Beasts of the NY States - Biggest Winners from 2010 to 2019

We didn't get an outdoor States championship in 2020, so this is likely a fine time to take a look at who Beasted (defined here as just going Beast) at States during the previous decade. No offense to a narrow winner like Luke Gavigan with his 0.02 victory margin in the 1600m back in 2014, but if you want to be King of the Beasts there you need to win by say 4.50 seconds (that's you, Alex). If winning really is everything, then winning your girls pentathlon by more than 300 points is everything and more and earns you a Queen of the Beasts title in your event.

Being a States Beast doesn't necessarily mean setting a meet record, though that can help. Sometimes you can go to States and find that your top rival forgot to sharpen his fangs or that she is an 8th grader or freshman and still a few years away from her full Beastly stature. OTOH, if you're Emily Lipari going up against Aisling Cuffe in the 1500m or Aisling Cuffe going up against Emily Lipari in the 3000m in 2010, you may run ferociously but your winning margin is just not going to be that Beastly. Same with our cover guy Mike Quercia of Marcellus going up against Liverpool's Zavon Watkins in the 800m from 2010. Some events seem to bring out the Beast in a winner, while others like the girls high jump are ruled by much more egalitarian champs who want to win by more gentle margins.

We do realize that there may also be a few circumstances where winners want to tame their inner Beasts, such as when they have a big relay leg looming in their near future, though the 4x400m squads have no excuse for any dovish qualities. And having some finals close to each other can take some of the bite out out of even the most savage Beasts. Sometimes an athlete's best and most dominating performance is in a D1 or D2 event on Friday, and in a few cases they have not even been around for the Championship finals on Saturday that we are looking at here (yup, that's you, Izaiah). And 2014 seemed to be a rather placid year since it was the one States meet that had no totally dominating Beast of the Decade for either the boys or girls. The boys were in their biggest Beast mode in 2017, while the girls' apex came in 2018.

On the following pages are an event-by-event breakdown of who are the top dogs and cats in States bestiary for the last ten years of the meet. At the end of it all we will crown the King and Queen of the Beasts, with the crowns going to champs who exceeded their event's average winning margin by the greatest ratio.




Girls Events

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100m - 200m - 400m

800m - 1500m - 3000m

100m Hurdles - 400m Hurdles - 2000m Steeplechase

Long Jump - Triple Jump - High Jump

Pole Vault - Shot Put - Discus - Pentathlon

4x100m - 4x400m - 4x800m


Boys Events