Andy Capellan could finally relax, sitting there on a bench by the long-jump pit, watching the final girls event Sunday at The Armory. His New Rochelle team had already wrapped up the inaugural Section 1 Class AA title to go with league and county titles, giving these girls the coveted triple crown.
"I put a lot of pressure on them," Capellan said. "It's a relief. The girls felt it this week. I was very intense at practice. I said, 'Match my intensity. If you can match it, we'll win.' And they did."
Last year, when the AA and A teams were together under the A heading, New Rochelle tied with Suffern. This time, the Huguenots outpointed Joe Biddy's second-place Mounties, 136-114, getting victories from Briyah Brown (shot put), Symone Darius (triple jump), Alicia Donaldson (long jump), Johari Privott-Yeiser (pole vault) and Ashley Wiggins (55-meter hurdles).
"More experience," Capellan said about the difference.
Arlington claimed the boys crown. Lakeland/Panas, which got a personal-best 21 feet, 1 1/4-inch leap by the winner in the long jump, Kingsley Ogbanno, finished as the runner-up.
Eric Holt won the 3,200 in 9 minutes, 9.1 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in the nation this season.
The Binghamton-bound senior is bent on becoming the first Carmel runner since the 1980s to run off with the high school boys mile at the Millrose Games, here Saturday night.
"I'm going to try my best to run a sub-4:10," Holt said. "I definitely want to win Millrose and be the next guy since Mike Stahr to do so."
White Plains senior Thomas Johnson won the triple jump by traveling 46-11 1/2, the third-best distance in the state so far.
"That's currently third place, but in my eyes, it's first place, because I scout my opponents," Johnson said. "I like to go on (the website) MileSplit and look at (their results). The two jumpers ahead of me jumped their 47s about a month ago. They haven't been consistent with it.
"The whole season, I've just been going on cruise control because I didn't want to get injured. But now that it's the championship end, I'm turning it up."
Imani Solan turned it up, too, posting personal bests in winning the 55 (7.27) and the 300 (39.59). The Suffern sophomore also anchored the winning 1,600 relay.
"I'm so happy," she said. "I think it's because we had a good week of practice this week, working hard."
Teammate Kamryn McIntosh took the 1,000 in 2:55.1. The Mounties' Sarah Adler won the 600, running 1:35.
"It's pretty exciting," Adler said. "My coach just told me to go out like a hard (400) and be a sprinter and bring it home."
Eric Favors and Harrison Foley gave the North Rockland boys a 1-2 finish in the shot put.
And New Rochelle senior Justin Alleyne followed up his Westchester 600 title by taking the sectional title in the 1,000, winning by two-tenths of a second, at 2:34.2.
"The funny thing is, I wanted to run the 600," Alleyne said. "But knowing that coach (Joe) Intervallo wanted me to do some strength work coming up for state (qualifiers), I knew I had to take this race very seriously."
