Sumaira Mayan, Emily Berg race to victory for Syosset

Sumaira Mayan took her shot. Why not?, the Syosset junior figured. She was far back in the 1,000 meters at the Nassau Class A track and field Championships Tuesday night and needed a major move to have any hope of a county title.

“I was getting a little nervous around the fourth lap,” Mayan said. “But, as I was getting into the [final] lap, I just thought about what my coach said to me before, ‘take a chance and if it doesn’t work, than it doesn’t work.' I just wanted to take that chance.”

That chance paid off. With 120 meters left, Mayan surged toward the front, trying her best to catch lead runner Samantha Krayeski of Port Washington. Mayan accomplished that goal on the final straightaway and won in three minutes, 9.67 seconds at St. Anthony's. Mepham’s Emily Moehringer was second in 3:10.25 and Krayeski was third in 3:10.42.

“It was tough, but I think I just let my adrenaline take over a little,” Mayan said. “I just went for it.”

Elsewhere, Mayan’s teammate Emily Berg won the 3,000 in 11:16.04, taking control late in the race.

“[The pace] wasn’t slow. It definitely was challenging, but I knew I had more,” Berg said of the first half of the race. “I said ‘let’s save [energy] for now and see how the race plays out. We’ll see how their going out.' Then, I just felt good with three laps to go and I decided to go.”

Berg said she decided to break away from Port Washington’s Bella Feigin with three laps to go. Feigin was second in 11:19.53.

“I just thought I should make a move now because I didn’t want to be racing her the last lap,” Berg said. “I knew I had enough energy to keep pace the last three laps, so that’s what I decided to do.”

Hempstead’s Renee Newton won the 600 in 1:36.27, keeping a good pace throughout and cruising to a comfortable victory.

“With the 600, I try to remember that’s it’s still kind of a short race, so you still have to go out fast,” Newton said. “I was trying to go out like it was a 200 and not necessarily maintain, but keep a good pace that would still drive me for the rest of the race.”

Newton ran cross country this fall and said that the distance training really helped her.

“It’s extremely helpful,” Newton said. “It gives me a lot of strength. Now, I can finish my races a lot stronger because I know that any race is nothing compared to running miles in the woods.”