By Christopher Hunt
photos by Tim Fulton
CALEDONIA – As soon as the officials stretched the measuring tape, Sheepshead Bay senior Rolyce Boston came over, peaking over bent shoulders, and went screaming down the runway.
“Oh yeah!!” the sound echoed from the jumping area onto the track.
Boston sprinted down to his bag and put on the t-shirt he picked out in the morning. The one that prophesized his day.
“My PR is History,” the shirt read. Boston turned to his coach with a smile after her soared to his first state federation title at the New York State Championships Saturday at Caledonia-Mumford. Boston jumped 24 feet, 6.50 inches, the best jump by a PSAL athlete in 43 years.
“I felt it,” Boston said. “I felt that one. As soon as I left the board I knew it.”
Boston, who will compete at Iowa Western next year, jumped 24-1 Friday but landed awkwardly on his knee in the pit. He said he never thought about sitting out the final.
“It’s my last state meet,” Boston said. “I wanted this bad. Before that would have killed me mentally. But I just wanted to come out and have fun. My coach (John Padula) always says, always, that there’s no reason to be nervous. I already put in all the work at practice so all I have to do is come out here and have fun.”
In the 1,600, Oregon-bound Chad Noelle rebounded from Friday’s lost in the 3,200 to win the federation championship in 4:11.17. This time the Greene senior didn’t allow the race to come down to a kick.
“I was pissed out of my mind yesterday,” Noelle said. “I haven’t been that pissed in a long time.”
Noelle allowed Warwick Valley’s Tim Luthin to hang around in the 3,200 Friday and paid for it when Luthin outkicked him in the last 100 meters. It was the same way he lost the mile at the Penn Relays in April and the same way he lost the mile at the Millrose Games in February. Saturday, Noelle started making a move with 500 left.
“I wanted to go early,” Noelle said. “I wanted to make it hurt. To be honest, I thought I was going to win yesterday and had less of a chance to win today.”
The move worked out perfectly. Zavon Watkins of Liverpool tried moving up from fourth on the bell lap but Noelle already gained too much separation. Watkins finished second in 4:12.52.
“I know Zavon has a filthy kick,” Noelle said. “I did not want to lost again by a half a step.”
Erasmus senior Shane Green continued his stranglehold on the triple jump, winning his first federation title in 49-5.25. The win almost seemed to take a backseat to Green’s ever-elusive chase for a 50-foot jump. On his winning jump, Green said he took off well behind the board. He later asked an official to measure the jump from his actual takeoff point and the tape reached to 51 feet.
“It’s there,” said Green, who will have another chance at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals next week. “I know I have a big jump in me.”
Amityville’s Sancho Barrett, a Penn State signee, defended his state title in the 110 hurdles. The senior won the Division I title in 14.05 and then returned to win the federation crown in 14.26.
Barrett entered elite company last week at the Section 11 state qualifier when he clocked 13.98.
“I felt good today,” Barrett said. “After state quals, I found out what 13 felt like. Then I came here and won another state championship. It means a lot because it’s been a really rocky senior year for me.”
Middletown’s Mel Mosley won the 400 federation title in 47.75 and though he was disappointed with that result, he made up for it on the relay. Mosley’s 46.0 anchor leg split led the Middies to a federation win in 3:13.98.
Shaker received a monster anchor leg from Christian Delago to win the 4x800 championship in 7:41.47. Delago edged St. John the Baptist anchor Brendan Camenzuli in the final stages for the win. SJB finished second in 7:42.93, a Suffolk County record. The times are the seventh and ninth fastest times in the country, respectively.
Medgar Evers posted its best time of the season in the 4x100, winning in 41.63. Beacon’s Alex Bowden won the high jump championship, clearing 6-8.
100 championship: Josh Trone of Long Beach won the federation title in 10.84. Spring Valley’s Winslow Dorsainvil, who won the D-I title in 10.82, pulled up lame after 70 meters and finished in sixth.
200 championship: Brian Smith of Athena went undefeated in the rounds. The sophomore had his best race in the D-I final, finishing in 21.49. But after a legal tailwind became a slight headwind, he won the federation championship in 22.01.
400 hurdles championship: Bay Shore’s Kadesh Roberts won in 53.80, taking down favorites Joe Payton of Longwood and Clinton’s Jeremiah Obeng Agyapong. Payton lead early but Obeng Agyapong appeared to have the race in hand when he crashed into the eighth hurdle and clipped the ninth. Payton finished second in 53.96 and Obeng Agyapong third in 53.99.
By Christopher Hunt
photos by Tim Fulton
CALEDONIA – As soon as the officials stretched the measuring tape, Sheepshead Bay senior Rolyce Boston came over, peaking over bent shoulders, and went screaming down the runway.