Baldwin's Sariah Doresca, Breanne Barnett win multiple indoor track and field state titles
Sariah Doresca of Baldwin poses after winning the girls 55-meter dash at the New York State indoor track and field championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island on Saturday. Credit: Errol Anderson
For the indoor track and field dynasty that the Baldwin girls team has established, no performance has been quite this impressive.
The Bruins put on a show at the state indoor championships Saturday at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island. The program’s dominant day began with senior Sariah Doresca, a Stanford commit, winning her third consecutive state title in the 55 meters. This time, the win came in 6.86 seconds. Soon thereafter, Baldwin’s 4 x 200 meter relay team of Doresca, senior Kelys Walker, senior Jahzara Emeli and junior Breanne Barnett combined to run a venue-record 1:39.53 to capture the Division I state championship. It was the program’s third straight state championship in the event.
Barnett — New York’s top-ranked runner in the 300 — then ran 37.74 to win her first individual state championship. To finish the night, Baldwin’s same 4 x 200 team re-broke their venue record in the Federation championship, running a 1:39.33 to become the undisputed best in the state.
Doresca has nine state championships between the 55 and 4 x 200. Of all the individual titles she's won, this year's was her favorite.
“This one was definitely harder because the competition has gotten better and better every year,” Doresca said. “To me, this just feels like a big accomplishment. All my hard work has paid off. It feels a little bittersweet that it’s my last one, but I ended off on a good one, so that’s amazing.
“I’m usually not a loud person, but when I crossed the finish line, I screamed, ‘Yes!’ I couldn’t even believe that I actually won three times in a row.”
Barnett was elated to be part of the team’s elite showcase.
“I spend basically all of my time with them, so we have that bond and we also have that determination to win,” Barnett said. “One of our goals this year was to sweep all the sprints: the 55, the 300 and the 4x2.”
Elsewhere, Bayport-Blue Point senior Sophia McInnes won her 10th state championship when she broke Floyd's Zariel Macchia’s Long Island record in the 1,000 meters. McInnes ran a 2:44.18 to top Macchia’s 2:44.84, ran last month.
It was the second Long Island record that McInnes has broken this year. She ran a 1:31.7 in the 600 on Jan. 12.
“I was actually super, super excited,” McInnes said. “It was a big goal. I’m excited to have come through in my senior year, especially knowing that everything I have worked up to these past four years was all worth it. It’s always been a goal of mine to leave behind a legacy for when I go to college, and it’s just a great feeling.”
Another repeat winner was Miller Place senior Jillian Scully: the nation’s seventh-ranked shot putter. She threw the shot 44 feet, 5 inches to win her fourth state championship and her third in the shot put.
Scully had some comedy attached to her win, as the girls’ shot put championship was originally scheduled to be in the smaller of Ocean Breeze’s two cages. However, once the officials read Scully’s personal-best of 48-4 ¼, they realized that she may damage the cage if they kept the event in there. Everyone was forced to move to the larger cage to accommodate Scully’s strength, which delayed the event and ultimately drew the sarcastic ire of some of her competitors.
“I had people saying, ‘Thanks, Scully,’ because I made them have to wait longer for their event,” Scully said.
Sachem East senior Gianna Mauri rounded out the list of champions, posting a 6:50.96 in the 1,500-meter race walk to join Barnett as a first-time winner. As the state’s top-ranked competitor in the event, she felt a ton of pressure.
“It feels amazing because this is my last chance to win an indoor state championship,” Mauri said. “I was overthinking it, too, just like I was at state qualifiers. I was thinking about the worst thing that could happen, rather than the best thing that could happen. Everything about this is pure greatness.”
One of Mt. Sinai’s three relay teams claimed a state championship, as senior Cameron Campo, eighth-grader Adetola Gold, senior Kelly Hughes and freshman Cali Gabrielson combined to run a 4:03.41 in the Division II 4 x 400. The girls finished second in the race to Bishop Loughlin, but because the winner is a Catholic school, Mt. Sinai received a gold medal as the event’s public school state champion.