GOSHEN – “April showers bring May flowers,” goes the adage. But this year, Mother Nature altered the polarity by sending a plethora of rain in May. As fate would have it, a downpour ensued on this year’s OCIAA track and field championships which are normally held over two days, but this year were compacted into a one-day affair. 

The meet, which takes place each spring, is a massive aggregation of all 26 schools in the OCIAA (Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association). It is an opportunity to sort out the best young men and women runners, jumpers and throwers in this half of Section IX. 

On a separate day, the schools from the MHAL (Mid-Hudson Athletic League) run their own championships. The only time the two leagues compete against each other is at sectionals which are divided by Class. The OCIAA meet features all the schools in the league regardless of enrollment. Consequently, most of the point scorers hail from the larger schools that have a much larger talent pool than the smaller ones from which to draw from.

That said, every year elite athletes from Sullivan County schools earn medals for places from one to six. A few standouts win their events, in a preview of likely success at sectionals, the state qualifier and the state meet. Teamwise, Tri-Valley’s boys posted the top county aggregate success finishing eighth with 37 points. Twenty of those points came from first place finishes by Adam Furman in the 1600 and brother Van Furman in the 3000 Steeplechase. 

Adam also took third in the 3200 despite running less than one second off his school record time of 9:13.85 set at the Glenn D. Loucks game a week prior. Furman held the lead in the early part of the race with Monroe-Woodbury’s Collin Gilstrap and Collin Catherwood drafting closely behind on his shoulder. 

They subsequently passed him with Gilstrap turning in a winning time of 9:07.50 and Catherwood taking second in 9:08.92. 

Furman took it in stride. “I can do better, and I will.” 

He’ll win the 3200 at sectionals and has a great chance to win the Div. II title at states. He exacted some revenge beating the M-W duo in the 1600. 

Teammate Craig Costa added five points with a fourth-place finish in the event. Van Furman was literally unchallenged in the 2000 steeplechase (9:42.19), an event he is projected to win at sectionals and strongly contend for at states. For Sullivan West, which hoped to make inroads at the meet, an error in submitting entries prevented a cadre of athletes from competing in their events or scoring. The Westies hope to have a good showing at the upcoming Class C/D sectional meet. 

Monticello freshman Quentin Liciaga looked to make a strong placement in the pentathlon, that series of five events including 110 hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot put and the 1500. 

As an eighth grader last year, he won the event at sectionals. He got off to a great start capturing the 110 hurdles and was still in first after the long jump, but his high jump was far short of his nearly 6-3 recorded at Middletown this past week. The wet ground was likely a factor in his jumping shortfall. He needed good jumps to offset his difficulty in the 1500.  Still, he took seventh overall with 2,261 points. 

On the girls side of the ledger, Monticello posted the top county score finishing ninth with a total of 22 points. Senior hurdler Taina DeJesus captured the 400 hurdles (1:04.80) and finished fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.94) amassing more than half of the Montis’ points. 

Tri-Valley’s Anna Furman looked strong in the 3000, taking third with PR time of 10:35.23. She finished seventh in the 1500. Both the 3000 and 1500 were handily won by Cornwall’s Karrie Baloga, the number-one 3000 runner in the nation (9:20.75), as well as tops in the U.S. in the 2000 steeplechase (6:22.85). 

Homestead’s Gabriela Almonte took third in the 100. Fallsburg’s Gisella King was fifth in the high jump and sixth in the 400. See the accompanying results for other top eight finishers. Look for many of the county athletes to put forth their best performances of the spring at this week’s upcoming sectionals. 

The Class C/D clash is on May 27 at Rondout Valley, while the Class A/B encounter is on May 29 at Goshen.

Boys Results

Team scores and key (through 17 of 19 events): 1. Monroe-Woodbury (MW) 116 points; 2. Pine Bush (PB) 92; 3. Kingston (King) 61; 4. Cornwall (Corn) 56; 5. Newburgh (NFA) 49; 6. Goshen (Gosh) 47; 7. James I. O’Neill (JIO) 44; 8. Tri-Valley (TV) 37; 9. Beacon (Bea) 35; 10. Washingtonville 35; 11. Middletown (Mid) 29; 12. Valley Central 27; 13. Minisink Valley 19; 14. Port Jervis 13; 15. Monticello 10; 16. Chester 6; 17. Warwick 5; 18. Sullivan West 2. 19. Eldred and S.S. Seward 1.  

Unseeded 100: 1. Noah Edwards (T-V) 12.00; 3. Ivan Rodriguez (Lib) 12.16. Unseeded 200: 4. Brodey Herbert (SW) 25.37; 8. Noah Edwards (T-V) 25.57. 1,600: 1. Adam Furman (TV) 4:20.16; 4. Craig Costa (TV) 4:29.49. 3,200: 3. Adam Furman (TV) 9:14.06. 3,000 steeplechase: 1. Van Furman (TV) 9:42.19. High jump: 4. David Williams (Mont) 5-6; 8. Tyrese Mack (Eld) 5-3. Javelin: 2. Talan Scanna (TV) 128-3. Discus: 7. Talan Scanna (T-V) 115-07. Shot put: 7. Armaan Butler (T-V) 38-04.75. Penthathlon: 7. Quenten Liciaga (Mont) 2261 points: 110 Hurdles: 1. 16.10; Shot put: 9. 29-03.25; Long jump: 5. 18-05.75; High jump: 4: 5-01; 1500: 23. 6:08.50

4x100 Relay: 7. Monticello 46.17. 4x400 Relay: Monticello 8. 3:40.61.

Girls Results

Team scores and key: 1. Cornwall (Corn) 162 points; 2. Monroe-Woodbury (MW) 122; 3. Minisink Valley (MV) 88; 4. Warwick (War) 81; 5. Pine Bush (PB) 73; 6. Kingston (King) 47; 7. Valley Central (VC) 37; 8. Washingtonville (Wash) 23; 9. Monticello (Mont) 22; 10. Goshen (Gosh) 21; 11. Newburgh (NFA) 14; 12. James I. O’Neill (JIO) 12; 13. Tri-Valley (TV) 9; 14. (tie) Chester (Ches) and Burke Catholic (JSB) 7; 16. (tie) Fallsburg (Fall) and Homestead 6; 18. (tie) Sullivan West (SW) and Middletown (Mid) 2

100-meters; 3. Gabriela Almonte (Homestead) 12.72. 4.  Unseeded 100: 7. Violla Shami (SW) 14.20; 8. Sophia Richardson (T-V) 14.29. 200: 7. Meg Cruz (Mont) 27.72. Unseeded 200: 4. Allyson Houser (Lib) 30.03; 8. Rayanna Cottman (Lib) 30.70. 400: 6. Gisella King (Fall) 1:00.72. 2000 Steeplechase: 7. Diya Patel (Mont) 7:53.99. 1500: 7. Anna Furman (T-V) 5:01.07. 

3,000: 3. Anna Furman (TV) 10:35.23. 100 hurdles: 5. Taina DeJesus (Mont) 15.94. Unseeded 100 hurdles: 1. Chloe Brown (Mont) 20.05; 2. Tabitha Smith (Eld) 20.14; 7. Caelyn Babcock (T-V) 22.52. 400 hurdles: 1. Taina DeJesus (Mont) 1:04.80. High jump: 5. Gisella King (Fall) 4-9. Discus: 7. Violla Shami (SW) 92-00; 8. Dakota Evans (T-V) 90-81. Javelin: 4. Kendall McGregor (TV) 68-7; 8. Emily Hornbeck (T-V) 50-11.  4x100 Relay: 5. Monticello 52.83.