Leading off today: Rush-Henrietta junior Lanae-Tava Thomas tied a meet record Friday en route to winning the girls Division I long jump at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association track and field championships.
Thomas jumped 20 feet, 7 inches with the help of a slight but legal tail wind on her first jump. She tied the meet mark established by Jen Clayton of Suffern in 2009. She had two other 20-footers among her six jumps and easily fended off runner-up Kiana Stallworth of New Rochelle (18-10.25).
Thomas was also engaged in an impressive duel with St. Anthony's senior Halle Hazzard in the sprint preliminaries.
Hazzard qualified first in the 100 and 200 meters in :11.90 and :24.07, respectively. Thomas was second in each, posting :12.03 and :24.08.
In other field events at Union-Endicott's Ty Cobb Stadium, Oneida junior Julianna Cavanagh leaped 37 feet, 11.25 inches in the Division II competition to break a 30-year-old school record in the triple jump.
"The weather is perfect, so I felt like it was a good day to break a record," she said after tacking just more than a foot onto her previous personal best.
Corning's Kevin Moshier's raced home first in the boys 3,200 meters in 9:11.34, more than two seconds clear of next-best. The Hawks' Jessica Lawson retained her title in the 3,000, finishing in 9:25.68 to 9:26.78 for runner-up Katherine Lee of Shoreham Wading River.
Lawson narrowly missed her PR of 9:24.36 from the 2016 meet.
"I'm so happy,” she said. "Obviously there were a lot of fast girls in the race and I knew that coming in. To be able to come away with the win is extremely exciting and I'm just honored to race with so many fast girls."
Newburgh enjoyed a stellar day in the relays, beginning with the boys 1,600 dropping another second off its state-best season mark for the NYSPHSAA Division I championship. Stephon Scott, Brendon Hanson, Ryler Gould and Robert Walker clocked 3:14.05.
The Newburgh girls 400 relay captured the Division I final in a school-record :46.97, the fastest New York showing of the spring. The Goldbacks' Justine Brooks, Ahnrea McCaskill, Kyara Thompson and Maimuna Jammeh were nearly a second better than their previous top mark.
Both quartets will return Saturday for Federation finals.
Seeded first in both weight events, Jeff Derwin of Broadalbin-Perth had to settle for second in the Division II shot put but came back for a big win in the discus with a throw of 172-5, a margin of more than 10 feet over second place.
• Colonie senior Jerermiah House, the top seed in the 110 hurdles and No. 2 in the 400 hurdles, did not finish his opening heat in the morning a week after suffering an injury at the end of the state qualifier.
NYSPHSAA baseball semifinals: Catcher Andrew Primm broke open Massapequa's 7-1 win over McQuaid with a three-run triple in the sixth inning, advancing the Chiefs to the Class AA championship game.
Dan Gdanski struck out six and allowed seven hits in a complete game.
• Run-scoring hits by Jake Evans in the third inning and Joe Zywicki in the fourth put Liverpool ahead for good in a 4-2 victory over Kingston in the other semifinal.
Left-hander Jeff Destefano threw a seven-hitter.
Class A: Sophomore right-hander Kyle Taborne finished with a six-hitter for his second shutout in Vestal's last three postseason games, a 7-0 triumph against Whitesboro.
Taborne struck out seven and walked four. He stranded two runners in five of the seven innings.
"He’s fearless and he can throw a breaking ball that's out of this world, how much it breaks, at any point in the count," Vestal coach Tank Anderson said. "He makes that quality pitch at that point in time to be able to get a lazy pop-up."
• Wantagh defeated Pittsford Sutherland 5-1 as senior catcher Trevor Fagan went 3-for-4 with an RBI single and a run scored.
