Iona, others barred from meet by Section I ruling
Heading into Sunday’s Westchester County Track Championships, there was unusually little talk surrounding what area athletes would emerge as stars on one of the biggest stages of the season. Instead, most of the pre-meet discussion had centered on Section I’s controversial decision to ban four private school teams—including perennial power Iona Prep.

Iona, along with Hackley, Stepinac and Holy Child were barred from the event ostensibly because they aren’t considered members of the Section I organization.

According to Section I Executive Director Jennifer Simmons, it was brought to light that these private schools did not pay a fee to compete in the winter county meet (which was taken over by Section I nearly a decade ago) but were still eligible to compete in fall and spring events that are co-sponsored by the Coaches’ Association.

Iona had been competing in the winter meet nearly annually for almost 50 years, and has been crowned champion in four out of the past five years.

Though Gaels coach Jan Mitchell declined to discuss the matter in depth, he did admit that the decision had not been an easy one on his squad.

“This issue has taken its toll on me and the boys this week,” he said. “No need to continue a lost fight.” 

But even without the longtime powers in attendance, there was still plenty of exciting track action on Sunday afternoon as New Rochelle’s boys (who had finished a close second to Iona Prep the past two years) and girls combined for a Huguenot sweep on the day.

In the Gaels’ absence, many expected the Huguenot boys to cruise to a title, but New Rochelle was tested greatly by a surging Mount Vernon team, edging the Knights 92-83.5 on the afternoon. Boys coach Roz Gallino acknowledged the fierce competition between the Huguenots and the Gaels as one of the staples of past county meets.

“I think if they [Iona] had been here then some of our times would have been better,” she said. “Running against that level of competition helps you raise your game and we would see some faster times…But you can only run against who is there, and Mount Vernon really pushed us.”

The New Rochelle boys had just one first-place finisher on the day, with Joseph Shinn winning gold in the pole vault; the Huguenots relied on depth to claim the county title.

“We were able to cover pretty much all the events,” says Gallino. “If you look at the 55 hurdles we were able to place second through sixth. It makes a big difference if you’re a team that’s solid all the way through instead a team with one superstar.”

New Rochelle’s girls racked up 91.33 points to edge Ursuline and Mount Vernon, owing much of their success to a strong performance in field events. In the shotput, the Huguenots were able to take first through third after a good showing by Regina Raglan, Ashai McClean and Natasha Amazan, who took first with a distance of 37-2.

Other local teams met with success on the day as well.  In the boys division, Harrison and Rye were separated by only one point, with Harrison taking seventh and the Garnets finishing third. The Huskies were led by Paul Buonocore and his third-place performance in the triple-jump and the 1600 relay squad. Rye’s Mac Gager placed second in the 600m.

On the girls’ end, Bronxville (fourth), Harrison (fifth) and Mamaroneck (ninth) all cracked the top ten. Henrietta Miers took first for the Broncos in the 600m, while the Tigers’ Gina Talt won gold in the 1500. 

With counties behind them now, area squads are looking to prove themselves again, this time at the Class championships later this month. Even for teams like New Rochelle, this stretch of the postseason is where it hopes to put everything together.

“In a season where we’ve seen five school records broken, I don’t think we’ve had a really great meet from top to bottom,” says coach Gallino. “Part of it is breaking the season into cycles and this is the part of the season we need to focus on communication between the kids and the coaches. Hopefully we will be able to put it all together.”