Woodstown Boys (4x800), Union Catholic Boys (4x400) Run US#1 In Relays At The Armory

By Oliver Hinson of DyeStat

John Nepolitan Photos

More than five dozen high school athletes and relay teams qualified for the Millrose Games, one of America’s premier indoor track meets, on Wednesday at the Millrose Games Trials at the Armory.

RESULTS/VIDEOS

Adriana Pettinelli and Brody Watt earned spots in the invitational high school mile fields by winning Wednesday’s mile races, both of which featured talented fields. 

Pettinelli, a sophomore at Scarsdale NY, won the girls mile with a new US#4 time of 4:53.98. She battled with Zaria Hall (East Meadow NY) over the last few laps and surged to the lead in the final 200 meters, clocking a 31.95-second last lap. Hall finished second in 4:54.30, followed by Amelia Whorton (Lexington MA), Cali Buxbaum (Wall NJ) and Naomi Douglas (LaGuardia NY), all of whom snuck under the five-minute barrier.

Pettinelli is undefeated this indoor season and has also run 2:50.70 in the 1,000 meters and 10:17.79 in the 3,000.

Watt won a fairly tactical boys race, overtaking Ben Berman (Bronx School of Science NY) in the last lap with a split of 27.61 seconds and breaking the tape in 4:16.57. Berman ended up finishing third and was also passed by Jayden Lloyd McKenna (Pearl River NY).

In the 55-meter dashes, Kaeden Herbert (Susan Wagner NY) and Alexa Jacobs (Port Jefferson NY) earned Millrose qualifying spots with their victories. Herbert ran a new personal best of 6.34 seconds, good for US#3 status, while Jacobs ran 7.10, a US#22 mark.

Danae Morgan won the girls weight throw with a mark of 52-4.25, a personal best and a US#9 mark. Morgan is undefeated in the weight throw this winter and has dominated competitions at the Armory; all six of her wins have come at the facility. She also earned a Millrose spot, as did Amira Gibson (Benjamin Cardozo NY) and Cherry Amancia (Midwood NY), who finished second and third, respectively.

Kenneth Ramdayal (Herricks NY) won the boys weight throw and set a massive personal best and new US#3 mark of 76-0, breaking the meet record in the process. His previous PB was 69-4.50. Kane Poje (Tri-Valley Central NY) and Charles Sullivan (Somers NY), who finished second and third, also threw farther than the previous meet record and qualified for Millrose along with Ramdayal.

Plenty of US top 10 marks went down in the relay events, too. The boys invitational 4x800 relay produced six such marks, and Woodstown NJ came away with the win and a new US#1 time of 8:00.24, which earned them a Millrose qualifying spot. Woodstone's anchor, Joshua Crawford, came out blazing in his leg, running a 25-second opening lap and holding on for a split of 1:54.96.

Manhasset NY and Northport NY finished second and third, respectively, and made their way into the US top five with times of 8:03.74 and 8:04.28.

Union Catholic NJ ran a US#1 time of 3:18.54 in the boys 4x400 relay to lock in its spot in the Suburban 4x400 relay. 

In the girls 4x800, Ursuline NY ran a US#8 time of 9:34.21, qualifying for Millrose and just barely beating Riverdale Country NY, who also snuck into the top 10 with a time of 9:34.30.

The Haverford PA boys ran 1:28.69 in the 4x200, good for US#7, while the Susan Wagner NY boys earned US#9 status in the 4x400 with a time of 3:24.09, which broke the meet record for the PSAL (Public Schools Athletic League) division and earned them an auto-qualifying spot in the Millrose Games.

The Benjamin Banneker NY girl also broke the meet record and earned a Millrose qualifier with their time of 3:57.84 in the girls’ PSAL 4x400. That mark keeps them at US#4. 

The Winslow Township NJ girls maintained their US#4 status in the girls 4x200 with a time of 1:40.93.