While New York is finding some of the worst weather April has had in years, the competition was hot down in the Caribbean. There, at the CARIFTA Games, some of New York's stars were back home representing their home countries, and making the Empire State proud.
It was a Indoor State Meet rematch over the 100m, where Sariah Doresca (Baldwin), representing Haiti, took on Athaleyha Hinckson (Medgar Evers) representing Guyana. Doresca had taken down the prior State Leader at Indoor States, tying the Meet Record with her new PR of 6.86, over Hinckson's 6.90. Tight as ever.
The trials of the 100m saw the two stars split heats. Doresca found herself up first, running in Heat 2. She would take fourth in her heat at 11.72 (-0.9m/s), which corrects to an 11.66 with no wind. Hinckson was up next, in the final heat, where she had a more favorable wind of +1.0m/s. Hinckson took the heat in a photo finish at 11.70, which corrects to 11.76 with no wind. The matchup was set, as both made the finals, Doresca grabbing the final slot at eight overall.
In the Finals, tensions were high. The favorite was DQ'ed after a blatant false start, and it put the whole field on edge. The gun went off, and Hinckson's start was less than ideal. Doing work much of the race to get back in, she gained on the field, but ran out of space. She crossed the line in fourth, just off the podium, while Doresca took seventh.
With a legal wind of +0.3, Hinckson ran 11.54 to take fourth. Doresca's time in the prelims bettered her PR from last year by 0.04.
Hinckson's mark is now the second fastest time ever run by a New York athlete. It also betters the PSAL Record set by Kiera Davis (Hillcrest) last year, when she ran 10.57 with the max allowable wind. Wind plays a major role in record keeping for the sprints, as finding the right conditions can sometimes be the most challenging component. The All-Conditions NYS Record is held by another Guyanese athlete from Medgar Evers, Brenessa Thompson, when she ran 11.34 (+2.7) to take the silver at New Balance Nationals in 2014.
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Elsewhere, Indoor State Champion, and Doresca's teammate, Breanne Barnett (Baldwin), matched her teammate, albeit representing Haiti. She placed fourth overall in the 400m with a 54.20, after running 55.01 earlier in the day.
The 200m semi's are expected to run tomorrow, with the finals coming on Monday.
Gold In The Distance
After Silver last year, Gold was all that was left to strive for for Indoor State Champ D'Angelo Brown (Xavier). Last year, he took home second place in the 800m at CARIFTA, running a then-personal best. That was after he had taken 5th overall in the 1500m to warmup for the weekend.
Consider it no longer a warmup. Brown controlled the race this time, opening up a big lead on the final turn, cracking 4mins for the first time in the 1500m, and winning the overall gold. His time of 3:58.96 was good enough to win in a sprint finish.
Brown wasn't the only native New Yorker. Freshman State Record Holder for 500m, Aisha Wajid (Dewitt-Clinton) was busy in the girls section, taking silver in 4:45.20.
The 800m is expected to run on Monday, where Brown is one of the favorites.