Garden City sophomore Emily Menges won the 3000 meters in 10:03.8, and Valley Stream North's Emilija Vaskyte and Uniondale's Ashley Hendrix ran the best times on record at the meet.
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — Garden City sophomore Emily Menges won the girls 3000 meters at the Section VIII winter State Qualifier at Suffolk Community College in 10:03.8, holding off defending champion Emily Lipari of Roslyn by 1.3 seconds. Both ran under the 10:19.1 Lipari set at the meet in 2007, making Menges' winning time the fastest on record for the event. Mepham senior Courtney Kelly was third in 10:18.4, a personal best.
Valley Stream North sophomore Emilija Vaskyte defended her title in the 1500-meter racewalk in 7:12.8, a personal best and the best time on record at the meet, improving on her own 7:32.5 from last winter. Garden City eighth-grader Molly Josephs was second in 7:29.5 and East Meadow junior Kim Slagus third in 7:49.7, both personal bests.
Uniondale senior Ashley Hendrix also repeated, winning the 55-meter hurdles in 8.3, the fastest time on record at the meet, just ahead of Glen Cove senior Danielle Silas, who ran the same time. Baldwin junior Deidra Bryant repeated in the 55 meters in 7.2, edging Floral Park Memorial senior Samantha Edwards in a matching time. Baldwin junior Christie Verdier won the 300 meters in 40.9, a personal best, and Island Trees junior Michelle Duffy won the 1500 meters in 4:59.6, also a personal best, by 11.7 seconds over Mineola senior Nicole Wissler.
On the boys side, Roslyn senior Tom Lipari won the 1600 meters in 4:38.3, a personal best, by half a second over Long Beach junior Brandon Abasolo. Port Washington junior Noah Bondy was third in 4:39.3. Lipari had finished seventh in the event a year earlier.
H. Frank Carey senior Joseph Scher won the 300 meters in 37.0, a full second ahead of Lynbrook senior Andrew Bellinger. Uniondale junior Nathaniel Mercer won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.4, beating defending champion Chris Parker of Mepham, who ran the same time. Mercer had finished fifth in the event the year before.