After beating out Essence Rogers, left, of Bay Shore, and...

After beating out Essence Rogers, left, of Bay Shore, and Sara Ronde, right, of Northport to win the girls 55 meter dash, Olivia Hallstein, center, of Longwood, looks up at the scoreboard to check out the results during the Suffolk High School Indoor Track Championships Saturday in Brentwood. (Feb. 12, 2011) Credit: John Dunn

Olivia Hallstein was pretty sure she had a chance to win the 300-meter dash at the Suffolk state qualifier Saturday.

The Longwood senior was right as she qualified for the state championship meet on March 5 at Cornell University with a first-place finish in 41.42 seconds at Suffolk CC-Brentwood.

She surprised even herself as she took first in the 55 in a season best 7.33 seconds.

"It's amazing. The 55 was an added bonus," Hallstein said. "I thought I'd just make it in the 300. To come back in both was spectacular."

She said her time in the 55 couldn't have been any better.

"I don't know what I ate last night," Hallstein joked. "It had to be the water I was drinking, but I finally ran a 7.3. It's what I should've been doing all season."

Hallstein won't be alone upstate. Fellow senior Imani White won the shot put with a toss of 38 feet, 11 inches to qualify.

Hallstein just missed qualifying in a third event as Longwood's 4 x 200 team. She fell just short. But said she's satisfied to be representing her school with White.

"I love Imani," Hallstein said. "She's such a good friend. It's going to be great going upstate with her."

The Bay Shore girls also had a fine day.

Sprinter Jessica Gelibert led the way, running to a first-place finish in the 55-hurdles in 8.57.

Gelibert proved to be one of the most versatile athletes at the facility. The junior was apart of Bay Shore's winning 4 x 200 (1:47.26) team with Essence Rogers, Anisa Toppin and Brianah Allen and the 4 x 400 squad that included Cesia Andrade, Aasha Jackson and Danielle Rowe.It wasn't easy as the relays were run one after the other."This is what makes a runner's endurance better," Gelibert said of running in relays so close together. "You have to be able to mentally prepare yourself."

Sachem East was another squad with multiple qualifiers.Rachel Paul won the 1,000 in3:02.16, Brittany Christiansen took second in the shot put (37-3 1/2), Melanie Notarstefano ran to a fourth-place finish in the 1,500 in 4:57.74 and Kelly Maranchuck was third in the racewalk in 7:17.16.

Alyssa Genduso added to Sachem North's qualifying total with a third-place finish in the long jump (17-1 3/4).

Shoreham-Wading River had two first-place finishers as Shannon McDonnell took the 600 (1:37.65) and Danielle Opatovsky the racewalk in 7:11.68.

Ward Melville's Mary Kate Anselmini (10:17.45) and Caroline O'Hea (10:28.04) took first and second in the 3,000, while Commack's Allison Stapleton (3:03.61) and Erin Neville (4:46.57) qualified with second-place finishes in the 1,000 and 1,500, respectively.

Northport also came up big Saturday as its 4 x 800 team of Natasha Albaneze, Anna Corrigan, Brigid Brennan and Elizabeth Fierro qualified with a first-place finish in 9:42.15.

Northport's Sara Ronde was in an individual qualifier, taking first in the long jump in 18-1.

Copiague's Janel Francis qualified in two events, taking second in the long jump (17-2 1/2) and the 55 in 7.35.

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