St. Joseph by-the Sea went into Saturday’s CHSAA Intersectional Championships looking to make a statement and they executed. Chris Mancusi’s Vikings took over the scoring early, even leading the overall team scoring for much of the early part of the meet, and finishing eighth overall, tops out of all Island schools.
St. John’s University-bound senior Dominic Palermo knew his track days were numbered and he took full advantage in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, running his third-straight personal record to upset the top two seeds Niall Ryan (3rd, 10:04.96) and Eamonn Sullivan (2nd, 9:48.61) both of Fordham Prep.
“The race went out slow so I got a little nervous sitting on their shoulders in the beginning since I knew the splits I needed to ge the school record,” said Palermo. “At the second to last water jump I made my move. I still had a lot left after the slow start so the only thing I worried about was tripping over the barriers. Thankfully I didn’t.”
“Dom was excellent today,” commented Sea coach Chris Mancusi. “The field came back to him a bit, he took a chance and got rewarded today. A truly gritty performance.”
Teammate Jason Marchese, the NYC Sectionals Most Outstanding Track performers didn’t have everything clicking but still managed to live up to his top seed in the 400-intermediate hurdles, running 56.95 seconds in the wire-to-wire win.
“The final straightaway it was windy and it caught me off-guard,” commented Marchese. “It made me lose my rhythm a little but luckily I was far enough ahead that they didn’t catch up to me.”
Teammate Steven Anzalone also added fifth place points, clocking in at 58.52 seconds.
Later in the day Marchese earned his second gold-medal anchoring the Vikings’ 4x400 combining his 50.9 leg with Kenneth Dias (51.9), Hudson Scanni (51.8) and Anzalone (52.2) to run a State-meet qualifying 3:26.60.
With Farrell’s graduation occurring earlier in the day, the Lions were missing several top seeds.
Joe DeVito’s event occurred late enough that he was able to make it off the stage and onto the starting line of the 4x800, leading off with a 2:00.6 leg in first. Andrew Rainbolt (2:04.7), Chris Paxis (2:08.1) and Finn McCole (2:03.9) combined for a time of 8:16.60, good for third overall.
Paxis also scored a third-place finish in a loaded 1,600, finishing behind St. Anthony’s Matthew Payamps (4:22.53) and Iona Prep’s Pedro Bravo (4:26.71) with a time of 4:27.09.
St. Anthony’s was the overall winner with 31 points, with Cardinal Hayes (28) and St. Joseph’s Collegiate (25) completing the top three. St. Joseph by-the Sea was the top Island school, taking eighth with 19 points. Monsignor Farrell tied for 16th with six points.