2017 Boys 4x400m D1 Section 2 Seeded Race
2017 was a special year for Newburgh Free Academy at the 400m distance during the outdoor States meet at Union-Endicott. The 4x400m relay squad won both the Division 1 race on Friday at 3:14.05, and then shut down the championships on Saturday with a meet record 3:12.79, then the fourth fastest time in state history. Anchor guy Robert Walker could run a very fast 400m for the Goldbacks, but he was also the state champ in the 400m hurdles with a 52.23, less than a half second off Rai Benjamin's meet record. NFA's meet record came the year following Huntington's win at 3:15.00 in 2016 when they went on to set a state record of 3:10.93 while winning at outdoor Nationals.
In 2017 the Goldbacks went on to finish 3rd at outdoor Nationals and lowered their season's best by another tenth of a second to 3:12.69, which sits of course 4th all-time for NY. The team was composed of five guys, as freshman Ryler Gould ran a leg of the D1 race and was replaced by senior Jordan Lawrence in the Feds race. The three legs in both races included junior Brendon Hanson and seniors Stephen Scott and Robert Walker, whose anchor time was 47.04. Huntington finished 2nd in the finals, but Cardinal Hayes had the second best time at the meet with a 3:15.73 in Friday's D1 race.
Apologies for only being able to catch a small part of the 4x400m Feds race. Way high in the stands and unable to plug into an outlet as usual, I was depending on batteries that I husbanded through the day. For the final race I saved the last minute of power for a quick setup sequence and then the final 200m.
Update: video interview at bottom
2017 Boys 4x400m Federation Race - Setup and last 200m to finish
Boys 4x400m D1 Results
