Girls track and field spotlight: Miller Place's Jillian Scully keeps competing against herself, and leaving others way behind

Sustained success is one thing, dominance is another. But, what Miller Place senior Jillian Scully has achieved is a combination of both.

Last March, Scully won the indoor state championship in the shot put with a 42 foot, 11 ½ inch throw,  2-11 ½ better than her closest competitor. In the spring, she threw the shot 46-11 ½  to win the state championship again, this time by 4-1 ¼. She also won the state discus championship, where she threw it 154-4, 26-10 clear of her best challenger.

“I just try to remind myself throughout the season when I’m competing that I’m competing against myself and goals that I set for myself, and not the people that are there,” Scully said. “If I were to [compete strictly against others], I wouldn’t be pushing myself as hard.”

Scully, an LSU commit, won those state titles by those margins without ever lifting weights. Rather, she spent the winter season practicing outdoors, working on her throwing form in the cold weather for roughly four hours a day, six days a week.

Perhaps even larger margins of victory are in the offing this year. Scully added weight training to her regimen last June. Thus far, she has maintained her spot atop the state’s rankings in both the shot put and weight throw.

Benson-Tyler walks the walk

Port Washington junior Samantha Benson-Tyler is a budding Long Island track star who doesn't get a lot of attention due to her event: the race walk. Race walking is just as it sounds: competitive speed-walking around a track. Benson-Tyler just happens to be outstanding.

Since being elevated to the varsity team as an eighth grader, Benson-Tyler has qualified for a national championship meet in every season but one. In her five trips to national meets, she has never finished below fifth place, earning her All-American status each time. 

She set an Icahn Stadium record last June, walking the Randall's Island track in 15 minutes, 24 seconds at the USATF National Youth Outdoor Championships. 

Taking long walks and practicing short-distance race walking has allowed her to master her main event, as well as given her the ability to fight through shin pain and fatigue.

“It’s a really unique talent I have,” Benson-Tyler said. “Having the proper form is the biggest factor because, without it, you can’t finish the race. It can also minimize your pain, which will increase your endurance. You’ll see whenever I race walk that I bounce a little bit, and that helps make me faster, while reducing my pain.”

Doresca a class act

Baldwin senior Sariah Doresca has proven herself elite both on the track and in the classroom. Doresca won the state championship in the 55 meters as both a sophomore and a junior, and was part of the state championship 4x200 relay team in both those years. That got her on plenty of Division I radars. But it was her over-4.0 grade-point average that earned her visits and offers from schools like UPenn, Harvard, Cornell, UConn, Virginia, Northeastern, Penn State, Minnesota and Rutgers.

Ultimately, it was with Stanford — the first college she visited — with which she fell in love. She will be running on the school’s track and field team, but it was their medical program and her long-term aspirations that drove the decision.

“My plan was always to run to the fullest extent - which, to me, was through college,” Doresca said. “My ideal thing is to stop after college and pursue my talents in the medical field as either a doctor or nurse. I’d like to do something with helping kids … but definitely something in the medical field.”