Chaminade wins CHSAA championship
Thomas Awad of Chaminade won the boys 1600m run in a time of 4:21.64 at the CHSAA Intersectional Meet held at the New Balance Track & Field Center. (Feb. 19, 2011) Credit: Errol Anderson
It was going to take an entire team effort for Chaminade to win its first CHSAA Intersectional championship in 13 years at the 169th Street Armory Saturday.
The Flyers got what it needed as junior distance man Thomas Awad, who took first in the 1,600-meter run in 4:21.64 and second in the 3,200 in a personal-best time of 9:23.68, led a host of Chaminade athletes who qualified for the state championships at Cornell University on March 5.
The Flyers had 34 points and finished ahead of St. John the Baptist (29), and St. Anthony's (19) for its first Intersectional title since 1998.
"I love all the guys on the team," Awad said. "I got 12 points myself and we had guys scoring all over the place for us. We haven't won in a long time."
Chaminade, a school known usually for its middle distance and distance, got help in several events, including solid efforts from Michael Rufrano with a second-place finish in the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and Eric Grein, who finished third in the 55 in 6.73.
Daniel Ebanks finished third in the 1,000 in 2:34.35 and Cody Israel qualified with a third-place finish in the 300 (37.12).
"It was a balanced attack. We had two kids make the final in the 55, we scored a kid in the 300 and scored in the 1,000," Chaminade coach Pat Slevin said. "We sat down months ago to get ready. We knew it would be close."
In what was probably the most exciting race of the day, St. John the Baptist's 4 x 800 team of Hunter Burrell, Sean Ferguson, Matt Zampariello and Brandon Camenzuli survived a hard-charging St. Anthony's (8:02.05) for a first-place finish in 8:01.76.
Things were in doubt even before the race for St. John the Baptist, which lost arguably its best runner in Seitu Solomon in a previous event with a hamstring injury.
Ferguson was the replacement for Solomon.
"This is the first time I ran with them," Ferguson said. "I've been working in practice to try and get on the team. It just never happened."
Burrell said the team wasn't concerned with the switch.
"We tried to stay relaxed even though Seitu was probably our best 4 x 800 runner," Burrell said. "We trust Sean because he's a freak."
Solomon took second in the long jump at 21-2 ¼ before pulling out of the meet.
That was just one of several successful events for St. John the Baptist.
Darius Samples won the 55 in 6.67, Burrell qualified for the state meet earlier in the day with a third-place finish in the 600 (1:22.92), and Camenzuli, finished third in the 3,200 in 9:31.73.
Kellenberg's James Agati took first in the 1,000 in 2:31.16 and Thomas Diliberto of St. Anthony's was second in 2:31.76.
