Powers, Johnson score gold at Suffern's Mountie Madness track meet

[ASFN Admin]

SUFFERN — Fifty schools participated Thursday in Suffern's annual Mountie Madness track and field invitational, which served as a reminder Section 1 doesn't have a patent on talent.

It's not that area athletes were shut out of gold medals. The meet, for instance, ended with host Suffern winning the girls 4x400-meter relay and Section 1 athletes recorded 15 first-place finishes.

But three of four relays went to non-Section 1 teams and some of the meet's biggest moments — a 5-9 girls high jump and 19-4.5 girls long jump, included — also belonged to athletes from outside the immediate area.

Still, Mountie Madness proved huge for some locals, including Haldane's Owen Powers.

The senior, who'll compete for Brandeis University next year, knew, based on entry times, he'd be the favorite in the boys 3,000-meter steeplechase.

But that, as he saw it, was going to be the problem — a lack of close competition. As it was, his closest competition finished more than half a minute behind him.

But motivated in part by a large cheering section, Powers knocked more than 31 seconds off his previous personal-best time to finish in 9:43.86, the U.S. high school No. 12 time and New York No. 7 time among high school competitors this season.


Besides supporters, Powers also pointed to maturing as a runner as a contributing factor in his performance.

"I'm mentally so much better. I'm better able to push myself so much better," he said.

He noted he entered the race merely hoping to go sub-10 minutes.

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"Going over the final barrier and seeing 9:35 on the clock kind of shocked me," Powers said.

Now he'll have to decide what to run at the state championships. He wants to do the 3,200 but the 1,600, a favorite distance of his, and the steeple are on the same day, meaning, because of their distances, he'll likely have to forego one to have a shot at a big performance.

Nyack's Jayda Johnson a double winner​

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Nyack junior Jayda Johnson will face a similar decision.

She ran a personal-best 24.94, breaking 25 seconds for the first time — to win the girls 200. She later clocked 1:03.82 to capture the girls 400 hurdles.

"It's a really big deal to me. I've been working on this goal since freshman year, so breaking it here, this part of the season, really means a lot," Johnson said of getting under 25 seconds

While she didn't run the event Thursday, Johnson is in the top 10 statewide in the girls open 400.

Of what she'll do at the state championships, she remarked, "A little cloudy right now. I'm not too sure. But as it gets closer to the end of the season, I'll decide on that."

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Boys 1,600 doesn't disappoint; girls 4x400 to Suffern's liking​

The boys 1,600 turned into no less than an all-star race.

North Rockland's Claudel Chery, who recently committed to compete for Georgetown, once again showed off a kick that few runners this season have been able to answer, although Clarkstown South's Joe Price gave it a good try.

Chery ran a personal-best 4:14.96 for the win. In fact, the first four finishers, who'd been in a breakaway pack almost from the starting gun, ran personal-best times.

Price, who'll run for Stonehill College next year, clocked 4:15.64 for second. Junior Seamus Taylor of Long Island's Northport High ran 4:16.23 for third and North Rockland's N.C. State-bound Ryan Tuohy ran 4:16.53 for fourth.

Suffern (Mianjel Lindsey, Grace Delaney, Sydney Fleming and Avi Sanon) clocked a collective 4:01.19 for the girls 4x400 relay win. The closest team was Tappan Zee, which was more than five-and-a-half seconds back in the 24-team event.

Other winners​

Boys 100: Pine Bush's Zyair Reaves (10.94)

Girls 100: Valley Central's Dayna Scott (12.05)

Girls 100 hurdles: Cornwall's Madison Riccardi (14.86)

Boys 110 hurdles: Albertus Magnus' Heath Miller (14.74)

Boys 200: Warwick Valley's Luke Beattie (personal-best 21.53)

Girls 200: Nyack's Jayda Johnson (personal-best 24.84)

Boys 400: Pearl River's JD Lloyd McKenna (personal-best 49.4)

Girls 400: Ramapo's Dana Beckford (personal-best 58.23)

Boys 400 hurdles: Albertus Magnus' Heath Miller (56.91)

Boys 800: Dobbs Ferry's Chris Doherty (personal-best 1:54.97)

Girls 800: Monroe-Woodbury's Olivia Heim (personal-best 2:10.49 edges Tappan Zee's Bridget Dunn, personal-best 2:11.34)

Girls 1,500: Northport's Fiona King (personal-best 4:40.52 edges Nyack's Hannah Delaney, personal-best 4:40.67)

Girls 2,000-meter steeplechase: Saranac's Sienna Boulds (7:09.22)

Boys high jump: Pine Bush's Jack Fowler (6-2, edging Warwick Valley's Quenten Liciaga, also 6-2)

Girls high jump: Minisink Valley's Ella Michelitch (5-9)

Boys long jump: North Rockland's Carlos Eliezer (23-8.5, edges Jake Tarrant of Suffern's personal-best 23-2)

Girls long jump: Liverpool's Maddie Devendorf (personal-best and current NY No. 3 19-4.5)

Boys triple jump: Sleepy Hollow's Gilbert Onwe (personal-best 46-6. Ramapo's DaVonte Brown second in PB 45-10)

Girls triple jump: Cornwall's Madison Riccardi (personal-best and 2026 girls NY No. 3 39-7)

Boys pole vault: Warwick Valley's Carter Griffin (13-6)

Boys discus: Bronxville's Zijun Xu (157-10)

Girls discus: Kingston's Tiffany Hajba (117-6)

Boys shot put: Clarkstown South' Connor Sullivan (57-9.75)

Girls shot put: Hastings' Danae Morgan (36-4.5)

Boys 4x100 relay: Minisink Valley (42.72, edging Nyack, 42.98)

Girls 4x100 relay: Valley Central (48.67)

Boys 4x400 relay: Washingtonville (3:20.63, edging Newburgh Free Academy, 3:20.67, and Valley Central (3:20.69)

Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Powers, Johnson score gold at Suffern's Mountie Madness track meet

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