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2015 STATEN ISLAND CHAMPIONSHIP
An event-by-event breakdown
Heading into the season, the coaching staff felt confident that the
team could contend for a S.I. Championship.
This was a goal from the previous year and
certainly was the goal throughout the
off-season conditioning. After some success
in the early portion of the season, the team
kind of hit a lull during the Christmas
vacation with sub-par performances.
Following the vacation, the team re-grouped
for a solid 2 weeks to prepare for the S.I.
Champs.
Things started to turn at the Millrose
Trials, held on the Wed before the Islands.
The Varsity 4x800 pulled off a huge shocker.
After barely making the seeded section by 2
tenths of a second and 13 seconds behind the
team ranked 6th; the Vikings turned in a
tremendous effort with a seasonal best time
of 8:13.83 FAT and clinched the final
qualifier spot for the Millrose finals - our
9th time qualifying for the Millrose Games.
Our 4x200, smashed the school record yet
again, with a Top 20 NYS ranked time of
1:33.32 FAT. Sea now owned the fastest 4x800
& 4x200 relays on Staten Island.
After a great week leading up to the Islands
& a meet break-down & "pump-up"
meeting...the team was ready to go! The
expectation was to be patient with our
balance throughout the meet and know that if
we were going to win; we would be trailing
throughout the early stages of the meet.
Below is an event-by-event breakdown of the
2015 Staten Island Championship.
(Photos by Derek Alvez/S.I. Advance)
First Event - 3200
Our athlete predictions were right
on in the first event. Julio Ruiz-Gomez of
Farrell, the S.I. XC Champion won the race
as expected and Junior Robbie Guidicipietro
held off a flurry of challengers to claim
2nd place and 8 big points to start off the
day. Both Wagner & Farrell would add a
second scorer to their totals.
Score: Wagner - 11, Farrell - 10, Sea -
8, MSIT - 2
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Second Event - 55 HH
In somewhat of a surprise, multi-talented senior Justin Mirfield of MSIT
was entered in the 55 HH. This would become a challenge to our hurdlers
but since we prided ourselves on our balance & having a scorer in every
event we knew that this might open up another event for us. Our hurdlers
has struggled throughout the early part of the season & this would be
their opportunity to step up. All 4 hurdlers set PR's and came through
in a big way. Senior Tom Geoghegan & Sohp Kyle Sinclair masterfully
juggled the TJ & 55 HH trials/finals en route to a 3rd & 4th place
finish which was ahead of expectations while adding 10 points.
Score: Wagner - 20, Sea - 18, MSIT - 14,
Farrell - 10
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Third Event - Triple Jump
Despite having to compete in two events at the same time; our TJ'ers had
a nice day at the pit. Kyle Sinclair set a PR of 39'-3" trailing only
Liam Vogt '12 as #2 on the Soph TJ All-Time list. Tom Geoghegan just
missed a PR and would take 4th place. The team would add 10 pts to our
point totals. MSIT, who would score heavily in the 3 jumpin events were
on their way by finishing in 1st, 2nd and 5th place.
Score: MSIT - 34, Sea - 28, Wagner - 20,
Farrell - 11
Fourth Event - 1000
Junior Nick Velez was called out at the team meeting on the day before
the Islands for his race toughness. He would be asked to compete in the
1000, while saving as much energy as he could, and then double up in the
1600. He would execute his first event with relative ease moving at the
bell and winning the 1000 rather easily. The clock was on to recover &
stay fresh his 1600 which was only 55 minutes away. And after Velez's
victory, the Vikings took the lead for the first time!
Score: Sea - 38, MSIT - 35, Wagner - 22,
Farrell - 21
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Fifth Event - Shot Put
Brandon Prato had been known for his excellent throwing in the shot as a
frosh & soph and had developed more into a discus thrower since then. He
ahd won the S.I. discus title as a soph & junior. With a thrower from
each of the Top 4 teams (MSIT, Farrell, Wagner & Sea) separated by a few
inches this event was wide open. Brandon was up to the challenge & then
some! His 47'-2.25" represented a 3 foot PR and gave us a victory in the
event while adding a big 10 pts to the team!
Score: Sea - 48, MSIT - 37, Wagner - 32,
Farrell - 30
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Sixth Event - 55 meter dash
When the S.I. Advance ran its Islands Preview in the paper; there was no
mention of Junior Garth Ikomi, who won the S.I. title in the 100 meter
dash last outdoor season. That would only motivate Ikomi who would
record a PR in the trials and entered the final as the #1 seed. He would
live up to the seed by winning in the finals as well. This is the 2nd
time in the last 3 year's that Sea has won the 55 meter dash which is
certainly a feather in Coach Raboy's hat. The team would add 10 more
points and won 3 consecutive events! More importantly, our main
competition, MSIT & Farrell scored 0 in the event.
Score: Sea - 58, MSIT - 37, Wagner - 32,
Farrell - 30
Seventh Event - Long Jump
With MSIT's Justin Mirfield opting to compete in the 55 HH, the
benefits of that mvoe would be felt in the LJ. We had projected a 3rd
and 4th place finish and moved up to 2nd and 3rd w/o Mirfield. Joe Somma
would get back on the ball in the LJ by jumping over 20 feet for the 2nd
time in his career despite competing in the 300 meter trials 20 minutes
before the LJ. Michael Italiano, who re-joined the team just before the
Christmas break would come through big. Depsite sitting on two fouls,
all he had to do was hit the board and he would easily make the finals.
That may sound alot easier said then done..but he was able to get a mark
and popped a 19'.75" on his final jump in the trials..which also was a
PR. In an event we expected MSIT to dominate, MSIT would go 1-4 and Sea
would go 2-3 which in essence was a 14-14 tie for the event and
neutralized MSIT. We would start to get some distance from Farrell &
Wagner but we knew that Farrell had a big event in the PV and more
potential down the road.
Score: Sea - 72, MSIT - 51, Wagner - 32,
Farrell - 32
Eighth Event - 1600
Sometimes when you go "all-in" to win a championship you have to take
risks. After only a 55 minute rest after his win in the 1000, we needed
a scorer in the 1600 so we called on Nick Velez. Those on the team know
how tough Nick Velez is and we told him before the race to put the team
on his back. He would face a fresh Juan Guzman of Wagner, Julio
Ruiz-Gomez of Farrell who previously won the 3200 with ease and MSIT's
Joseph Espinoza. Nick would fight valiantly throughout the race and
showed no effects of his previous race. In an exciting last 200 meters
he would close a huge gap on Guzman & run out of real estate settling
for second place. Just past the halfway point in the meet, the team has
a 25 point lead.
Score: Sea - 80, MSIT - 55, Wagner - 42,
Farrell - 38
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Ninth Event - 600 meters
As expected Dennis Farley of St. Peter's won the race with relative ease
and the race was for the back-scoring places. Farrell would add a big 10
pts by finishing in 3rd & 4th place. Rob Ruspantini, coming off of a big
lead-off leg at the Millrose Trials simply had an off day after going
out hard through the first 150 meters and faded to 6th place.
Score: Sea - 81, MSIT - 57, Farrell - 48,
Wagner - 42
Tenth Event - 300 meters
With the team needing a jolt heading into the final three events, the
300 final was lining up on the track. Last weekend, Joe Somma was
diagnosed with bronchitis which he had been suffering with for some
time. He sounded awful on Mobday and was sent home erarly from practice.
He started to look & feel better on Wed and ran a solid lead-off time of
23.0 at the Millrose Trials. Somma confidently wanted to race in the 300
the day before the meet so we halted any adjsutments since he got sick.
He raced the 300 trials hard and set a big PR so he had the priority
lane going into the final. In the final, the got out more conservatively
then usual. At the 150 mark, halfwayh in the race, he put in a huge
surge in fornt of the loud & raucous Sea team and worked the final turn
hard to take the lead, a lead that he held onto in the end in a tight
finish. This was a huge upset as he defeated the #1 and #2 seeds in the
race.
Score: Sea - 91, MSIT - 57, Farrell - 52,
Wagner - 42
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Eleventh Event - High Jump
The high jump was a relatively weak event for us heading into the season
and an event with Alex Gargiso '13 was able to be a real asset for us
while being home on winter break. Jordan Daniels had set a PR earlier in
the season of 5'-8" thanks to Gargiso's help. This would be MSIT's last
big scoring event as we had projected them to score 20 pts in each of
the 3 jumping events. As expected, MSIT would score big by going 1st,
2nd and tied for 6th and added 19.5 pts to their team. Jordan Daniels
had an off day by jumping 5'-4, still palcing 5th and added 2 pts to the
team. Michael DiBiase, who had to compete in the PV & the high jump at
the same exact time showed true maturity by handling this with ease. He
would take a vault, then go high jump, & back to the vault. He jumped a
personal best of 5'-8" and would place 3rd.
Score: Sea - 99, MSIT - 75.5, Farrell - 52.5,
Wagner - 42
Twelfth Event - Pole Vault
After Farrell's Luke Ammiratti, our Michael DiBiase could've finished
anywhere from 2nd to 4th place. Depsite competing in the high jump as
well, he did better then his #3 seed and finished in 2nd place tying his
PR of 12 feet. Farrell would score big in this event, as predicted, but
DiBiase would add 8 big points, Heading into the relays, Sea would have
a 30 point lead with three events to go.
Score: Sea - 107, MSIT - 77.5, Farrell - 73.5,
Wagner - 42
Thirteenth Event - 4x800 Relay
The coaching staff met to discuss what to do with the 4x800 relay. Mateo
Velez, who held off Molloy for the 6th and final spot at Millrose
earlier in the week was sick. He was sick & absent from school for the
previous two days. With the meet on the line, we needed a scoring relay
in each of the events that were left. It was decided to race Mateo in
the hopes he can keep us in the race. Capt Danny Rosenbauer handed off
in 2nd place with a PR of 2:09.3. Mateo Velez battled sickness and had
the Vikings just off the lead. Robbie Guidicipietro battled a fresh
Brandon Freeman of Farrell and handed off to freshmen Michael Kieran on
the anchor leg, just off the lead. On the first lap, MSIT flew out fast
and went from third to 1st place. Kieran sat on the shoulder of the
Farrell runner. As the race went on, the MSIT runner started to hit the
wall and Kieran made his move. Showing poise of a verteran runner, and
having the Sea crowd on their feet, Kieran took the lead and the Vikings
won the relay..a relay they were ready to possibly scratch minutes
before the race!
Score: Sea - 117, MSIT - 81.5, Farrell - 81.5,
Wagner - 50
Fourteenth Event - 4x400 Relay
As expected, Farrell would easily win this event but it was up to the
Vikings to get a scorer in this relay. James Mahoney, the SIA transfer,
would hand off in a PR of 53.7. Nick Pollio, Rob Ruspantini and Michael
Italiano would complete the relay that would finish in 2nd place.
Score: Sea - 125, Farrell - 91.5, MSIT - 87,
Wagner - 50
Fifteenth Event - 4x200 Relay
At this point, with Farrell having two relays in the final, just as we
did. Mathematically, even if Farrell had finished in 1st and 2nd. Those
18 points weren't enough to get them the lead. The team gathered on the
far turn to cheer on the 4x200 realys. The runners were instructed to be
careful with their passes. Garth Ikomi, who had pulled his hamstring in
the 4x2 trials was substituted. The 4x200 "A" team would finish in 3rd
place, moving up to 2nd on a Curtis DQ. The 4x2 "B" team that ran
masterfully in the trials with Joe Chirelli & John "Bobby" Cambio
breaking 25 seconds. In the final, the 4x2 "B" team would place 5th. The
team would add 10 more points to our final scores
Final Score: Sea - 135, Farrell - 107.5, MSIT - 87, Wagner
- 50
Results
The team remained off the far turn, behind the shot put area, the same
place were the 1999 team learned of their destiny. And the same place
where the 2015 team watched the 2010 team hear of their fate. The cell
phnoe and video cameras were rolling for the final scores. Third place
was announce - McKee/S.I. Tech, 87 pts - a great job considering how
dominate they were in the jumps. The announcer continued, "In 2nd Place -
the defending champion...." The team erupted and took what
may possible be the fastest victory lap in the history of our sport. For
the first time since 2010, and 4th time in our program's history, St.
Joe's was back on top of Staten Island.The team gathered in the infield
and a few heroic efforts were pointed out. We then went to the PV mats
where every Viking Championship photo has been taken. The alumni &
coaches gathered for a photo..there were 10+ alumni present. Due to the
sneaky efforts of a few...Joe Somma & Rocco Rago, a garbage pail full of
very cold ice was dumped all over Coach Mancusi...a 2010 tradition
continued. Once the coaches & alumni got back to Sea, we went to Mike's
Place to relish in our victory. And the theme of the post-meet meal was,
recalling how many points were earned by frosh, sophs & juniors..... to
make 2016 a repeat championship!