Cape girls’ track competes in New York City

The 27th annual New Balance Games were held Jan. 21-22 at the New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in New York City. The meet hosted 125 high school teams on the East Coast for two days of some of the best track and field action around. The unique thing about the New Balance Games is that Friday night, they group the freshmen and sophomores together. It becomes a very competitive meet with many races right down to the wire.  

The sophomore mile relay team of Hannah Maney, Grace Wiggins, Montana Jones and first-time anchor Landon Diehl finished second overall in 4:39.29. The Vikings ran into some tough luck on the leadoff, as Maney got tangled up with the field as they cut in on the backstretch on lap one.  

“Hannah went down face first, and the baton flew behind her and the race was gone,” said coach Gilbert Maull. “She got up, found the baton and started hunting the field down, as she caught the last three teams and we handed off in seventh. Hannah is one of the toughest runners I have ever coached, hands down.”

Maney ran 1:13 and handed to Grace Wiggins, who handed off in fifth with a split of 1:07. Montana Jones ran 1:09 and caught a few more, and by this time, the announcer and the crowd were cheering on Cape as they crawled back into the race. Landon Diehl received the baton in fourth, nearly a half-lap behind, and went to work. On the final lap, Diehl caught another team and edged out one more at the finish to bring the Vikings to second overall in an exciting race.

The same foursome, with Jones as the anchor, finished third in the 800-meter relay, but they were disqualified when Wiggins took the baton and mistakenly cut in too early on the second leg, forcing three officials to raise the yellow flags, looking like synchronized swimming.   

Maney ran 28.42 in the 200 meters to finish third, earning Cape’s only individual medal, while freshman Lina Frederick ran 3:30.45 for ninth place. Sophomore Ella Ruppert competed on her very first indoor track and finished sixth in the 1,000 meters in 3:29.14.

Junior Katie Kuhlman competed early Saturday morning in the two-mile and turned in a time of 12:14.13 for seventh place, returning later in the afternoon to place 35th in the 1,000 meters in 3:19.57.

Senior Elizabeth Melson high-jumped 4-feet-4-inches and ran the 1,000 meters in 3:32.94, finishing 65th, both taking place in the same time frame. Alexa Dougherty was scheduled for the steeple, but the event was canceled due to a low number of entries. Dougherty won her heat of the 1,000 meters in a time of 3:27.00 and finished 49th overall. Senior Tia Jarvis finished 12th in the invitational 500 meters in 1:24.35.

Jones ran 7.88 in the 55-meter trials to qualify for the finals and returned an hour later to run another 7.88, good for fifth overall.   

The historic Armory will host the Millrose Games this weekend, the same oval and atmosphere that thousands took part in at the New Balance Games.

Ocean Breeze Invitational

The Vikings boys are scheduled to compete in the popular Ocean Breeze Invitational this Saturday, while the girls are scheduled for Sunday. The meet is considered the largest track event in the United States, with 7,000 athletes , 250 teams and 15 states set to be represented.

The biggest challenge going into the weekend is Mother Nature dumping 8 to 10 inches of snow on the I-95 corridor, which happens to be the route to Ocean Breeze on Staten Island.