By Christopher Hunt
HUNTINGTON – Patrick Farmer is a spectacle now. Like a circus act. An event unto itself.
It’s barely five months into his track career and when it took the starting line at the St. Anthony’s Invitational, home turf for the Friars’ senior, the air changed. The rest of the meet stopped. Kids lined the back straightaway and stood up in the bleechers. They stood up in the infield. Those outside the track and pressed against the surrounding gate.
They all expected something great. Farmer did too. And they all gasped with the starter’s pistol blew and roared when Farmer tore the back straight to shreds then rounded the bend like an avalanche, cruising to a win in the 400 meters in 47.39. But Farmer expected what everyone else did, something more than just good. He already ran a state-leading 47.25 two weeks ago at New York Relays.
“Wait, I didn’t PR?” he asked, frustrated when he heard the time.
That was the rookie in him. Farmer couldn’t understand why every race he ran couldn’t be the fastest he had ever run. It’s the same mentality that’s driven Farmer to become on of the best quarter-milers in the country only a few months after Olivia Abbate, a hurdler on the girls team, convinced St. Anthony’s coach Tim Dearie that Farmer, a soccer player, could be the fastest kid on the track team.
So far Farmer, who will run at Virginia next year, has quickly earned a reputation and a following, enough so that he feels a spotlight on him when he races.
“It’s pretty cool,” Farmer said. “It gives me a lot of energy.”
But the energy wasn’t enough to sustain Farmer in the last 50 meters of his race which costs him the sub-47 400 meters he searched for. It irritated him. Roosevelt’s Dale McDonald was second in 48.43.
“I’m not satisfied at all,” Farmer said. “I wanted to run under 47.”
Longwood senior Justin Williams was satisfied though, and soon he may start to draw his own crowd by the jump pit. Williams found himself in one of the deepest triple jump fields in the country, one that supposed to be controlled by Bay Shore’s Brandon Hutchinson or Copiague’s Tyrek English or even by teammate Dannie Holland or by his cousin Victor Drew of Amityville.
But the competition belonged to Williams. It started with Williams popping a 48-foot, 1-inch leap that was nearly two feet beyond his personal best. English answered with a 48-5 jump to take the lead. Then Williams responded with a 49-5.25 flight, the best mark in New York State this season and the ninth-best in the country.
“I remember the hop being way out there, then my step was way out there,” Williams said. “I knew when I landed that I was out there.”
Williams was almost three feet farther than the personal best he set at a dual meet Tuesday (46-6) and almost six feet farther than he jumped last year.
“I didn’t think 49 today but I knew he could jump 48,” Longwood coach Joe Reilly said. “He’s always had great technique. He just didn’t have the strength. Justin is one of those kids that’s just blossoming.”
English bettered his personal best finishing second in 48-5.75, the state’s second best and Holland placed third at 47-6.50. Hutchinson, who jumped 49-1 indoors, couldn’t keep his best attempts legal and finished sixth.
English though, had been nursing a sore hamstring after his day at the Bob Pratt Invitational, where he cleared 7-0 in the high jump and won the triple jump (47-10.5) and long jump (22-8). The senior finished second in the long jump Friday in 23-9.5 and was competing in the long jump during the triple jump. English beat Williams with less misses in the high jump. They both cleared 6-4.
English mostly struggled in the triple jump as well, despite the personal best. He fouled three straight attempts after his first jump, all of which his jump stalled on his second phase and forced him to run through the pit.
“I was thinking about my injury too much,” he said. “Maybe the hype of everyone clapping got me too excited down the runway. I just need to calm down and pay attention to myself.”
English is as raw an athlete as a person can see at a track meet, carried by natural strength and explosive leaping ability more than sound technique. He was frustrated after the long jump Friday after he fouled what could have been a 24-foot jump. English couldn’t find consistency in the triple yet his jump is the second-best in the state behind Williams, and he still feels like he can raise the bar in the high jump.
“I know I have the potential to jump 7-2 at least,” he said.
Matt Granata of Levittown didn’t allow English and Williams to take a scorching day at St. Anthony’s and turn it into a career day. Granata led the 800 throughout and contained St. Anthony’s Payton Hazzard’s devastating finishing kick to win the 800 in a personal best 1:54.25. Hazzard finished second in 1:54.26. Their times are the third and fourth best times in the state this season, respectively. For Granata, it was essentially a debut at the distance.
Even still he controlled the pace for 600 meters and waited while Hazzard geared up for his kick. Hazzard pressured Granata around the last curve and they went shoulder-to-shoulder down the home stretch and Granata gained just enough advantage to win.
“I’ve raced against him before and I knew he had that kick,” said Granata, who accepted a scholarship to the University of Connecticut. “I just wanted to stay relaxed and not panic. I just tried to hold him off.”
Ward Melville’s Quinn Raseman cruised to a win in the 3,200 in 9:35.84. Raseman, who signed with Iona, stayed in a bunching pack for most of the race until he decided to break free and float across the finish line. It’s been part of Raseman’s plan to not exert himself early in the season. He’ll probably have his first fast race of the year next week at the North Shore Invitational where he should race Port Washington’s Marco Bertolotti in the mile. Bertolotti ran 4:11.14 at Penn Relays.
“It’s the same plan I had during cross country and indoors,” Raseman said. “I don’t like to have a lot of races early. Right now I’m feeling fresh as a daisy. I know that this works for me so I’m ready to go.”
Bellport’s Jaquan Holland won the 100 in 10.69 and the 200 in 21.69. In both races he held off Westbury’s Darnelle Mickens. Holland is known as a 400-runner but said he started to grown tired with the event and knew he needed a change.
“I was getting mentally and physically exhausted with the 400,” said Holland, who is considering Syracuse and Howard. “My coach and I wanted to try something different. I always saw myself as a 200 runner. The 100 was kind of for fun.”
Amityville’s Sancho Barrett won the 110 hurdles in 14.47.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.