WESTBURY – When Emily Menges crossed the finished line she dropped her hands to her knees and shook her head at her own effort after the 4x400 relay. To some extent, even the Garden City junior couldn’t believe what just happened.
I feel like I just lifted 80 billion pounds,” she said afterward.
Apparently, that’s how much the Garden City girls team weighs. Barely a half hour after Menges carried her team to a comeback win in the 4x800 relay, she erased the insurmountable lead that Hempstead built through the first three legs in the 4x400 at the Section 8 state qualifier at Westbury High School. Menges had already qualified for the next week’s state championships on Monday, finishing second in the 800 meters. Now she’s secured a jam-packed weekend bringing along both relays.
First Menges anchored the 4x800 where she quickly closed the gap on North Shore’s anchor then pulled away to lead Taylor Hennig, Michelle Rontondo and Jenna DeAngelo to a win in 9:19.37. Then Menges and Hennig both simply jogged from the finish line to their teammates waiting to run the 4x400. Menges kept bouncing. There wasn’t much time to sit down.
Hempstead had buried the field already by the time Menges took the baton for the anchor leg. But incrementally, Menges began to reel Hempstead in until Hempstead’s anchor started to labor on the home stretch and Menges went on the attack.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Menges said. “That was just pure adrenaline. I knew that we were in second by a lot and no one was going to catch us so I figured why not? I really don’t know why I tried to pass her. We were still going to make it to states. But I saw her slowing down so I went for it.”
Taryn Schmelzinger (58.7), Catherine Cafara (57.7), Hennig (59.4) and Menges (56.1) won in 3:52.38. Hempstead was second in 3:54.03.
The relays turned out to be the showcase of the afternoon, especially the much-anticipated boys 4x100. The matchup put Uniondale against the favored Roosevelt, which boast some of the best sprinters in Nassau County. But Uniondale’s Nate Mercer crushed the start on the first leg and put Uniondale in the lead after the first exchange. Roosevelt struggled at the second exchange and then dropped the baton on the last baton pass. Mercer, Jordan Daley, Travis John and Tresean Goodwin won in a season-best 42.65.
“We wanted to get a good start and we wanted to get ahead of everybody,” said Mercer who was switched to the leadoff spot only two weeks ago. “We have faith in our anchor so we knew we’d be okay.
“We were kind of under the radar. We proved it to ourselves and to everybody that we belong here.”
Uniondale also won the 4x400 in 3:24.66 but the 4x400 was noticeably missing Westbury, which was disqualified Monday after a false start. When Westbury’s Lemard Herron won the boys 400 in a personal-best 49.38, he still had the 4x400 trial from Monday on the brain.
“All I was thinking about was the 4x400,” he said. “We’re the fastest relay out there. I wanted to show what they could have had with us out there.”