Northport’s Isaiah Claiborne takes 3,200 at Stanner Games

A new approach for Isaiah Claiborne produced familiar success Saturday morning.

The Northport senior won the boys invitational 3,200-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 40.35 seconds at the Molloy Stanner Games at The Armory in Manhattan, thanks to an earlier than usual lead and late surge over the final 200 meters. Bay Shore’s Roshni Singh was the other Long Island athlete to win an invitational track event, taking first in the girls 3,000 in 10:11.27.

“I wanted to stay relaxed and comfortable throughout the race and see how much I had left at the end,” said Claiborne, who took second in the event last year and was an All-Long Island cross-country runner in the fall. “I was kind of slow in the beginning. I was around five minutes at the mile. My coach wanted me to lead if that happened, so I led with about 800 to go.”

Claiborne said he usually takes a different approach: “I always like being behind people. I don’t like attempting to pace the race. I never did that before, but I always want to try new things and it was an awesome feeling.”

He built an even bigger lead in the final stretch, running the final 200 meters in 26.121 seconds. The next fastest time in the last lap was Patchogue-Medford’s Carlos Santos, who ran it in 30.552 seconds. Santos took second (9:46.26).

St. Anthony’s Matthew Payamps won the boys 1,000 (2:33.80), his teammate Heron Maurisseau-O’Neal won the 55 (6.45) and Commack’s Brendan Zheng took first in the boys 1,600 (4:27.87).

Jaheim Dotson of Longwood won the boys 55 high hurdles (7.53), Westhampton’s Laurence Barr-Forget won the boys pole vault (14 feet, 3 inches) and Half Hollow Hills West’s Deyvon Wright won the boys long jump (21-3).

SEE PHOTOSMolloy Stanner Games

In the girls invitational 3,000, Singh stuck to her plan and used a late burst to edge Sacred Heart’s Maggie Maier.

“I didn’t want to take the lead too early or to die out too early,” she said. “I wanted to wait until the end and kick in and try to win the race. I just went for it.”

Maier, who finished in second with a time of 10:18.72, led the race with three laps to go, before Singh ran the final 600 meters in 1:56.477.

“I was excited going into the race, so it felt really good,” Singh said.

The other girls winners included Bayport-Blue Point’s Ashley Walsh, who took first in the invitational shot put (39-41⁄4). Longwood’s Violet Drinkwater won the pole vault (10-6), Hills West’s Mia Abulencia won the triple jump (36-7 3⁄4), Plainedge’s Olivia Finnegan won the high jump (5-2), and Smithtown West’s Angelica Arroyo won the long jump (17-4).

St. Anthony’s Jennifer Furman won the 1,600 (5:15.21), Sacred Heart’s Ellen Byrnes took first in the 600 (1:34.45) and Port Washington’s Megan Bazzini won the girls 300 (43.09).