Rye Neck Track & Field

That Crashing Sound You Hear Is All the Panther Records Breaking

By Mitch Silver

Are you sitting down? Rye Neck’s track athletes certainly aren’t. Lately they’ve been out running, leaping, and throwing. Oh, and breaking…records. In the four major meets of the young 2018 outdoor season — the Ossining and Harrison Relays, and the Gold Rush and Somers Invitationals — Panther athletes have shattered 15 school marks. Fifteen!

Individual performances first: Chris Ortiz went 27.83 for the 200-meter hurdles at Gold Rush, where Lucas Pasquina finished the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:13.84. Melissa Valqui set a new shotput record of 28’ 2” at Harrison, and Juliana Silva set a new record for the one mile-walk at Somers this past Saturday in 10:51.82.

Brendan Tuohy broke Rye Neck’s 400-meter dash record twice. He set a mark of 53.38 up in Ossining and lowered it in Somers to 53.15. Guess he likes the up-county tracks.

As for the relays, if there’s a school record still standing, it’s awfully hard to find. Sprinters Anna Boswell, Sydney Simon, Morgan Parker, and Enora Lauvau finished in 57.8 for the 4×100 at Gold Rush, where the same quartet went 4:52.30 in the 4×400.

Sara Ferreira anchored in place of Lauvau in the 4×200 relay at Ossining, where the team broke the Rye Neck record in 2:06.90. Then they each shaved more than a second off that mark at Somers, crossing the tape in 2:02.64.

The boys weren’t just sitting around, either. Diego Merlos, Milo Haviland, Tyler Simon, and Lucas Pukit ran the 4×200 at Ossining in 1:47.32, and then Haviland, Julian Allison, Raymond Rivituso, and Daniel Ricci lowered it at Somers to 1:43.20. Dan Fujiwara, Tuohy, Ray Rivituso, and Ortiz crushed the 4×400 at Gold Rush in 3:40.88. Fujiwara, Merlos, Ortiz, and Tuohy now own the Sprint Medley Relay record of 3:44.89 as well.

And those are just the records. Coaches Myla Allen, Dennis Loosen, and Marcella Scalise were just as happy with the placements — Rye Neck athletes finished in the top 15 in half a dozen events against all comers at Somers, including many of the largest schools in the Section.

 You’re looking at the new owners of over a dozen Rye Neck school records.