John Jay girls team places second at county championships

Lorelei Schembri finished fourth in the pentathlon for John Jay at the Westchester County Championship meet. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

The best track and field athletes from public and private schools throughout the county gathered to participate in the Westchester County Track and Field championship meet with the first day held at Somers High on May 15, and the second day at Hen Hud on May 16.

Teams had to meet the qualifying standards in order to participate in the large meet with teams from 43 schools participating, and when it was all finished, a number of Fox Lane and John Jay athletes had earned top 10 finishes. Individual champions were Gabriella Ransom of Fox Lane in the javelin, and Sloan Wasserman, who won two titles for John Jay and anchored a relay victory for the Wolves.

When the final points were tallied, the John Jay girls team finished second overall, trailing only champion New Rochelle.

It was the final county championship meet for Wasserman in her senior year, and as usual she did her job to rack up points for John Jay. On the first day, Wasserman dominated once again in the 3,000-meter race, pulling away from the field to win the title with a time of 9:45.77. It was a good event for John Jay overall as the Wolves had four runners finish in the top ten. Senior Emma Barniv was in sixth place, followed by Rylee Guadron in eighth and Brodie Albert in ninth.

Wasserman had to work hard for her title on the second day. She has been far ahead of the field in every race against Section 1 opponents this season, but she was pushed to the limit in the 1,500-meter race with a personal best time of 4:30.46, holding off Horace Greeley’s Malina Santee to win by one second. Mia Haimelin of John Jay was eighth in the event for the Wolves.

Haimelin also earned a third-place finish for John Jay in the 800-meter race, with Lila Rotter in seventh place.

The Wolves distance runners teamed up for another victory in the 4x800 relay event as Barniv, Rotter, Haimelin and Wasserman finished first with a time of 9:43.11.

John Jay also earned points with top six finishers throughout the two-day meet as Lorelei Schembri was busy both days competing in the five-event pentathlon, compiling a final score of 1,903 points to finish fourth.

Abby Meinel of Fox Lane clears a hurdle.

Elyse Hermanto was fourth in the high jump as she cleared the bar at five feet. Hasti Shahdad was fifth in the 1,500-meter racewalk event, and Bluma Klein was sixth in the javelin for the Wolves.

For the John Jay boys team, Rohan Patel led the way with a pair of top ten finishes as he was fourth in the 3,200-meter race and seventh in the 1,600. James Withers-Tinio was third in the javelin with a throw of 142 feet, four inches. Skylar Monasch was fifth in the shot put with a throw of 41 feet, five inches. 

Landon Goodman was eighth in the 400-meter race, and Will Rebori finished eighth in the pentathlon.

The John Jay boys team of Matthew Ebert, Tarun Patel, Rohan Patel and Will George teamed up for an eighth-place finish in the 4x800 relay.

Ransom wins javelin  The highlight of the meet for Fox Lane was turned in by freshman Gabriella Ransom as she won the javelin event with a throw of 101 feet, nine inches. She won the event by more than two feet with her personal best throw, which currently ranks sixth in New York State.

Gabriella Ransom also earned a top-10 finish in the shot put as she was seventh overall.

Fox Lane had a trio of girls finish in the top 10 in the 2,000-meter steeplechase race with Victoria Ransom leading the way in sixth place, followed by her sister Alexandra Ransom in ninth, and Natalie Desforges in tenth.

Abby Meinel was ninth in the 100-meter hurdles for the Foxes.

The Fox Lane boys team was led by Marc Desforges as he finished third in a very competitive 3,200-meter race with a time of 9:37.76.

Laurence Tropea was sixth in the javelin throw, and Santo Cutri was ninth in the shot put for the Foxes.

Pablo Morales finished ninth in the boys pentathlon event, while Joshua Morales was ninth in the high jump.

The track and field Section 1 championships will be held this coming week with John Jay competing in the Class B meet on Wednesday, May 27, at Hen Hud, and Fox Lane competing in the Class A meet on Thursday, May 28, at Suffern.