Smithtown’s Daniel Claxton takes high jump title at state championships

ITHACA, N.Y. — The indoor track and field state championships didn’t bring the same raucous crowds that seem to follow Smithtown East’s Daniel Claxton, but it gave him what had been missing for a year — a state title.

The top-seeded high jumper put last winter’s second-place finish behind him by soaring over the bar at Cornell University at 6 feet, 8 inches.

“I knew I was seeded first, and I was like, ‘All right, I really need to prove that I really do deserve to win this,’ ” Claxton said. “It happened and I couldn’t be happier.”

Claxton, a junior who jumped 6-10 at the Suffolk qualifier last month, said he welcomes the energy of the crowds, but high jumping is an individual sport and it’s up to each person to channel their own energy to succeed.

“I knew that it was up to me to decide how well I would do,” Claxton said. “I don’t let the crowd or anyone else decide how I do. If they want to jump in and try to help me out, I’m all for it. If they don’t really recognize it until toward the end, I’m still fine with it.”

Second place went to Troy Zanger of Port Jervis at 6-4.

Every step Claxton takes is filled with intention — from the dynamic stretches right down to the barreling run at the pole laid out in front of him. He said good practices Friday and yesterday morning gave him a good feeling for what was to come.

“Once I’m at that mark, you zone everything else out,” Claxton said. “And it’s just you, yourself and the bar.”

But once that jump is over and Claxton is sitting on the mat as a state champion, whether there’s a screaming crowd or not, he lets it all soak in.

“I finish the jump and then let everything come back to me,” he said.

Uniondale 4 x 200 champ. Uniondale won the public school 4 x 200-meter relay in 1 minute, 32.72 seconds. The team of Chris Borzor, Ragilio Harriott, Cleveland Modest and Christopher Duhaney finished third in the federation competition. South Shore won that in 1:30.47.

Duhaney said the result was an achievement, but it also meant there was one direction to take the spring season.

“Keep improving,” Duhaney said. “It’s a milestone to work harder.”

West Islip 2nd in 4 x 800. The West Islip 4 x 800 team of Michael Martiny, Charles Hetterich, Daniel Cameron and Kyle Kelly took second in 7:55.45 behind Warwick Valley (7:54.07).

Martiny got boxed in during the first leg and had to run on the outside a few times to get around big groups. It set the theme for the following legs as each runner got out to a surging start, but got caught in close contact situations.

After holding the U.S. No. 1 time for nearly a month, the team had a rare losing feeling that they said they hope to shake at the nationals. “This was our main goal, so it’s definitely a letdown in not winning,” Kelly said. “But honestly, not winning is the best thing for us because now we’re just going to get even better.”