4/21 Marked the first invitational for the Mercy Boys in a few weeks.  Despite a GLARING number of absences, a lot of the boys achieved personal bests and season bests performances.  Like a few other teams, the injury bug hit the team this week.  Senior Brian Merle and hutdler Luis Cintron-Leonardo both injured their legs and could only run one event.  We hope to have them back at full strength ASAP. 
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Pat Derenze led off the day for the Monarchs by setting a school record in the 3200m run (two mile) by running it in 10:57.8.  With a stronger last mile, Pat has plenty more time in him this season at the 3200 meter distance.  He later came back and ran the open 400 and 4x4 in 58.4 and 62.0 respectively. 
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Matt Abazis had a great day with a fourth place finish in the Freshman-Sophomore Long Jump.  He soared to a distance of 18 feet 6.25 inches.  He later came back and ran the 1600 (mile) in a school record of 4:53.3 seconds.  This was an 11 second PR for Matt and he ran a 56.8 an hour after in the 4x4. 
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Brian Willett continued progressing by PR'ing in the 800 by running 2:10.5.  He has a few more seconds before he owns the 1 year old school record of 2:06. Willett anchored the 4x4 for Mercy in 54.5, the fastest split of the year for any Mercy athlete. 
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Senior Captain Jay  Marano fresh off his trip to Europe had a big PR in the 400.  He circled the track one full time in 55.82 seconds and finished strongly in his heat.  He got pushed around a little bit at the start of the 4x4 and split a 58.8 to lead off for the Monarchs. 
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Andrew Glasgow had strong performances in the 100 and the 200 by running a 12.5 and 26.2.  Dale Kelly competed well in his heats of the 100 and 200 as well despite being the youngest athlete in either race.  Kelly showed he is well ahead of the learning curve with his starts of his sprints.  With improved size and strength he could excel in many events. 
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John Tuthill and Chris Motlenski waited hours upon hours (upon hours...) over in the throws circle before throwing PR's in the shot.  26 feet for Tuthill and 33'8 for the newcomer Motlenski.  Tuthill stayed late and just missed his PR in the discus by 3 feet.
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Elijah Louis jumped equal to his PR in the triple jump by hop, skipping, and jumping his way to a 35 foot 5 inch performance.
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The Monarchs compete next against  Center Moriches at Center Moriches on Monday, April 23rd.
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Emily Venesina broke a school record as well on Saturday.  She competed in the steeplechase by herself at the Joe Brandi Relays at Connetquot HS.  She shattered the old record by 9 seconds.  She completed the 2000 meter race in 8:06.0.  ​
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Congratulations to all the new school record holders.



The Mercy Girls competed in the suffolk coaches invitational on Saturday 4-14 and had a number of standout performances.​
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Despite a glaring number of absences from the team, some girls excelled and etched their names smack in the middle of the suffolk county "best of season" lists which can be found at just-in-time-racing.com.  In the girls first event of the day, the 1500 meters, the Monarchs had four competitors.  Emily Venesina got the team off to a hot start with her season best 5:22.4 to place fourth in her heat.  Emily ran well during the second half of the race but was boxed in and unable to go after the leaders when she wanted.  A fourth place finish was still quite respectable for this point in the season.  Senior siblings Ashley and Emily Yakoboski ran great for the first 3/4 of the race but lacked the final gear to acquire new PR's.  Coach Gregg promises that gear is coming.  8th grand wunderkind Meg Tuthill ran in the freshman-sophomore division and although feeling tired from beach frolicking the day before, ran a season and team best 5:12.1 to place in the top 5.​
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Senior Captains; Tori Tremble  and Sasa Vann continued their outstanding senior seasons with great performances in the sprints.  Tremble recorded personal bests in the 100 and 400 hurdles as well as another solid time in the 100 meter hurdles.  She ran 13.0 for 100 and 72.1 for the 400 hurdles and moved onto the best of season list for both.  Vann (attending Buffalo State in the fall and running track for them), ran the fifth fastest time of the day in the 100 (12.90 FAT) and the sixth fastest time of the day in the 200 (27.11).  ​
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Delina Auciello, Meg Tuthill, Emily Venesina, Tiffany "where is my gelato" Holahan and the Yakoboskis, all ran the 800.  All of them except Auciello were on tired legs but all ran well.  Auciello and Tuthill garnered "best of season" times but were disappointed in the way their races played out.  ​
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​Colleen Edwards continued her strong racewalking season by placing in the top 10 in the freshman-sophomore division.  Senior Captain Shannon Nunez didn't skip a beat fresh off the plane from Italy by recording a personal record of 76 feet 4 inches in the discus.  Nunez has declined to comment on her secret Italian workouts that made this possible.  Coaches believe it has something to do with either the desserts or local accents.  ​
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Other strong performances came from Danisha Carter and Delaney Macchirole in the 200.  Both just barely missed the best of season lists. The girls have 9 days off from competition before a busy with meets at home against Center Moriches, the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia, and the Westhampton Beach Invitational.
 
Holy Cow! The Intra-Squad Scrimmage 2k12 was a down to the wire thriller (think edge of your seat action movie that doesnt involve Paul Walker or Nicholas Cage).  The meet came down to the last relay and the final score was decided by TWO points!!...
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The meet started off with a 1000m race that got Pats Pulverizers off to a quick start.  A slow early pace played right into their hands and a 1-2 finish by Pat Derenze and Brian Willett in 3:05.0 and 3:05.6 gave them an 8-1 lead.  The next event was the Long Jump.  Senior Junior Rudfil had the three furthest jumps and took the event with an 18 foot 3.5 inch leap that quickly closed the score to 11-7 after two events.
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The 110 meter hurdles featured two newbies to the event including a complete ringer free agent that was FLOWN IN FROM ITALY and signed to a ten day contract to compete for Drews Drillers.  That wild card was none other than senior captain Jay "I cant decide if i like distance, sprints or field events"  Marano.  The hurdles was extremely close between second and third with Luis Cintron taking home the win.  A second and third place tie between Brian Merle and Jay gave them four points for the event and lengthened their deficit to 16-11. 
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The shot put came next and there were some BIG PR's by guys on the team.  Rob Folkes came up big for the Pulverizers and chucked that large circle of iron 37 feet 10+ inches.  Unihammy Rajotte and Matt Big Daddy Haughn rounded out the other scoring spots to keep the score respectably close before some of their stronger events came up.
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The 100 was on the table and this was a big chance for the Drillers to gain some serious points back.  Tom Kent and Rudfil were the two top seeds in the 100 and it showed.  They went 1-2 and ran 12.0 and 12.2 in the process.  Brian Merle scored the lone point for PP's and all of a sudden, just like that the score was close, where it would remain for the rest of the meet.  Going into the open 400 it was 23-22 DD's.
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With the 400 on tap, PP's were hoping to pick up some points with top seed Brian Willett.  Despite some chatter on the backstretch from Rudfil, Willett prevailed in a 58.3.  A huge turning point of the meet was when A time from the second heat, run by Cheetos Louis came within a tenth of a second of Rudfils and a four point swing occured.  Now the score was PP's +2.
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The meet was nearing 3/4 completion and the 200 was up.  Tom Kent came in as the heavy favorite and powered down the homstretch in 24.4 to take the win with a second from Andrew "eye patch" Glasgow and third by Dale DC Kelly (although replays later showed he had a VERY shaky start).  The lead on the team front switched back to DD's favor by 1 point. The 400 hurdles gave those points right back though with a win by Luis Cintron over Matt Abazis by two tenths of a second 64.9-65.1.  Abazis running his third race of the day proved to be a controversial move later in the meet during the relay portion.  SportsCenter later brought up rules that were not previously seen by one of the captains that only THREE running events were allowed and this was Abazis' third. 
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With the meets Longest event coming up, the 2000m and the team score only separated by two points, a lot was on the line.   Junior captain Pat Derenze took command early and held off a late move from Riley Joinnides to secure the win with an 80 second last lap (all made up in the last 100 meters).  Unihammy Rajotte pulled out all the stops and threw his ringer into the 2000 to secure a third place finish and pick up a valuable point.   The field event portion of the meet was up next and it served as a crucial resting period for some runners before the relays.
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This was probably the most exciting part of the meet.   The high jump, although some questionable form was used, was extremely closely contested and close.  It came down to Rudfil, Kent, and Willett, all major point scorers already in the meet.  Kent came into 5'0 behind on misses to the other two but cleared it on his second try to move into first.  Rudfil then cleared on his third attempt and left all the pressure on Willett.  Willett came through and cleared five feet by the tiniest of margins.   Rudfil was the only one to clear 5'2 and he did so on his first try.  The other two missed their three attempts and split the points for 2nd and third.   There were two open events left and there was only two points separating the two teams.  Drillers leading going into the discus.
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The discus was filled with a ton of drama and was started off in fine fashion by team captain Unihammy Rajotte.  Rajotte chucked the 1.8 kilogram disc 99 feet 9 inches PR'ing and putting the pressure on PP's to match his mark.  Rob Folkes came out and answered the call right off the bat with a 100 foot 9 inch throw to take the lead by 1 foot.  Drew came right back on his second throw and heaved an 8 foot PR amassing a distance of over 107 feet.  Folkes mustered up a 102 foot throw on his third but could not best Rajottes 107.  Matt Haughn cleaned up third place with a 94 foot throw to put the drillers up five with one open event remaining. 
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Triple jump was SO close between three guys.  All three PR'ing by 12 inches or more and new faces to the event Abazis and Marano stepped up huge for the Drillers.  Each jumper got further and further on each jump and Abazis eventually claimed the win over Louis with a 36 foot 10 inch jump to win by 4 inches. the drillers got a 1-3 finish to create an 8 point lead going into the relays; meaning they only had to win one relay to secure the title by 8 points. 
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They chose to load up their first relay making a curious decision not to run Tom Kent on the 200 leg of the sprint SMR and run him in the 100.  He gave them a lead heading into the final exchange when Pat Derenze ran a great anchor leg of 58.0 to hold off a hard closing Riley Joinnides to set up the final relay for ALL THE MARBLES (think remember the titans final scene...)
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With anchor Brian Willett waiting to run whatever his team needed to, the Drillers could not use Abazis because of the event cap he reached earlier in the meet.  Willett got the lead after a solid first three legs and extended it throughout his leg.  In fact, he ran so fast, the ringer from Italy; Jay Marano could only make it 600 meters before falling to the ground in exhaustion where he gave the stick (illegally) to Rudfil who ran across the field to give the stick to Kent who still could not take down Willett.  Video replay would later confirm that since this was a 4 person SMR and the Drillers used 6 people to complete the race, as well as running across the field instead of the track, they were disqualified.  What a way to end the meet.  The pulverizers  took home the title by 2 points and were promptly challenged to a rematch during the bagel feast.  I can say as a fan of the meet that I look forward to the rematch.
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Final Score- 60-58 Pats Pulverizers
Estimated Attendance- 7 + Heron
Weather- 60-65 and Sunny, Wind 5-10mph on backstretch )

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4-11-12: Port Jefferson SteepleFest. 
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Mercy had three athletes compete at the early season Steeple only meet at Port Jefferson HS.  For those of you who dont know what steeplechase is, it is a 2000 or 3000 meter race (the longer being the boys distance) that has 18 or 28 barriers (hurdles that do not fall down if you touch them).  Then, 150 meters from the finish line there is a barrier that is further complicated by a water "pit" which gradually increases in depth the closer you get to the barrier.  The purpose of the barriers are to break the athletes rhythm and to show some athleticism by jumping over them.  The water barrier is only tackled easily by the most experienced and best steeplechasers.  Many use the barrier to propel them further away from the deep part of the pit and try and land with only one foot in the water. 
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All three Mercy athletes that competed Wednesday in blustery and cool conditions achieved personal records. Jen Perugi got the Monarchs off to a good start with a huge 33 second personal record of 9:47.09.  About an hour later, Emily Venesina missed the school record by an agonizingly close amount of 1.8 seconds while running an 8:16.81.  That record is currently held by the third competitors older sister.  Patrick Derenze (brother of Caiti Derenze), ran a 2.1 second personal record and a new school record of 11:13.90.  All three competitors have only done one steeple practice/workout this season.  Hopefully all three can get another shot at it later in the season.  
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​4-10-12 Mercy Girls Dual Meet vs. Stony Brook
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The Mercy Girls Track and Field Team continued their undefeated season with a win in their only away dual meet of the year.  The girls overcame an abundance of absences in order to defeat the talented SB team.  Leading the way for the Monarchs was seniors Sasa Vann and Tori Tremble.  Each winning two events each in the sprints and hurdles.  Senior Meghan Donnelly continued her breakout season with a huge personal best in the triple jump to win the meet. She also scored two more personal records in the 100m Hurdles and the High Jump to score for the Monarchs. Wins in other events came from Delaney Macchirole (400m), Delina Auciello (2:35.3) the 4x1 (57.9) and the 4x8 (11:00.9)  The distance team fought through a few notable absences including captain Emily Venesina to put up some nice times.  8th Grade standout Meg Tuthill won the 1500m in her fastest time of the season and was a part of the winning 4x800 relay.  Lauren Valle also was part of that 4x800 relay and nearly set a personal record on her second race of the day.  Ashley and Emily Yakoboski both ran well in the 3000m and the 800m.  Below are the results from the meet.  The girls compete again on Saturday at Bayshore HS in the Suffolk Coaches Invite. 
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100m Hurdles- Tori Tremble 16.9 Seconds (PR and New School Record!!!) Meghan Donnelly 19.7 seconds
1500m Run- Meg Tuthill- 5:17.5, Lauren Valle 5:46.3, Siobhan Merrill 6:02.1
400m Run-  Delaney Macchirole 67.9, Danisha Carter 69.0
800m Run- Delina Auciello 2:35.3, Emily Y 2:46.7, Shannon Fitz 3:21.1
100- Sasa Vann 12.7, Julianna Cintron 14.8, Marta W 15.1, Terry Spath 16.0
200- Sasa Vann 27.1, Julianna Cintron 30.8, Marta W 32.4, Terry Spath 34.4
400h- Tori Tremble- 78.9, Courtney Walsh 82.8 (with a fall)
3000m Run- Ashley Y 12:53.0
1500m Racewalk- Colleen Edwards 8:40.5
High Jump- Meg Donnelly 4'6, Cari Gehring 4'4, Delaney Macchirole 4'4
Long Jump- Julianna Cintron- 10'8, Tori Tremble 11'1
Triple Jump- Meghan Donnelly- 33'8.5, Terry Spath- 24'7.25, Colleen Edwards 24'1.5
Shot Put- Meghan Donnelly 26'9, Bianca Compass 21'5, Shannon Fitz 17'2
Discus- Bianca Compass 68'2