An entire season of training, dozens of runs in the freezing cold, workouts over the holidays, will all culminate on Monday, February 17th at Suffolk County Community College. Section XI's best will face off against each other for one of the two to four coveted states spots per event. Everything aside from the weight throw and the pole vault will be figured out by 10 PM Monday. The Team Championships that were held last weekend led to a mountain of breakthrough performances. The landscape of events has shifted; many events reached completely new heights and are much deeper. We are going to give event-by-event breakdowns for the boys and the girls events. Hope everyone enjoys it, we doubt it will be covered prior to the meet in Newsday.
Keeping with tradition, we will preview the girls' events first for no other reason aside from...ladies first. The first two athletes from each event will qualify individually for the State Meet. A third athlete can run as an individual at States if they achieve the state qualifying standard in their event and get third at the State Qualifier. In four events, a fourth person may qualify and run on Section XI's intersectional relay. This only occurs when the third place finisher has achieved the state standard in that event which allows them to run as an individual. The intersectional relay is made up of the first non-individual qualifiers from the 300, 600, 1000, and 1500 (1600 for the boys). They team up and run a distance medley relay that consists of 1000, 200, 600, and a 1600. Section XI is always very strong in this event.
55 Meter Dash: Similar to last year in the spring, North Babylon is a force in the shortest sprint events. Samara Lawrence has been the top seed in the 55m Dash all season long. She set the tone at the Team Championships for North Babylon, winning her prelim and final. She scored 20 individual points to help lead her team to a county title and puts her name in the running for one of the County MVP awards as well. However, she now has company near the top of the event, because small school team champion Westhampton Beach's Halle Geller had a monumental personal best of 7.31 to upset Port Jefferson's Jenna Jacobs. In all, seven runners have the state standard (7.44) in the shortest event in all of track and field. Jenna Jacobs has decided to only run the 300 and focus solely on that but that still leaves six girls fighting for the three spots.
55 Meter Hurdles: Can anyone beat Connetquot's Kaylin Mallon?...probably not. She has no losses to any Section XI runners this season and her lone loss was in early December. She is the only runner with the state standard (8.71, the state standard is 8.74) and will look to keep her streak going. Only in tenth grade, she has a lot of experience in big races and has come up clutch for Connetquot all year. However, on Saturday, Mallon's job became a little harder because four hours after her County title on Saturday, three small school runners produced large season bests to narrow her county lead. Two girls, Bayport's Felicia Giglio and Amityville's Makayla Warrick both ran in the low 8.9's. Unless both girls produce a time under 8.74 in the prelims and or finals, only two will likely be going to states.
300 Meter Dash: This event is very interesting for a couple of reasons. As we mentioned earlier and will likely mention again, the Team Championships significantly altered the field. Four of the top five girls all have season bests from the Team Championships and all five have season bests from flat tracks (all at SCCC, where the State Qualifier is held). This is very uncommon because of how many 300 opportunities there are at Armory and Ocean Breeze. Samara Lawrence is the top seed once again and her and Jenna Jacobs are the only two runners with the state standard (41.94). Due to there being both trials and finals makes it a more difficult event to predict, but both champions from the County Meet are likely headed for a matchup in the final. If Alexa Colondona can break her personal best by .11, she can be the third runner to run this as an individual at the State Meet. Look for a possible sub 41 on a flat track in the finals. With Jacobs having no relay duty and no 55, she will be fresher than she has been all season.
600 Meter Run: 11 out of the top 13 girls ran their season best at the Team Championships and it completely changed the outlook of this event. Even with scratches coming from three of the top 10, the 600 is stacked. The county leader, mid-distance ace Alexandra Geosits stayed the same, but there was a ton of movement below her. She won the small school title in 1:37 but now has Smithtown West's Laina Friedmann on her heels. Friedman won the 1000 and then with very little rest, ran a 1:37 after a 2:56. Three people have the state standard (1:38.74) but William Floyd's Zariel Macchia will not be running it. She has other individual and relay event plans. It took under 1:40.9 to get into the fast heat of the State Qualifier. This event will come down to positioning and who feels the best on the day.
1000 Meter Run: Five girls have the state standard in the 1000 (3:02.24) and it is going to take a heck of a performance to get the win. However, two of the girls with the standard did not enter the race, which leaves the door open for someone else to grab the intersectional relay spot. Lily Strebel has stepped up multiple levels from last spring and is now one of the better runners in the state. Last spring, her best times were 2:20 for the 800 and 4:55 for the 1500, now she is 14 seconds ahead of her 1500 and she is running her 800 pace for 1000 meters on a flat track. Laina Friedmann is going for the double again and has been at a high level for the last 15 months. She has made the 1000 and 600 double look much easier than it actually is and we are not surprised she is going for both again. The 1000 is first on the schedule and her versus a fresh Strebel should be worth the ten dollar admission. Behind them, Maggie McCormick from Bay Shore had a nice triple at the Team championships and is the only other runner under 3:00. Behind McCormick there is an 8 second gap to Ward Mevlille's Amanda Probst.
1500 Meter Run: Six girls have the state standard in this event (4:49.54) and a couple of others are just off of it. Zariel Macchia is looking to stay atop the rankings in the 1500 right before she travels to Australia to take on the world's best over 6000 meters at the World Cross Country Championships. Her seed time is the only one that is not from the last couple of weeks and her overall personal best is ten seconds faster than anyone else in the field. The Small School Team Championship showed an amazing level of depth when it took 4:49.6 to score two points in the deepest 1500 at that meet in quite a while. Macchia may try and run fast before she leaves for Australia, but she also has her 4x8 later in the meet, and Millrose Mile two days before. As she has shown since seventh grade, trying to guess what she may do at any meet is harder than predicting the stock market. Even with Friedmann doing the shorter events, and Mullane Baumiller focusing on the 3000 and relay, this race is incredible. Three girls seeded below 4:42 indoors has not happened in Section XI in quite some time, if not ever. Pay attention to this race if you can.
3000 Meter Run: Section XI is seemingly set in this event for quite a while. There are four girls who have broken 10:25 who are seven months away from taking a class in their respective high schools. The Wickard twins from Northport have been joined by Comsewogue's Lexie Cole and Mount Sinai's Cali Gabrielson to make up a very formidable quartet of middle schoolers. That being said, they are not the top two seeds. Although Mia Wickard has the fastest personal best from last spring during her record Loucks Games race,she was beaten by Sayville's Mullane Baumiller a month ago. The state standard is 10:21.14 and as we mentioned earlier, the small school Team Championships rewrote the form charts in this event. 10:23 by Gabrielson was "only" good enough for sixth place. She is now 19 seconds away from Mia Wickard's state class record which is not even a year old. Mullane Baumiller has been on fire this season and has an excellent kick. It will take an incredible performance to qualify for this year's State Meet.
Shot Put: We are going to change up the order of the preview a little bit. The shot put seems to always be near the bottom and we are going to move it up for one reason...State Leader (by 39 inches) Julie Thomas from Commack. She will absolutely garner one of the five County MVP awards that are given out and has been flat out dominant this year. Thomas has lost exactly once this season in the shot (she is SLIGHTLY more beatable in the weight throw) and it took almost 43 feet to beat her and she lost to someone who was not from New York. No other New York athlete has broken 41 feet let alone the 44 foot bomb she unleashed last weekend. With only two athletes holding onto the state standard (Miller Place's Jillian Scully snagged it at the League Championships by two inches), Section XI may only send two athletes in this. If you have a little time while waiting for a different event, take a few minutes to watch Thomas on the far end of the track.
High Jump: There are three girls with the state standard (5'3) and we would think that those three would be the ones getting a spot at the State Meet. Olivia Simonetti from East Islip is likely going to be a major factor in the 4x4 so we are sure she is hoping to have a smooth go at her first few heights. Lauryn Piccirelli from Bay Shore has jumped 5'6 multiple times this season and is a High Jump-only specialist. She will be difficult to beat with Simonetti possibly doing the 4x4 trials prior to her jumps. Half Hollow Hills West Dakota Wang just needs to equal her season best to stay ahead of fourth place and get to the State Meet.
Long Jump: Seven girls have achieved the state standard of 17'2 which is not super surprising because of SCCC's jump friendly pit but the Team Championships may have shown that our top seeds may not be the favorites at the State Qualifier. Two girls have eclipsed 18 feet this season. Stephanie Weiner from Central Islip and Jade Dockery from West Babylon. The "problem" is that they have not jumped over 18 in two months and they were both beaten last week by North Babylon's Norbertude Nerjuste. She jumped a quarter of an inch further than Westhampton Beach's Leslie Samuel did in the Small School Team Championships. If ANYONE in the top seven to eight jumpers has a big day in this, they will be at the state meet.
Triple Jump: Two athletes have achieved the state standard (36'1) and another athlete is tantalizingly close. Walt Whitman's Lizzie Schreiber is 14 inches ahead of Makayla Warrick whom we mentioned earlier in the hurdles. There are three girls within five inches of the state standard. Gabriella Barrett from Half Hollow Hills East, Stephanie Weiner who is the one seed in the Long Jump as well, and Longwood's all-around stud athlete Halli Silberman. If any of them can flow through all three phases and put a great jump together, they could join the top two girls.
Weight Throw: No girls have the standard in the weight throw but we will have a very close battle for second and third. Julie Thomas finds herself in the unfamiliar position of being the second seed. She sits 26 inches behind Kalynn Stevenson from Longwood. Stevenson's teammate, Julia Walcott is right behind Thomas. Can Thomas PR and make states in a second event? Or will Walcott upset the shot put standout?
Pole Vault: Halli Silberman is the only vaulter whom has cleared the state standard (10'0). She is 15 inches ahead of three girls who are locked at 9'6 and in a battle for the second spot. Two athletes need a seasonal best of six inches, otherwise, there will only be two athletes going from this event. Caitlyn Gabrinowitz, Lara Booth Alam and Abby Carberry are the three athletes that have the best chance to come in second.
Race Walk: Three walkers have the state standard (7:28.24) and unless there is an upset, Abby Callinan, Farrah Wengler, and Megan Hoffmann will represent Section XI unless there is a DQ. There have been very few DQ's in Section XI this year so we expect this to hold.
4x200 Relay: There are three excellent teams in this race. North Babylon is the favorite as the only team that has run under 1:48. West Babylon actually finished ahead of them at the Team Championships but cut in too early and were disqualified. North Babylon has been the best in this event since Covid "ended" but West Babylon has been trending the right way. Connetquot was stride-for-stride with North Babylon but a dropped baton ruined their race at the Team Championships. Even if North Babylon wins the race, there is a chance to get a second team to the State Meet. Even if a team does not get the state standard, hopefully they are allowed to chase the standard (1:47.54) after the state qualifier. There is no reason not to.
4x400 Relay: This race is arguably more interesting than the 4x2 and the 4x8 because the top seed, North Babylon, has scratched to focus on the 4x2. East Islip is the next fastest seed and have been running very well as of late. They have the Simonetti sisters and enough strength for the prelims and finals double. Commack has a strong seed and could definitely factor in as a contender in the finals. A team that many will sleep on but has recently gotten one of their most talented athletes back is West Babylon. Last year's team leader and super talent, Kristen Aguilera has been looking excellent lately and she ran a 1:40 in the 600 from a slower heat at the Team Championships. This relay could come down to whomst is the freshest relay for the finals. This should be an extremely exciting race.
4x800 Relay: Northport won this race last year and is the top seed again this year. Two major questions lie with them though: Which four girls will they run? Will they pick the correct lineup? The second question is: can they get far away enough from William Floyd and Zariel Macchia. If Northport does not have a big enough lead on her, she will have a good chance of leading her team to the State Meet. William Floyd has made marked improvements since they ran 9:46 a month ago. Their leadoff leg ran a 3:18 in the 1000 a couple of weeks ago and that may change how close they are to Northport before the anchor leg. Sayville should not be forgotten either. They have been on fire lately and will have fresh legs that could sneak up on people if they take them lightly.