HUNTINGTON – She just shook her head. She wasn’t satisfied.
Bay Shore senior Stephanie Barnes dominated the field in the triple jump but that wasn’t enough. She came to the St. Anthony’s Invitational for a meet but the longer the rain fell and the slicker the runway became, the more she saw her chances leaving with the record slipping away.
“I really wanted it to be sunny so I could jump well,” she said. “Usually the runway here is really fast but when it’s slippery it’s hard to get the speed you need.”
Barnes, who committed to St. John’s University, won the triple jump Friday evening at St. Anthony’s in 38 feet, 10 inches, about eight inches under the meet record. Barnes popped her best jump on her second attempt, right before rain started to pour down and lightening stalled the meet for half an hour. With no one approaching her best jump, Barnes could have passed the rest of her attempts and avoided the slick runway but run or shine she wanted to take a shot at that record.
“I was just upset at the fact that I couldn’t get the speed to get a good hop and step,” she said. “I was just hoping for a sunny day so I’d be able to come out here and jump far.”
It was impressive enough that Barnes even made it to the track meet. Her grandfather, Frank Barnes, Sr., passed away Thursday night after of battle with leukemia. He was 76.
“It was really rough,” she said. “I was in school but I wasn’t’ really in school. I was in class just sitting there. My mind wasn’t there.”
The familiarity of the track meet though, going through the routine she’d done so many times, helped distract her.
“I got away from it a little bit,” she said. “I warmed up and listened to my IPod. I just got ready to jump.”
In the boys 400 hurdles, Amityville senior Rashim Gaines dropped a personal best winning in 54.04 seconds. His time is the second-fastest time in the state this season.But Gaines admitted he could have run even faster. He cruised off the start line and Uniondale’s Nate Mercer ate the stagger and built a lead after the first 100 meters.
Then Gaines woke up and kicked into gear, washed away Mercer’s lead and controlled the race into the home stretch.
“I just go with the flow,” Gaines said. “I don’t really think about anything. I really just kind of sat back and watched what everyone else was going to do, then just tried to run as hard as I could to win. I try to pace myself sometimes so that I’m not dead in the last 100. I think later on in the season I’ll be able to go out harder.”
Michelle Rotondo of Garden City on the girls 400 hurdles in in the last 30 meters, finishing in 65.28. For the sophomore, she was just happy to win the race after struggling to create a rhythm most of the way.
“I was supposed to try to get a quicker start because I haven’t been getting out,” Rotondo said. “I was trying to catch up to them.”
Trying to catch the field threw Rotondo off her steps couldn’t find a smooth tempo but her speed off the last hurdle help her snatch the win.
“It’s good,” she said. “I just think I can run a lot better.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.
By Christopher Hunt
HUNTINGTON – She just shook her head. She wasn’t satisfied.