Matthew Payamps leads St. Anthony's boys to CHSAA title

No one in the CHSAA had forgotten about the range, precision, intuitiveness, and downright fierce nature of Matthew Payamps’ talent. Payamps, the St. Anthony’s senior who is one of the best distance runners in the state, won the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes, 22.53 seconds, the 3,200 in 9:20.22, and was named track MVP at Saturday's 92nd running of the CHSAA Intersectional track and field Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.

The victories qualify Payamps for the state championships, scheduled for June 7-8 in Middletown. Payamps said he will run the 3,200 on June 7, then return home for his high school graduation on June 8.

 “I’m ok with it,” said Payamps of missing the Saturday session at the state championships. “I won the 1,600 (state championship) indoors, so I’m ok with missing it.”

Despite his recent pedigree as a cross country force, Payamps tends to focus on the 800 and 1,600 come track season. But, sure as his stride is long, Payamps can reenter the long-distance fold at will and showed why Saturday.

“I ran the two mile at (the Loucks Games two weeks ago) and that was a really good race for me,” Payamps said. “So I knew that I was strong enough to come here, run the two-mile, and then run the mile afterward.”

Payamps was both tactical and methodical as he moved around the track in the 3,200. He stayed behind the leaders early and then settled into fourth place at the 800 mark. By the 1,200 mark, he was in third. Payamps moved into second at the bell – which signifies the final lap – and passed Iona Prep’s Pedro Bravo with 300 meters remaining, cruising home for his first win of the afternoon. Bravo was second in 9:25.29.

“I wanted to stay as relaxed as I could,” Payamps said. “I knew I had to run the mile afterward, so I wanted to save myself for the next race. I knew Pedro (Bravo) was running the 1,600 as well. Once I made my move, I could hear his coach say ‘take it easy’ and I knew that I did what I had to do to finish on top and conserved myself as much as I could for the next race.”

SEE PHOTOSCHSAA Intersectional Championships

The 1,600 went out similarly, with Payamps dipping as far back as fifth place in a tight lead pack. He moved up to second place with 600 to go and passed Bravo at the bell, sprinting across the back straightway before cooling it down in the final 100 meters. Payamps ran the final lap in 56.75 seconds. Bravo finish second in 4:26.71.

“It went out really slow,” Payamps said. “I just wanted to break away the last lap and test myself to see what I had.” 

Payamps’ double-victory helped the Friars to the team title, scoring 31 points. St. Anthony’s 4X800 meter relay team, composed of Bryce Kuehn, Patrick Finegan, Robert Doherty, and Mathew Reda won in 8:05.32.    

Elsewhere, Kellenberg’s Erik Brown won the 800 in 1:58.14. Brown had to fight off a hard-charging Reda down the final straightway – not that he knew it until after the race was over. Reda was second in 1:58.46.

“I knew that there were definitely people near me, because I knew the people in this race were going to be very close for the majority of it,” Brown said. “But, I had no idea where exactly they were until the very end of the race . . . I was even more glad (about) how I performed, because I knew that if I did anything differently, I could have very easily lost.” 

Brown said that he knew he’d have to lead the whole race to have a shot at victory, something he wasn’t completely comfortable with but executed well.

“I didn’t know if I was comfortable letting anyone else lead, because I didn’t know if I’d have the energy (at the end),” Brown said. “A lot of the people who run the 800 are milers that move down to the 800. For me, a 400 runner who moved up to the 800, I wasn’t sure that if I let someone else lead, that I would have the stamina to keep up with him on the last lap.”

Chaminade’s Kyle Krummenacker also had to fight off a hard charging opponent down the final straightaway to earn a 50.16-second victory in the 400. Cardinal Hayes’ Sanjay Perilall was right on his tail.

“I always like to have someone right behind me,” Krummenacker said. “Coming down the final straightaway, I was starting to lock up. Just hearing him breathing down my neck gave me the extra motivation to finish.”

In the field, St. John the Baptist’s David Amelemah won the triple jump, flying 45 feet. Chaminade’s Dylan Ameres (44-10) was second. Ameres was also second (22-1) in the long jump to Cardinal Hayes’ Jahlahnee Watkins (22-1/2).