Arlington Athletics --- Home of the Admirals --- Girls Indoor Track

Late Saturday night at the Armory Track and Field Center, Arlington High School took first place in both the boys' and girls' divisions at the Section One, League I-C Championships.

"Early afternoon, around 3:30 when the team got together, I just mentioned that having won the county championship a week before, that was one of the team goals, but it wouldn't be complete without a league championship," Arlington coach Steve Arnett said on Sunday of his pre-match speech. "It wouldn't be keeping in tradition with Arlington track and field.

"We got it done the way that we're capable of. But championships are never easy."

The Arlington girls scored 219.5 total points, more than doubling second-place John Jay's 107.5. Mahopac, Carmel Roy C. Ketcham and Lakeland/Panas finished fourth through sixth, respectively.

On the boys' side, Arlington earned 165 points, edging John Jay's 108. Roy C. Ketcham finished in fourth, behind Lakeland/Panas and ahead of Mahopac and Carmel.

Still, Arnett made it clear that the high point differentials are not indicative of just how hard -earned the victories were.

"When you see the points, I don't know if you always see the sweat, what's behind the energy that goes into the end result," he said.

For Arlington, the key to the matches on Saturday was the distance events.

On the girls' side, Haley McMahon and Rachel Sorna finished 1-2 in the 1,000 meters, Victoria Sanford and Chelsea Hanson went 1-2 in the 1,500, and Hanson and Brianna Service placed first and second in the 3,000.

For the boys, Jared Leslie and Daniel Kane were first and second in the 1,000, Adam Doherty placed first in the 3,200, and the Admirals took the top four spots in the 1,600, led by Leslie's first-place finish.

Arnett said that the length of the meet, which lasted three-and-a-half hours in all, made it especially tough on the distance runners.

"Kids are coming back on very little rest to compete in an endurance event," he said, while noting that the girls' racked up 54 points in the three distance events alone.

Throwers shine

Also excelling in the throwing events, four Admiral throwers qualified for nationals, Alyssa Pehmoeller, who won the weight throw and shot put, Kyle Albrecht, who won the weight throw, Meaghan Beckley and Krissy Hoover.

"I'm thrilled to death," Arlington throwing coach Frazer Pehmoeller said. "We've had kids go to nationals every year, but this is the first time we've had four kids going."

Other Arlington winners on the girls' side included Samantha Olyha (high jump), Aislinn McIlvenny (long jump), Cynthia Herivaux (triple jump) and all three relay events. The 4x400 relay squad of Olyha, Caroline Nasr, Julie Gjonaj and McMahon posted a time of 4 minutes, 13.7 seconds, the fastest in the area.

On the boys' side for Arlington, Andrew Howard (55 high hurdles), Sean Reilly (high jump) and 4x800 relay team all won.

Mike Benischek-Poughkeepsie Journal Staff

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