster right now,” he said.
Fordham Prep also left feeling like they could have run faster in the 4x400 as well. Anthony Rivera (50.8), Mike Jennings (50.4), Carlos Petrovich (49.8) and Zach Keefer (47.9) won in 3:19.15, the fastest time in the state this season. The Rams were without Bruce Grant, who crashed into an out-of-position official in the morning during the 4x110 shuttle hurdles and was taken to the hospital for an injured jaw. His substitute would have been senior Wayne Seaton, but he was away on a school trip to Europe.
That left Rivera, who kept the team in the thick of the race on the leadoff leg. “He was the key,” coach George Febles said.
Keefer took the baton on the anchor leg a few steps behind Springfield Gardens’ Weymore Johnson, tucked in behind Johnson on the windy backstretch and put the race away on the finishing straight.
“It didn’t help that we had one of our guys get hurt and another guy not here,” Keefer said. “I figured we’d be in the race but we didn’t know what was going to happen. (Rivera) really stepped up. That was big.”
Keefer, who accepted an athletic scholarship to Binghamton University, is showing is season that he’s one of the best quarter-milers in the state with his commanding anchor leg Saturday and the 48.3 he ran at the Iona Prep Invitational last week. “I feel like everything is coming together at this point at the end of my high school career.”
Iona Prep’s Sean Halpin won the 800 in 1:56.40. Halpin never found a comfortable spot in a pedestrian first lap, where Christopher Welch of Erasmus kept him at bay mostly. Halpin moved ahead heading into the bell lap and held off a hard charge by Frank Fezza of Sachem North.
“I kind of got boxed in,” Halpin said. “Once I didn’t get out fast enough I just wanted to sit behind (Welch) and stay out of trouble. I thought I could take it when I needed to. It’s just a win. I’ll take it.”
Teammate Kyle Shepard also won the 3,000 steeplechase in a nation-leading 9:36.73. NSIC national champs, Washington Township won the sprint medley relay in a meet record 3:27.71 with Tim Carey (48.4), Devin Carter (22.4), Brian Keane (23.5) and Xavier Fraction (1:52.8). Hackley School senior Aaron Konisberg set a meet record with a 198-foot, 10-inch launch to win the javelin.
“In warm-ups I just really wasn’t hitting my mark, the runway was just so fast,” said Konisberg, adding that he was more accustomed to throwing on grass. “It’s a good thing though because this it’s the same surface and Penn (Relays) so it’s good that I can try to come here and get used to the Mondo.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.