Kingston Wins First Ever Sectional Championship

WEST POINT – It was a historic day for the Kingston Boys Indoor Track & Field team as they walked away with their first ever Section IX Class A Championship on Saturday, February 8, at the Gillis Field House in West Point, New York. The team scored 101 points to secure the championship, defeating fourteen other teams in the process.

Joseph McDonald Jr. was responsible for twenty-four of those points with two first place finishes and one fourth place finish. McDonald was a section champion in the high jump (6’6”), and the long jump (22’1.75”), while finishing fourth in the triple jump (41’5.25”). “I just had to go to the meet and do what I needed to do to help our team win,” said McDonald. “I just feel like we are a whole different team this season and we have more talent than previous years,” added McDonald.

Carl Richards started his day in the 55-meter trials with a rank of second, running a time of 6.57 seconds. During the finals, he earned a first-place victory with a personal best time of 6.49 seconds to become a sectional champion. In the process, Richards broke Michael Devereaux’s twenty-year-old school record (6.54 seconds) set during the 2004-2005 season. Richards finished his day with teammates Marco Campbell, Logan Manor, and Peter Rogerson on the 4×200-meter relay, finishing second overall with a time of 1:34.30. Manor finished second in the long jump with a personal-best mark of 20’9.75”.

“I feel happy that all of the work that I have put in all year finally paid off in order to achieve the school record and help the team achieve its first sectional championship,” said Richards. “My hope is to extend this record even further with my next goal getting to the state championship for this (55-meter race) and the relay,” added Richards.

For the second straight season, Andrew Lee was the sectional champion for the 3200-meter run, winning the event with a time of 9:27.48. Lee would later compete in the 1600-meter run finishing in third place (4:28.03), helping the team to earn sixteen points. Lee has had many individual accomplishments but was proud of the team’s success. “I’m feeling great, we came here to win, and we did it. This was our goal going into the season and we trusted the process in order to get it done,” said Lee.

A set of personal bests occurred in the throwing events with Shawn Bleboo in the weight throw (55’2”), and Jared Nerone in the shot put (45’8.5”), both earning silver medals. Sean Henn was third in the pole vault (11’0”). The boys 4×800-meter relay team had a season’s best time of 8:26.41 led by the quartet of Steven Cooper, Tim Leichting, Nick Osuna, and Lukas Paunovic, finishing in second place.

The team’s next Sectional event will be in two weeks on Saturday, March 1st, for the Section IX State Qualifying Meet.