Briarcliff Wins Track Title at Pleasantville Meet

Winning any championship is special, especially one at a nearby venue, allowing a team to enjoy the title with friends and family.

That was the case for the Briarcliff boys and girls track squads, which both placed first at the Fourth Annual Bob Smith Memorial Relay Meet held at and sponsored by the American Legion on a picture-perfect Saturday.

More than 200 athletes from Alexander Hamilton, , Byram Hills, Pleasantville, Valhalla and Westlake competed in the April 9 event. In the boys competition, Briarcliff scored 104 points with wins in six of the 12 events and finished among the top three in each of the others. Pleasantville placed third overall.

According to Pleasantville Athletic Director John Bauerlein, "This is a great opportunity to bring athletes from the local communities together for a day of competition and camaraderie. This was our fourth annual event, named after our longtime coach here at Pleasantville. He had a passion for the sport of track and field and touched the lives of many athletes. This is a great way to honor him.”

“We are also very pleased with the support and sponsorship we receive from the American Legion,” Bauerlein continued. “Their presence and support at the meet each year adds to the wonderful atmosphere for athletes and spectators alike."

Briarcliff accumulated 88 points in the girls competition to edge out second-place Alexander Hamilton, 88 to 84 with Pleasantville placing fifth.
 
Briarcliff boys head coach Sean Ryan had high praise for his team as well as the meet overall.

"This is one of our favorite meets to attend each year,” Ryan said. “It's a well-run meet and always provides exciting competition.”

What made things more exciting for Ryan was the way his team performed.

“Our entire team had an excellent day with Briarcliff athletes setting 52 new personal records,” Ryan said. “We were particularly pleased with our boys' performances.”

One of those performances was in the 1,600-meter run where the team of Stephen Shine (4:44.7) and Andrew Rice (4:55.9) finished in first and second respectively for the win.

Other events the Briarcliff boys took first in were the 1,600-meter relay of Matt Brucculeri, Stephen Shine, and Jon Marrero (3:42.9); 3,200-meter relay of Stephen Shine, Andrew Rice, Tyler Cottrell and Michael DiRosa (8:57.4); discus team of TK Maeda, Ryan Hooper and Hanbin Wang and shot-put team of Hooper, Wang and Nabeed Hassan both winning their events; and the 330-meter shuttle hurdles consisting of Harry Zimmerman, Jeff He and Jack Keiter placed first.

Briarcliff’s girls highlights were in the 1,500-meter run where Lauren Miller (5:32.2) and Alexander Coffey (5:50.9) ran one-three for the win; 1,600-meter relay where Sharon Luan, Lauren Miller, Sophie Feuer and Madeline Zimmerman ran 4:28.3 for the victory; the distance-medley team of Jessica Linde, Kathryn Bailey, Lauren Miller and Alex Coffey finishing first as did girls long-jumpers Strauss, Feuer and Zimmerman.

Pleasantville Standouts

The Pleasantville coaching staff was pleased with its teams' performances as well.

"We have a small squad this year, so filling out the relay teams can be a challenge," Tom Patterson, the boys' coach, said. "But our kids all stepped up and we are very proud of their performances."  

The Panthers middle-distance crew took silver in three events. In the 1,600-meter team run Mikey Elliott, John Rollman and Charlie Carway, all ran season best times. Elliott and Rollman both came back a short time later to team up with Jake Ruth and Joe Bennetti for silver in the distance-medley relay. 

In the final running event of the day, Elliott, Rollman and Ruth were joined by Tom Villa to run a very good time of 3:52 for second in the 1,600-meter relay.   

Pleasantville girls track Coach Dawn DiMassimo was rightfully proud of her squad as well.

"With a few key athletes unable to compete it put that much more of a burden on some of our girls and I was very happy with their performances," DiMassimo said. “The highlight for the girls team was a win in the shuttle-hurdle relay with the team of Jackie Molnar, Emily Perrotti and Jen Peterson.”

Also, the long jump team of Molnar, Danielle Smith and Stephanie Villa took second place, while Jianna Bennetti, Elen Halimou, and Gabby Santander combined with the hurdle and long jump teams to score in five more running relays. 

"Most of our boys and girls all ran in three or four events at the meet, so I'm sure they are were feeling some aches and pains the next day,” quipped Patterson.