Baldwin runners finish strong

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The Baldwin boys’ track team showed it could rise to the occasion when it counted the most.

Despite a mediocre 7-6 dual meet record this spring, the Bruins impressed down the stretch with a third-place finish at the Division 1B championships at Plainview on May 16 followed by a ninth-place showing at the Nassau Class AAA championship meet in Westbury the next week. Two individual runners and a relay team combined to win four events at the division meet, while three others placed in the top three in their categories.

Coach Rich Carroll said he was pleased with the overall effort this season despite the lack of firepower in the one-on-one matchups.

“We did very well in invitationals,” he said. “For whatever reason, we do well in bigger meets because everybody is knocking everybody else off. But when we go head-to-head, it really kind of shows our lack of field events.”

Senior Jevon Walker stood out in his final meets of his high school career, winning the 400- and 110-meter hurdles at the division meet before placing third and fourth, respectively, in those events at the counties. Earlier in the spring, he was the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles during the Nassau Coaches Invitational on April 6 and the North Shore Invitational just over a month later.

Not bad for someone who didn’t start hurdling until last year.

“He really got into it over the summer,” Carroll said. “He came back really strong in the winter and the spring. He is my MVP in the spring.”

Aside from Walker’s victory, which came in exactly 59 seconds, Baldwin dominated the 400 hurdles event at the division meet with senior Brian Scannell placing third (63.04) and junior Justin Ross just behind him in fourth (64.13.)

“I expected [Jevon] to win the division, but Brian Scannell was a bigger surprise than anything,” Carroll said. “[Justin] took up hurdles in the spring and he worked hard to get where he finished at.”

Junior Patrick Mulvey followed up his 800-meter wins at the Colbert Britt and Bulldog Invitationals by taking the division final with a time of just over 2 minutes, 4 seconds. His time was slightly better at the counties (2:01.82) despite finishing third.

Mitiu Shittu also turned heads in his final runs of 2019 with a runner-up finishes in the 200- and 400-meter dashes at the division meet followed by a third-place effort in the county 400 final. Fellow junior Liam Graff finished third behind Mulvey in the 800 and was fourth in the 1,600-meter run at the division meet.

The Bruins also boasted two strong relay teams this season. The 4x400 foursome of Walker, junior Justin Stuart and sophomores Isaiah Feimster and Ronardo Brizeus claimed the division title with a time of 3:30.96, almost three seconds better than second-place East Meadow, and were still eligible for states at press time. The 4x100 team of senior Mycal Ransom and juniors Isaiah Forbes, Jeremy Jean-Baptiste and Emil Acosta finished second at the division meet.