SOMERS — There was a time not long ago that Scarsdale was recognized in running as a long-distance school.
That skill hasn’t evaporated. But if there was any doubt that the Raiders’ abilities have expanded, that was answered Friday at Somers High School during the first day of the Westchester County Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Scarsdale won the premier sprint event in both boys and girls — the 100-meter dash.
That was part of a day of, if not upsets, then some surprises.
Some were fueled by the absence of athletes sitting at the top of their events this season.
Three major names — Ursuline’s Jane Hickey (the state’s top runner at both 400 and 800 meters and No. 2 in the country in the 800 this season), Iona Prep’s Michael Rynne (third at last year’s counties in the 3,200 and third in the state this year in the 3,000) and Hen Hud’s Victor Delgado (third last year at counties in the 1,600) — are out for the season with injuries.
Also missing was Mamaroneck’s Mark Lebowitz, who’s currently second in the state on the season in the boys 400. He missed the meet due to illness but is expected to return for other meets.
The absences opened some doors Friday and will open additional ones Saturday, during the meet’s second and final day at Hen Hud.
But that hardly cheapened Friday’s performances, many of the top ones equaling personal-best efforts.
Scarsdale senior Labrowne Brown, for instance, ran a personal-best 10.83, overtaking Stepinac’s Ian Thomas (10.87) right before the finish to win the boys 100-meter title.
A blink later, his teammate, junior Alice Nicassio, clocked 12.39 to win the girls 100.
Brown said Scarsdale’s sprinting program started building his freshman year. Now the rewards are being reaped.
He credited the Raiders’ coaching staff, in particular assistant coach Carlos Bedoya, for the transformation.
“We just believe in coach Bedoya… We stuck it out to the end and you can see his training has worked perfectly for us,” Brown said, citing his results and those of Nicassio and teammate Jake Saxon, who won the boys 110-meter hurdles in a personal-best 14.65.
“We believe in his training program, even though sometimes it would kill us and sometimes we’d be dying on the field, you could see it work and it helped us do what we did today,” Brown said.
Twins go 1-2 in hurdles
Alivia and Alexis Smith left the first day of the championships with something to consider.
Exactly, where would their respective gold and silver medals be displayed at home?
The New Rochelle twins took first and second in the girls 100-meter hurdles Friday at Somers High School with Alivia winning in 14.86 and Alexis less than a second behind in a personal-best 15.76.
The two began hurdling in seventh grade, attracted in part by its technical demands.
Alexis’s time vaulted her from No. 7 in Section 1 to No. 4, while Alivia holds the top time in the section at 14.57, which is currently No. 9 for the season among high school girls in New York.
But neither is satisfied.
Alivia hopes to slash her time to 14.3 and Alexis wants to break 15.
RCDS’s Richardson, Lakeland/Panas’s Simpson win 400s in personal-best times
Rye Country Day junior Payton Richardson and Scarsdale junior Adriana Pettinelli battled start to finish line in the girls 400 with both running personal-best times.
Richardson took gold in 56.23 and Pettinelli crossed in 56.72. Those times are No. 9 and No. 15 among high school girls in New York this season.
Panas senior Gianni Simpson, who runs for Lakeland/Panas and will compete next year for SUNY-Cortland, only had to wait essentially less than a minute.
But as minutes go, it might have seemed like a very long one.
Simpson ran a personal-best 50.45 to win his heat. That was the fastest time of 10 heats. But he couldn’t celebrate with one more heat — the theoretically faster heat — still to run.
And so he watched and hoped. When he saw the heat’s winning time appear on the board, he could smile.
So close. … Next time
Charlie Sullivan is one of the best hammer throwers in state history, sitting No. 5 all-time.
He might have moved up a notch with his final throw Friday, but it wasn’t measured.
Sullivan, who sits No. 1 in the country for the season at 238-3, unleashed a throw he and onlookers believed had every inch of at least 240 feet. The problem was it landed a foot outside the sector, meaning it didn’t count.
Sullivan, whose mood swung from elation to resignation, nevertheless won the county title at 223-10. To put that in perspective, with 27 other athletes also throwing, the runner-up, Mamaroneck’s Zach Miller, threw a personal-best 163-6.
“Next time,” Sullivan promised.
Video and more results will be added to this file tonight.
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Scarsdale wins both 100s at Westchester, twins 1-2 in hurdles