Wasserman and Chery win gold at state track in 2026 U.S. No. 1 times
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Sloan Wasserman entered rarified air at last month's Loucks Games by moving into the No. 11 all-time spot in the country in the girls 2,000-meter steeplechase.
Her 6:41.07 time was and remained No. 1 in the country this spring.
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That is until Sunday.
That's when, competing at Webster Schroeder High School in her last outdoor state track and field championship, the John Jay-Cross River High School senior beat her nearest opponent by nearly 10 seconds (Tri Valley Class C champion Anna Furman) to win the girls state Federation - private and public schools of all sizes - as well as the girls public Class B title, and to further move up the ladder in Section 1 and national history.
Wasserman's 6:38.36 time bumped former North Rockland standout Alex Harris (6:38.47 in 2017) from the No. 10 all-time national and No. 2 all-time Section 1 rankings.
Wasserman's time is second in Section 1 only to former Suffern star Shelby Greany, who won the 2009 state title in 6:36.9.
While the focus was rightly on Wasserman, who'll run for Div. I Boston College next year, she shared the podium with familiar faces.
Tappan Zee's Div. I Furman-bound Bridget Dunn ran a season-best 6:51.39 for fourth in the Federation and third in Class B and North Rockland's Div. I Florida Atlantic-committed Gaby Castro clocked a personal-best 6:52.47 for fifth in the Fed and first in Class A.
Arlington's Molly Pool (7:08.26) medaled in sixth in Class A.
Wasserman, who on Saturday won the girls Federation and Class B 3,000 also anchored teammates Lila Rotter, Maya Serai and Mia Haimelin to Class B gold in the girls 4x800 relay. The team's time of 9:15.71 also earned it sixth-place medals in the Fed.
Chery runs personal best in claiming Fed gold in 1,600; Pettinelli takes silver in girls 1,500
A year earlier, North Rockland's Claudel Chery ran what was then and had remained for a year as a personal-best 4:12.97 to capture second place in the boys state 1,600-meter run in both Class A and the Fed.
Sunday, the Georgetown commit not only crushed that number but ran a national-No. 1 high school time for 2026 of 4:08.19 to claim gold in the 1,600 in both the Fed and Class A.
Chery's time is No. 3 all-time in Section 1, behind former Carmel star and current pro runner Eric Holt, who clocked 4:07 to win the 2013 state Fed and large school championship and former Tappan Zee star Luke Gavigan, whose No. 2 time of 4:07.82 gave him two state titles in 2014.
Just like the girls steeplechase, the boys 1,600 proved to be a major showcase for local talent.
Pearl River's JD Lloyd McKenna captured gold in Class B and was fourth in the Federation in a personal-best 4:09.91.
He finished before fifth-place Fed medalist Marshall Brown of Rye Country Day, who clocked a personal-best 4:10.16.
Dobbs Ferry's Chris Doherty, an Amherst commit, finished sixth in Class C in a personal-best 4:17.36.
Scarsdale's Adriana Pettinelli ran a personal-best 4:21.09 to take silver in both the Fed and Class A in the girls 1,500.
Nyack's Hannah Delaney (4:35.06) was fourth in Class B in the 1,500 and just missed a Fed medal in ninth.
Horace Greeley's Malina Santee medaled in fifth in Class A at the distance, clocking 4:36.88. Pine Plains' Violet Bliss ran 4:38.68 for third in Class C and Albertus Magnus's was fifth in 4:42.32.
John Jay-East Fishkill's Nate Johnson wins boys Fed pentathlon
No, he didn't approach his national-record of 4,039 points, but John Jay-East Fishkill's Nate Johnson did something Sunday that on some levels was just as impressive.
The Purdue-bound senior scored 3,636 points at the state outdoor track and field championships to win both the boys Class A public school title and the overall boys Federation (private and public schools of all sizes).
Johnson won the pent's 110-meter hurdles, came in second in the pent's shot put and long jump, was third in the high jump and 14th in the 1,500-meter. North Rockland's Nile France (3,169 points) medaled in fourth in Class A and was eighth in the Fed.
Beacon's Brevin Timm won the boys Class B pent title with 3,088 points. Hen Hud's Taiten Robinson was fourth in B (2,948 points).
With 3,175 points, Eastchester's Phoebe Gauld medaled in fourth in the girls Class B pent and medaled in sixth in the overall girls Fed pent.
Hen Hud sophomore Sophia Savatgy left Webster with multiple medals.
She won gold in the girls Class B 100 dash, running 12.19. She was later seventh in the Fed at that distance in 12.39.
She was also eighth in the Fed in the girls 400 after finishing third in Class B a day earlier.
And Savatgy was also the girls Class B 200-meter champion. Her time was 24.67. He was later eighth in the Fed at the distance.
Savatgy and her friends, Elisa Crisp of New Rochelle and Payton Richardson of Rye Country Day, all ended up medaling in the girls 200.
Crisp ran 24.62 for fifth in the girls Class A 200 before finishing seventh later in the Fed.
Ineligible for a class medal because she attends a private school that doesn't compete under the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, Richardson ran 24.48 for fourth in the Fed.
Sleepy Hollow's Onwe wins triple jump, Suffern boys 4x400 relays, Scarsdale and New Rochelle boys relays excel
In a competition in which, remarkably, two competitors cleared better than 50 feet, Sleepy Hollow's Gilbert Onwe finished sixth in the boys Federation triple jump. His jump of 46-0.75 won gold in Class B.
Suffern won two separate boys 4x400 relay championships with Micheal Cromwell, William Lynch, William Weber and Jake Tarrant running 3:14.79 to win the Class A title before the same group later ran 3:15.21 to win the Federation title.
Scarsdale's Yuhan Cruz, Brandon Lin, Charles Rich and Nate Lynch ran 7:46.49 and New Rochelle's Anthony Athanase, Adonis Boymandija, Max Pirson and Jackson O'Rourke clocked 7:48.02 to win gold and silver in the Class A boys 4x800 relay and to finish second and third in the boys 4x800 Federation.
Bronxville and other top and strong finishers
Bronxville's Finlay Rowan, Ella McCalla, Emerson Dennis and Carina Winiecki won gold in the public girls Class C 4x800 relay in 9:18.52, a time that also gave the group eighth place in the Fed.
Tappan Zee's Gia Cassidy, Bridget Dunn, Mia Dellolio and Ryan Donovan clocked 9:21.89 in the girls 4x800 for fifth place in Class B.
Bronxville's Matt Jensen ran 9:29.46 for second place in Class C and fifth place in the Fed and Arlington's Javier Durandisse crossed in 9:30.14 for third place in Class A and sixth place in the Fed in the boys 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Nyack's Asa Signorile ran 10.98 in the boys 100-meter dash to capture fifth place in Class B and Hastings' Kai Ghalib ran 11.24 for seventh in boys Class C. Pine Bush's Zyair Reaves (10.88) was sixth in Class A.
Albertus Magnu's Heath Miller (15.14) and Bronxville's John Sekula (15.21) medaled in fourth and fifth, respectively, in the boys Class C 110-meter hurdles.
Bronxville's Javier Tomala-Reidel, Spencer Martin, Teo Valdes and Grant Patterson ran 3:26.45 to medal in fourth place in the boys Class C 4x400 relay.
Poughkeepsie-based Our Lady of Lourdes (Michael Falsetta, Edward Nuzzo, Andrew Didonna and Griffin Kinahan) ran 7:59.76 for fourth place in the boys 4x800 relay in Class B. Pearl River's Will Hogue, Julian Gonzalez, Matthew Jensen and Grant Patterson crossed in 8:02.29 for sixth in B.
Byram Hills' Zach Bourkadi (15.35) was eighth in boys Class B in the 110 hurdles.
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Wasserman and Chery win gold at state track in 2026 U.S. No. 1 times