Six county champs for Valley Stream North

For the second straight year, both Valley Stream North track and field teams finished second at the Nassau Class B Championships at St. Anthony’s High School on Feb. 6.

The boys and girls boasted three county champions apiece.

The boys had 95 points – 16 better than last year but four shy of champion Manhasset, which placed fourth at this event a year ago. The girls amassed 88 points and their performance especially pleased coach Mike Frazer.

“As far as the girls go, I think we overachieved this year,” he said. “We lost a couple of seniors last year and we tried to fill the gaps a little bit and I didn’t know how close it would be, but winding up getting second was quite a bit of a surprise.”

The boys were hoping to take advantage of defending-champ Roslyn slumping to 19 points, but Manhasset held big scoring advantages in the distance events and relays to edge the Spartans.

“On paper, we may have been the favorite before the meet, but Coach [Steve] Steiner over in Manhasset is doing a great job,” Frazer said. “He had his share of distance runners, but he did his legwork and found a thrower, a couple of jumpers and a couple of hurdlers and was able to fill the gap. I think Manhasset won the meet instead of us losing it.”

Sedgeley Duperval paced the boys with 20 points and won the long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 5.25 inches. He fell just short of another county title in the 300-meter dash and missed third place in the 55-meter dash by identical .01 seconds.

“We’ve relied on him over the years for sure,” Frazer said. “In the sprints, .01, that’s the nature of the game. Sedgeley got nipped twice and he wasn’t happy about it. He’s happy he won the long jump.”

Raphael Baez cleared 5-10 on his first high jump try, which stood up for the win, and he was a part of the 4x200 meter relay team with Zaiden Jackson, Derrick Thrasybule and Aaron Sibblies that finished second. Fellow senior Kevin Beltran won the 3,200-meter run in just over 10 minutes and was third in the 1,600 with a time of 4 minutes, 43.14 seconds.

On the girls’ side, Moanna Thelusca cleared 34 feet to win the shot put and fellow senior Nattaly Lindo took the weight throw with a toss of 47-8.5. Thelusca was third in that event at 38-10.

The girls 4x200 relay of Alyanna Nadal, Alissa Azor, Jazmyn Dorsey and Lexie Sowerby ran a season-best 1:54.14 to win that event. Nadal and twin sister Cianna finished second and third, respectively, in the 55-meter hurdles and Dorsey earned All-County status after being the runner up in the long jump.

Sophomore Hailey Quinlan was second in the 1,500-meter walk and senior Brook Fessler held the same spot in the high jump.