Nadel wins girls mile at Millrose Games

The smile on North Shore's Samantha Nadel could be seen all over the place at the 104th annual Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. The junior made a dream come true as she took first in the girls mile in a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 50.58 seconds.

"Not only was it my dream to run in this, because I used to come here when I was younger, but it was my dad's, too," said Nadel, who was the first Long Island girl to win the mile since Babylon's Christine Gentile in 1988. "He was really excited."

Nadel started slow and trailed for much of the race, but made a big move for first late.

"I went over this race plan a week in advance," she said. "Although I didn't picture the start to go like that, I envisioned making my move with about two and a half laps to go."

The St. Anthony's girls 4 x 400 team of Megan Fiedler, Shannon Murphy, Emily Taussig and Olicia Williams came away winners, too, taking first in 4:01.95 in the CHSAA race ahead of St. John the Baptist (4:07.36) and Kellenberg (4:10.29).

It was an uplifting win for the Friars.

"We have [the CHSAA] league championships [Saturday], so this puts us in a good place," Taussig said.

SEE PHOTOSLI high school athletes at the Millrose Games

The Garden City girls (Taylor Hennig, Jenna DeAngelo, Taryn Schmelzinger, Emma Gallagher) also emerged victorious, winning the Long Island 4 x 400 in 4:03.36. Massapequa (4:08.61) and Uniondale (4:09.85) were second and third, respectively.

The Half Hollow Hills West boys continued their torrid running as its team of Abdias Myrtil, Justin Connor, Justin Ma and Dan McCord overcame a deficit on the final leg of the Long Island 4 x 400 race and took first in 3:30.3, ahead of Uniondale (3:32.07) and Port Jefferson (3:34.99).

McCord, who ran the anchor, overcame a 5-meter deficit.

"With a 160-meter track, it was the best I could do. You can't really gauge two laps," McCord said. "So I just waited until I was one lap away from the finish to pass him."

The St. John the Baptist boys 4 x 800 team capped the night for Long Island, edging St. Anthony's for first in 8:06.59. The Cougars won for the first time in the 35-year history of the race.