Strong finish for Lady Bruins

Baldwin finished third as a team in Nassau County Conference III-AA girls’ track and field this spring, led largely by a talented crop of underclass athletes ready to have an impact for the long haul. As bright as the future looks for the Lady Bruins, so too is the present, as seven members of the team competed in the Nassau County Section VIII State Qualifier Meet at North Shore High School last week.

A pair of seniors, Christina Noonan and Tolulope Adebayo both hit the qualifying time needed to compete in the meet during the regular season and previously earned All-Division honors. Perhaps most pleasing for the two, as well as their coaches, is the fact they turned in some of their fastest times of the season in its biggest meet. Noonan took fourth in a time of 16.16 seconds in the finals, while Adebayo was eighth (17.19s). In the preliminary round, Adebayo posted her best time of 16.26. “Both runners their best races at the Qualifier,” coach Paul Schaefer said. “They ran their fastest when they need to be their fastest. It’s what you want to do, go to the highest level of competition you can and then [do your best].”

Sophomore Ayanna Higgins blazed her way to the State Qualifier in the 100m and advanced to the finals where she finished sixth with a time of (12.78s). Her best time of the two-day event came in the preliminaries, where she hit the line in 12.49s. “After the race I told her it was the best end of the race she had all season,” Schaefer said of his All-Division runner. “You want to be running against the best and that was achieved.”

Baldwin also sent its 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of junior Ayanna Lesane, Higgins, junior Crystal Waddy and senior Tiffany Raymond to North Shore. The quartet took third place in the finals, with its time of 50.25s less than two seconds off the pace set by Elmont, which finished first (48.69s). “They had times that were continuously improving over the season,” Schaefer said, noting that Higgins and Lesane earned All-Division honors during the regular season at 200m and Raymond was also All Division in the high jump. “In the high jump, [Tiffany] was very steady. She scored points consistently.”

At times this Spring, the Lady Bruins fielded a 4x400-meter relay team consisting of all freshmen — Mariah Benavides, Chidima Adams, Deborah Ariston and Rebecca Ariston — and the group performed well in its debut.

“The interesting story [of the season] is that three-quarters of the team, maybe more, were freshmen and sophomores,” Schaefer said. “It was their first time [on varsity] and we described it as getting into the pool. You put your toes in the shallow end and work your way out. Now they’ll come back next year. You want to have consistency and ability to work over the years.”