Farmingdale's Anthony Diaz gets early lead and keeps going to win 3,200 at Nassau Class A championships

Farmingdale’s Anthony Diaz spent the beginning part of Tuesday night’s Nassau Class A track and field championship in the danger zone. And for distance runners, that means the early lead. Diaz led virtually wire-to-wire en route to a nine-minute, 36.61 second clocking in winning the 3,200 meters at St. Anthony’s High School.

Diaz made an early move toward the top and never relinquished it. The choice was a risky one for sure, but one that Diaz was confident he wouldn’t regret.

“I mean, I was kind of concerned about leading because there is a main issue when it comes to leading — you need to make sure you have the power to do it. If you don’t have enough endurance, you’re not going to make it through. However, since I thought I had more power than everyone else, I decided to lead the entire race.”

In the first 1,000 meters, Diaz ran with a pack of five runners, moving through the split in 2:59. The group thinned to three and went through 1,600 in 4:49.4.

“I felt like my pace was pretty good,” Diaz said. “It felt uncomfortable, which is what you want to be. You want to be uncomfortable. Comfortable means that you’re not pushing.”

Diaz broke away from MacArthur’s Jason Maynard in the final two laps, sprinting home and leaving nothing to chance. Maynard was second in 9:40.42.

“If you’re pacing the entire race, you want to make sure you have enough energy to kick at the end,” Diaz said. “If you don’t have a good kick, they have a really good chance to catch you.”

Elsewhere, MacArthur’s Timmy Weber won the 1,000 in 2:36.83, outpacing Syosset’s Justin DePinto, who was second in 2:37.47. Weber came back and won the 1,600 in 4:29:84, making a final move to the front with 400 left to pass Port Washington’s Colin Funk, who was second in 4:30.75.

“I had a lot of lactic acid build up in my legs, so I just wanted to beat him at the end,” Weber said of the 1,600. “It was really tough to kick, but once I got in first, I just knew that I just had to hold on…I made a surge with about 500 left to take the lead and I finally got the lead with 400 left.”

Massapequa’s Sean Wilde won the 600 in 1:27.28. Farmingdale’s Andre Leslie won the 55 in 6.44 seconds and his teammate Amir Cambridge won the 55 hurdles in 7.83 seconds.

In the field, Freeport’s Christian Quinn won the long jump, flying 23 feet, 3 ½ inches. Oceanside’s Dan Mullin won the shot put with a 49 foot, ½ inch toss. East Meadow's Brandon Love won the pole vault, clearing 15 feet.