While there might not be much
track going on in New York State, there is plenty of history to pore
through. In our time off, we are looking to revisit all of the State
Records for the Outdoor Season. Who these athletes were, where their
marks came from, and where are they now. We're
releasing "Snapshots Of A State Record," where you can learn what it
takes, to put your mark on history. Tune in!
We are now into the abridged version of the Snapshots as we get to more recent records. We look here at a record from back in 2016. Enjoy!
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Midway through the third leg of the New Balance Outdoor Nationals 4x400m with Kyree Johnson on the stick for his NY state champion team, his school finally got a mention from the race announcers, "Huntington into the mix." Johnson had just moved the Blue Devils into 2nd place after getting the exchange in 4th behind three lime-green shirted teams, East Orange NJ, Archbishop Carroll DC, and Arlington Bowie TX. By the end of Johnson's leg, Huntington was in the lead and senior anchor Infinite Tucker was sprinting away from the field with a 46.07 leg that insured him a second gold medal after taking the 400m hurdles title just an hour and a half earlier on Sunday, June 19, 2016. The first two legs for the Blue Devils were Lawrence Leake at 49.08 and Shane McGuire at 48.61 who kept Huntington up among the top four or five teams. Johnson's 47.17 leg put the Blue Devils into the lead with about 500 meters to go. Tucker was challenged at the end of his leg by the 2nd-seeded team Archbishop Carroll but won comfortably at 3:10.93 for a new state record. A week before at States, the Blue Devil quartet ran a 3:15.00 to win the 4x400m, and Tucker won both the 110m and 400m hurdles while Johnson took the 400m.
Before Huntington snapped the state record by 1.34 seconds, the top mark was held by the 2003 Newburgh team that included the three Pearson brothers --- Larry, Justin and Jason --- along with NY 400m state record holder Elzie Coleman. NFA ran a 3:12.27 at the Adidas Outdoor Championship Nationals while finishing 3rd.
Note: Unfortunately the interview from NBON with Huntington had audio that was just static and we never got one with the Blue Devils after their States win. The only videos we can offer are the States 4x400m championship that they won in 3:15.00, and talks with Infinite Tucker after he won the 400 hurdles championship and Kyree Johnson after he captured the Emerging Elite 400m race at NBON.
Image of 2016 Huntington 4x400m at NBON being interviewed.
2016 States 4x400m championship. Huntington wins at 3:15.00.
Interview with Infinite Tucker -- 400H champ.
Interview with Kyree Johnson -- Emerging Elite 400m champ.