The thing about being chased is, sometimes you get caught. But, as Holy Trinity’s Logan Daley found out Saturday afternoon, sometimes you don’t. Daley, coming off a victory in the 200 meters less than half an hour prior, shot immediately towards the front of the 100 at the CHSAA Intersectional track and field championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.
And, as much as St. Joseph by the Sea’s Samantha Walz tried, she couldn’t catch up to Daley. The junior won in 12.18 seconds, fighting off a closing Waltz in the final 20 meters. Walz ran 12.36 and was second.
“I got out really hard,” Daley said. “Towards the end, I was getting tired because I had just finished the 200. But I just held my form and made sure that I finished upright and tall.”
As important as the finishing steps were, Daley won the race with an absolute explosion at the gun.
“For me, that’s the most important part of my race — the start and the first 50 meters,” she said.
She took the 200 in 24.70 seconds, again topping a closely-matched Walz, who was second in 24.81.
Daley’s wins qualified her for the state championships, scheduled for June 9-10 at Middletown High School.
St. Anthony’s, the dominant girls track program in the CHSAA, proved it again with a 64-point triumph in the team competition. Archbishop Molloy was second with 34.
St. Anthony’s Riley Griffith won the 1,500 in 4:47.66, outpacing Our Lady of Mercy’s Kayla Hawkins on the final lap. Hawkins was second in 4:49.75. The two faced off against each other in the same race at the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA League Championships last weekend, with Hawkins winning in 4:48.8 at a rainy St. Anthony’s.
Griffith said last week’s race — in addition to many prior matchups — helped her prepare to face Hawkins in, to this point, the biggest race of their season.
“I knew we would probably even split and it would come down to a sprint-off,” said Griffith. “Which, it essentially did. I think that prior knowledge made me tell myself that it was all going to come down to the last lap. If I pushed hard enough on the first three, I’m going to give myself an opportunity to have a decent kick left in me.”
St. Anthony’s swept the relays, winning the 4X100 meters in 49.08, the 4X4 in 4:04.59, and the 4X8 in 9:53.09. Lauren Lynch cleared 10 feet to win the pole vault and Maria Chiariello won the shot put (36-1) and discus (132-0). Chiariello, who said her discus throw was a more than 10-foot personal best, was named Field MVP of the meet.
Sacred Heart’s Brigid Byrnes won the 400 hurdles (1:03.91), 100 hurdles (15.60) and the long jump (17-5 ½) and was named Track MVP of the meet.