BY MARC MATURO
North Rockland, Nanuet on the run at Loucks Games
Tuohy, Camillieri set to compete on the big stage in White Plains, along with a host of other top talents
The Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Games in White Plains celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend, the distance medley relay takes place today, and many excellent Rockland County competitors will be showcased on the big stage.
The Loucks Games is one of the more prestigious track and field events in the northeast, and in the past has drawn top international talent, too, from Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec and Bermuda.
Among county teams to be well-represented are the boys and girls at Nanuet High School, and the girls at North Rockland High School, led by freshman sensation, Katelyn Tuohy who, astonishingly, will be anchoring the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) for a third straight year.
“She is one heck of a talent. Working with her is the most fun a coach can have,” enthused Coach Kyle Murphy of Stony Point, who is into his 10th season overall and fifth with the Red Raiders, following in the footsteps of his dad, Robert, who led the cause for some 30 years.
The DMR foursome has already achieved high success, winning at the Penn Relays and at the indoor national championships at the Armory in upper Manhattan.
Tuohy is joined by freshman Haleigh Morales, junior Sofia Housman and senior Alexandra Harris. Last year the quartet clocked 11:29 outdoors, and 11:45 at Penn.
“That’s not bad,” Coach Murphy understated.
Tuohy has run the second-fastest 1,500 in the state this year, with a time of 4:26.72 at the league meet at Clarkstown South High School last week. She will run the mile on Saturday at the Loucks Games.
Villanova-bound Harris is the two-time defending champion at Loucks in the 2,000-meter steeplechase, and will be joined by teammate Morales in this arduous event.
Housman is entered in the 400 as well, while junior Ivana Lopez and freshman Nadia Saunders are competing in the hurdles. The Red Raiders will also run the 4×100 relay.
Very young, very talented
At Nanuet, where alumnus and C.W. Post grad Joe Marinello is into his fifth year at head coach, the Golden Knights are young and talented on the girls side while on the boys side veteran Coach Larry Beckerle is also loaded with standouts including an accomplished senior group of hurdlers.
Marinello’s relay teams are prepping for the county meet on May 18-19, with the first day of competition at Suffern High School and the second day at Clarkstown South.
Anchoring the 4×4 and 4×1 at Loucks will be junior Riley McLaughlin, and Ciara Saxton, a sophomore, is expected to lead off both relays.
Also being counted upon are sophomores Kelly Vucinic, who was the Class B pentathlon champ as a freshman, and Kyra Guerci; juniors Olivia Gray and Mia Lowery; and senior Olivia Nikac.
Murphy, who works closely with Beckerle and assistants Andy Augustine, a personal trainer, and gym teacher Sean Barron, said senior returnee Crystal Garica, a top hurdler in the 100 and 400, “has come on very strong from last year,” and lauded the versatile senior returnee Alex Ryan, a top pole vaulter.
Saxton, the leadoff relay standout who also plays softball, soccer and basketball, is new to the track.
“She’s been quite impressive,” Murphy stated, also lauding track newcomer Julianna McPadden, a sophomore, who is an up and coming pole vaulter.
Another promising freshman is Jessica Antonelli, who first caught everyone’s eye in middle school.
“She showed a spark of greatness at that level,” said Murphy.
“She has taken very well to working with the older girls and uses that as a challenge,” concluded Murphy, whose team achieved quite a measure of fame last season at home when it stopped Pearl River High School’s 30-year unbeaten streak in dual meets.
“I didn’t even know what we did until Larry (Beckerle) told me,” Murphy said. “I was completely shocked. It’s a nice piece of trivia, I guess.”
One special kid
Albertus Magnus High School alum Beckerle, who has spent 29 years at Nanuet coaching both boys and girls after running at Holy Cross College, speaks highly of senior standout Brian Camillieri, who is bound for the University of Connecticut and has a wealth of achievements under his belt.
Camillieri has turned in some of the best times in the state in the 800 and 1,600 with clockings of 1:55.3 and 4:21.6, respectively. He is a four-year veteran, a county champ, all-section selection and, this winter, placed fifth in the state in the 1,000.
Ranked among the top runners in the northeast, Camillieri was second at the New York Relays to a top-rated competitor from St. Benedict Prep in Newark, N.J.
Camillieri anchored the victorious spring medley relay team at the Somers Invitational, running 1:53 to post a come-from-behind triumph over Arlington and Our Lady of Lourdes.
“We have a good bunch of seniors,” said Coach Beckerle, “and a real good sophomore in Ryan Guerci (a twin to Kyra).”
Guerci, whose dad Jim was a very good runner in the early 80s at Pearl River, has clocked 4:29 in the 1,600 and 9:52 in the 3,200.
The Golden Knights’ shuttle hurdle relay team is also among the best and is coming off its third victory this year at the Somers Invitational.
Not to be undone, Nanuet features a ‘B relay’ that placed third at Somers behind sophomores Chris Filatov and Gabe Rodriguez and junior Eugene Om.
The ‘A relay’ showcases Diego Miranda, Jamel Okeve and Sean Le, and the sprint medley features Joey Saxton (Ciara’s brother) in the 400 leg, sophomore Marvin Qin and senior Dylan Mateo, both running the 200, and Camillieri running the 800.
The Old Professor revisited
Charles Dillon “Casey” Stengel, who was voted “Baseball’s Greatest Character by MLB Network’s Prime 9 and who was the beloved first manager of the beloved Mets in 1962, has another biographer in former Yankees public relations director Marty Appel, appointed to the post in 1973 by the late George Steinbrenner.
“Stengel, Baseball’s Greatest Character (Doubleday Books),” is Appel’s 19th tome and brings to life the legendary figure who gained notoriety in many and distinct ways and who guided the Yankees to 10 world championships before being summarily fired for, as Casey would aptly put it, “having turned 70.”
The Old Professor, as he was dubbed by a group of acolyte sports writers in the heyday of print media, has been much written about, but Stengel’s legacy is kept alive as Appel was able to access previously unpublished material.
If for nothing else, “Stengel, Baseball’s Greatest Character” is worth reading for Appendix 1, an abridged version of Casey’s appearance before Congress on July 9, 1958 when the antitrust laws as they did not apply to baseball were being investigated.
From page one through the end on page 376, including eight pages of black and white and color photos, this new reportage of Casey’s life and career brings a wistful smile to anyone who has a love of baseball’s past.
“You could look it up!” Casey exclaimed after making any one of his many statements, often in a Stengelese jargon that made more sense the more you listened.
I would say, “Pick it up”—add Appel’s “Stengel” to your bookshelf.
COLLEGIATE CLIP
Graduate student Kevin McNally of Hillburn had a team-high four points as the Mercy College men’s lacrosse team lost a 9-8 tussle to top-ranked NYIT in the ECC championship game at Bethpage Stadium in Brookville. McNally was one of a record 10 players on No. 2-ranked Mercy to earn all-East Coast Conference honors, being named to the second team. McNally finished third in scoring for the Mavericks, who end their season with a school-record 12 wins and the program’s first-ever appearance in the ECC championship game.
THIS & THAT
Longtime track and field official Brent Lee of Pearl River, who nearly died after suffering a ruptured aorta, is in a long-term care facility in Wayne, N.J., after spending 50 days in intensive care at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. To help the family access:https://www.gofundme.com/BrentLee or send a check, payable to Jo Ann Lee at 78 Buchanan Street, Pearl River, N.Y., 10965. … The Jets need enthusiastic, motivated candidates to sell premium suites, seating and hospitality at MetLife Stadium for home games.
Access: http://www.newyorkjets.com/footer/employment-application.html … The School of the New York Times, a summer program for gifted high school students, is looking for a teaching assistant for their class on sports data analytics, taught by Times journalist Alan Schwarz. It pays $2,000 for the two weeks from July 24-August 4. More details are at http://www.nytedu.com/ courses/pre-college/the- numbers-game-sports- statistics/ and send relevant info to julie@nytedu.com.
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