The number was in Samara Lawrence’s head for about a month.

12.04

The North Babylon school record in the 100 meters.

After running 12.26 at the Joe Brandi Relays at Connetquot High School in late April, the junior could feel that mark within her grasp. When she returned to Connetquot on Tuesday for the Suffolk Class A Championships, she broke it.

Lawrence won the 100 in 11.99 seconds, breaking Nailah Jones’ school record, set in 2013, coach Sarah Lambert said.

“It was heavily on my mind,” Lawrence said of the record.  "I felt at peace after I beat it ... I was confident that I was going to be able to break it, I just didn’t know when it was going to happen.”

That was only part of Lawrence’s big day. She also won the 200 in 25.23, the 400 in 57.88, and was on the 4 x 400 relay that won in 4:06.59.

Lawrence said her favorite event is the 100 because she likes the quickness of it. When she runs the 400, which she doesn’t love despite her skills, she likes to count down until the 100-meter mark. That’s when she knows it's time to turn it on. 

“At every point on the track, I’ll tell myself ‘you have 300 meters left’ or ‘you have 200 meters left, you can keep going,’ ” Lawrence said. “I just keep telling myself that.”

Elsewhere, Smithtown West’s Laina Friedmann won the 800 in 2:13.78 and the 1,500 in 4:42.99. Friedmann said she likes the 800 because it’s similar to the 1,000, in which she excels during the indoor season. This week, she found herself going out a little quick and had to adjust.

“I kind of know instinctively,” Friedmann said. “I think I went out the first 200 in 28 [seconds] and it’s supposed to be 32. I maintained that pace until my second lap, then I slowed down a little bit.” 

West Babylon won the girls team championship with 132 points. Jade Dockery won the long jump at 17 feet, 10 inches. Julianna Haab won the pentathlon with 2,302 points and Farrah Wengler won the 1,500 walk in 7:14.13.

On the boys side, Connetquot won its second county championship of the school year, this time scoring 134 points. It won the Suffolk large school indoor championship in February. Gregory Baldinucci won the 3,200 in 9:28.54 and the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:47.21. Fernando Padilla won the pentathlon with 2,842 points.

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