By Mitch Abramson
Not much changed on Friday. Laskin squeezed every ounce of competitive juice from his kids and Van Buren overcame a late rally by Francis Lewis to win, 125-98, at Bayside High School, earning the Fighting Veebees their fifth straight championship in the boys' competition.
Van Buren placed first in six events but failed to pick up points in eight other heats, opening the door for Francis Lewis to make a last-minute flurry on the strength of its long-distance running. The Patriots piled up 58 points in the 4×800, 3,200-, and 3,000-meter steeplechase.
“I was sweating a little bit at the end,” said Laskin, in his 26th year at the helm. “My team isn't known for long distance and middle distance. But I knew I had an ace up my sleeve to help pull it out.”
The ace was the quietly efficient group of field performers in the triple-jump, long-jump, high-jump, shot-put, pole-vault and discus who competed slightly apart from the rest of the athletes at opposite ends of the field, out of earshot from the fans. The group contributed 70 points for Van Buren.
Laskin also had a ringer in junior Chinedu Ogueri, who won three events and received the meet's Most Valuable Runner award.
“This win puts this program in with the elite programs of track and field,” Laskin said. “There was a lot of pressure on us coming in here. Maybe it's my style. Now that we're doing what we're doing, I'm enjoying it.”
The Queens Borough Championship signals the close of the track and field season, but for others it signifies the end of some friendly rivalries among runners from different schools.
Standing outside a fence surrounding Bayside High School, James Blocker nearly overshadowed the high-jump competition in front of him.
Blocker, a student at August Martin, wasn't competing because he came down awkwardly on his left knee during a pick-up basketball game, the same knee he uses to push off when he jumps during competitions.
The injury virtually guaranteed that Van Buren's Anthony Soares, together with Blocker the top high-jumpers in Queens, would pick up first place in the event, but Soares wasn't feeling motivated. Without his rival and childhood friend pushing him, Soares felt like he was jumping in a room with the lights turned off.
“I felt alone out there,” said the junior from Cambria Heights. “I was jumping by myself.”
Soares, who was born with one leg weaker than the other, the result of his mother falling on her stomach when she was pregnant, cleared 6 feet 2 inches to win the event. But Soares knows he will need to do better to beat his buddy Blocker in the city championships. Blocker's best effort is 6 feet 8 inches. Instead of licking his chops, Blocker was just happy his friend came in first. The two went to school together at IS 192 in Hollis.
Remy Daguillard, a senior captain from Benjamin Cardozo, credits his success in the 1,600-meter run to Francis Lewis' Pavel Marosin. Since sophomore year, the pair have traditionally come in first and second whenever they have raced.
“Some of my success I owe to Paul, because without him I don't know if I would have been able to push so hard,” said Daguillard, whose father is Haitian and mother is French. “When we first met, I wasn't that motivated in track and field. But running with him was a challenge, and every race we competed in we were like neck and neck.”
Somehow the pair managed to find a way to put their friendship ahead of their running. On Friday they again were the leaders of the pack, with Marosin clinging to a slight lead until the final gun lap when Daguillard surged ahead to win by a couple of meters, 4:41.2 to 4:42.1. If Marosin were upset, he never showed it, and he congratulated his friend after the race. Both qualified for the city championships May 29 at St. John's.
“We realize it's better to laugh about the losses than to cry about them,” Marosin said. “It's easier to be friends than to be enemies.”
Reach reporter Mitch Abramson by e-mail at timesledger@aol.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
