John Jay's Barniv leads the pack at championship meet

Emma Barniv on her way to victory in the 3,000-meter race with teammate Rylee Gaudron right behind her. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JiM MACLEAN 

After missing most of the indoor track season due to illness, John Jay senior Emma Barniv is feeling well again, and she was determined to run a good race in her final season on the home track as the Wolves hosted the first day of the League H championship meet on May 4.

Barniv burst to the lead at the start and never looked back in the girls 3,000-meter race, pulling away from the field to win the league title with a time of 10:32.16. She made it look easy, cruising to the victory.

“I feel amazing, I had a bad indoor season, the flu knocked me out for a few weeks, so it feels great to be back out here running at full strength,” Barniv said. “This is coming off a 20-second P.R. for me on Friday in the 3K, so I really wanted to win this one.”

With Barniv leading the way, the 3,000 proved to be a big race for the Wolves overall as five of the top ten finishers were from John Jay. Brodie Albert was second, Rylee Gaudron was fourth, Megan Krebs was sixth, and her sister Charlotte Krebs was right behind in seventh.

Barniv wasn’t done yet as she returned at the end of the day to run with the 4x800 meter relay team for John Jay that also finished first. Albert started it off, followed by Barniv, Lila Rotter ran the third leg, and Mia Haimelin ran the anchor leg to close out the victory for John Jay with a time of 10:10.16.

It was a good day overall for the John Jay girls as the Wolves were in first place heading into the second day of the meet taking place on Wednesday, May 6, at Brewster.

Elyse Hermanto was also a winner for the John Jay girls as she won the high jump event, clearing the bar at 4’8” to finish first. It was a clean sweep for John Jay in the event of the top three places as Helena Schembri was second, followed by her sister Lorelei Schembri in third place.

Helena Schembri clears a hurdle for the Wolves.

It was a busy day on the track as usual for the Schembri sisters competing in multiple events. Helena followed up her second place finish in the high jump with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Helena was also third in the shot put, followed by Sophia Calandros in fifth place, Lorelei Schembri in sixth, and Charlotte Ruppenstein in eighth for the Wolves.

Other top 10 finishers for the John Jay girls team to help them take the lead included Kaylee Jean in second place in the triple jump followed by Lily Parker in third, and four Wolves were in the top 10 in the 400-meter race with Kelsey Topey in fourth, Blume Klein in sixth, Penelope Wein in eighth, and Fidella Swana in 10th.

Boys were winners, too

For the John Jay boys, Rohan Patel provided the highlight as he turned in a big kick on the final lap to win the 3,200-meter race with a time of 9:54.61. Patel was in third place when he burst to the lead and kicked his way to the finish line to win the league title. Teammate Matthew Ebert was in fourth place for the Wolves.

“I heard everyone cheering, I looked back and saw where they were and then I knew I could celebrate at the end,” Patel said of his big finish. “The plan going in was to start slow the first few laps and then kick in the last lap, and I think I did that pretty well. I was surprised the gap was that large, I went and expected them to come with me, but they didn’t.”

Patel then helped the boys 4x800 relay team finish second as he teamed up with Ebert, Landon Goodman and Will George for the Wolves.

Goodman was second in the boys 400-meter race, with teammate Nicolai Elias in fourth place. In the triple jump, Joseph Lorenzini finished fourth followed by teammate Haolin Li in fifth place. Li was also fifth in the 110 hurdles, followed by Eric Gleacher in fifth place.

Nicholas Candia was fourth in the discus, with Cody Leska-Kent in sixth, and Alexander Williams was sixth in the high jump.