Smithtown West's Victoria Ingram turns tables on 3,000-meter field

Smithtown West's Victoria Ingram couldn't help it. As she crossed the line with one lap left in the 3,000 meters at Suffolk's state qualifying meet Friday, the junior turned her head to see who was behind her.

"That's something my coach yells at me about all the time," Ingram said. "I guess I just wanted to see if someone was gaining on me."

No one was. After a race that began with the top contenders touching elbows for the first few laps, Ingram couldn't believe what she saw: nothing but space.

Ingram won the race, at Port Jefferson High School, in 10 minutes, 5.70 seconds, 12 seconds faster than the next-fastest finisher. The victory qualified her for the state championships on Friday and Saturday in Middletown.

"In some races this year, I would be leading and would get outkicked on the last lap," she said. "I thought that was about to happen again. I was really surprised to see that they weren't right on top of me."

The large gap didn't do anything to relax Ingram. With those pesky memories, and a berth in the state championships on the line, the junior didn't slow down.

"I still was running pretty fast," Ingram said of the final lap. "In that situation, where you are trying to qualify for states, I just had a feeling that someone was going to catch me, no matter how far away they were."

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk track state qualifiers

After crossing the finish line, Ingram still couldn't believe that no one was in front of her, especially considering that the field featured some of the best distance runners in Suffolk. Smithtown East's Jaclyn Gallery was second. Northport's Brigid Brennan and Miller Place's Laura Nolan and Talia Guevara rounded out the top five.

"I've always been running after those girls," Ingram said. "I'm used to chasing them. I've come a long way to be able to run with them."

The trip to states will be the first of Ingram's career. She started to run spring track as a freshman.

"I ran [about] a 12-minute 3,000," she said of her freshman year. "States is something that everyone here is dreaming of. I'm really excited about it. I've always wanted to go."

Glenn's Sarah Hardie also booked her ticket to Middletown, winning the 800 in 2:13.46.

Miller Place's Tiana Guevara won the 1,500 in 4:36.13. North Babylon's Jessica Scheriff won the 2,000 steeplechase in a personal best 6:57.28.

"I got out of the water pit very well," Scheriff said. "I was practicing that all week. I'm bad at the water pit. At the Loucks Games, I came in second place and face-planted into the water pit."

Scheriff, who ran the 1,500 at the winter state championships, will be making her spring states debut. Before she goes, though, there'll be more water pit practice. "I better," she said with a smile. "I still need it."