BOYS STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Section claims six more track titles
Anderson, Tsembelis flirt with 1,600 mark
CICERO — How did the Section VI record in the 1,600 meters survive this year’s New York State Track and Field Championships? That is what Evan Tsembelis of Grand Island and Scott Anderson of East Aurora want to know.
Charlie Kern of Sweet Home has held the record at 4 minutes, 13.07 seconds for 22 years. On Saturday both athletes took a run at it with Tsembelis finishing fourth in the Division I race in 4:13.24 while Anderson won the Division II title in 4:13.96.
“Those were the two fastest miles we’ve seen in Western New York in quite a few years,” said Grand Island coach Don Sauer.
Those performances capped another record-setting, title-claiming day for Section VI as the meet concluded at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. Temperatures in the mid-70s greeted the athletes from the state’s 11 sections.
Although he didn’t win, Tsembelis did break the school record in his last high school race before he heads off to Columbia. He ran a negative split in the finest race of his career, clocking a 2:08 after the first 800 and a 2:05 in the second.
“The field is so good and so deep, you’re bound to pick it up in the second half,“ said Tsembelis. “I’m kind of bummed. It was really close. It was just bad luck I guess. I got tied up with about 50 meters left. I tried to keep going and pushing it but I probably slowed down.”
As well as both ran in the 1,600, there was no keeping up with junior Alex Hatz of Fayetteville-Manlius, who won the race in a state-record 4:06.11.
Tsembelis said he made a move with about 250 meters left that put him into second place, a move he said he later regretted after being passed by two runners in the last 100 to finish fourth.
What a meet it was for Anderson, who was coming off Friday’s dramatic win in the 3,200 in which he broke the Section VI record.
Section VI’s boys and girls combined to win 20 state titles and break six Section VI records. Besides Anderson’s, Saturday’s other boys state titles were won by Rhakeem Wiggins of Cleveland Hill in the Division II 200, Will Cole of Hamburg in the Federation 400 hurdles, Lyle O’Brien of East Aurora in the Division II steeplechase, Adrian Dawson of East in the Division II high jump and Chris Buck of Frontier in the Federation shot put.
Cole capped an amazing career defending his state (Friday) and Federation (Saturday) titles in the 400 hurdles. He is the Section VI record holder and winner of state titles in three consecutive years.
Wiggins rebounded from a disappointing finish in the 100 to win the 200 in 22.12. Wiggins was the top seed going into the 100 final, but he slipped badly coming out of the blocks and placed third in 11.20. He said the person holding his blocks was wearing flip-flops instead of sneakers.
“I was too focused at redeeming myself from the 100,” said Wiggins, who is headed to the University of Albany to play football. “Flip-flops aren’t tied to your foot, so they’re unstable. There was nothing I could do about it. I was definitely motivated to win the 200. The 200 is my event.”
Wiggins’ teammate, Nick Campfield, placed second in the 100 in 11.04 and shared deeply in Wiggins’ disappointment.
“I feel bad for him. That’s my teammate, I love him to death. I think he got jerked,” said Campfield. “The guy who won [Darnell Cummings of IIMillbrook], he’s got a long stride. If I was a little bit taller [he’s 5-foot-7] I think I could have kept up with him.
East Aurora’s O’Brien turned in his personal best by five seconds in the Division II steeplechase, finishing in 9:43.14. He was chasing the school record of 9:38. On Friday he ran a solid race in the 3,200.
“I don’t feel too bad [after Friday’s 3,200],” he said. “We did a lot of recovery last night so I figured I would be OK. It definitely caught up to me. I didn’t leave anything behind in the 3,200.”
Dawson of East brought home a state title to the Scalp & Blade after he cleared 6 feet, 4 inches in the high jump.
Buck had a big day in the shot put circle, winning the Federation title with a throw of 57-1. In Friday’s Division I public schools final he managed 55-2z, which placed him third.
Grand Island’s 4x400 relay of Jordan Gibson, Shaun Winter, Chris Stressing and Tsembelis placed second in Division I in a school-record 3:27.45.
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