When many sports fans think of track & field, they envision Tim Montgomery and imagine BALCO – high-salaried athletes taking high-powered steroids.
The image of the Lemans Track Club and Shore AC giddily celebrating yesterday’s USATF National Club Championships, with the Icahn Stadium scoreboard in the background and team trophies hoisted aloft, told a different tale.
Lemans used great sprint performances from Nolle Graham and the all-around versatility of former Seton Hall teammate Bridgette Ingram to tally 160½ points and blow past the Greater Boston Track Club (1481/2).
“We’ve never won the national championship, so for us to win in New York and our track club is from New York, makes it even better,” said Graham, a Taft High School graduate who won the 100 in 11.66, the long jump at 20-4½ and anchored a come-from-behind 47.42 4 x 100 win and a 4 x 400 bronze.
Natalia Brown won the discus with a 138-11, while Ingram took MVP honors by winning the shot (38-111/2) and 4 x 100, and also placed in the 10 hurdles, the 4 x 400, the high jump and long jump.
Shore AC won with depth, getting wins from Vincenzo Insingo (171-7½ discus), Okoineme Giwa-Agbomeirele (25-6 long jump), Aaron Braxton (50-5½ shot) and Jimmie Hackley (47.13 400). But their biggest race was a 3:12.81 second-place finish in the 4 x 400.
New York Elite had closed a huge first-day gap, but Shore’s second-place 4 x 400 enabled them to hold on for a 140-136 win.
“It’s great because it shows unity and togetherness. That’s what it’s about: Brotherhood,” said Bobby Young, Lincoln University’s D3 champ who led off with a 46.4.
Raised on 107th & Fifth Avenue, he attended the Academy of Environmental Science, a tiny school that didn’t even field a team. But he made his name for the Harlem Striders, and later the Bronx Express, earning a scholarship to Jacksonville. When the school cut its team, he transferred to Purdue and became an All-American.
NYAC’s Tim Seaman won the 5,000 racewalk in a meet record 20:34.13.
“This is the epitome of amateurism. There’s no money here; I don’t think there’s much glory. You do it because you want to help your club,” said Seaman. “We sacrifice a lot. Don’t think track is all about big bucks and drugs: It’s not. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of poor athletes struggling, fighting.”
