Kingston boys third at sectional championships

Tigers girls squad comes in fifth

The Kingston High boys team finished third and the Tigers girls squad took fifth place on Saturday at the Section 9 Class A Indoor Track and Field Championships at the U.S. Military Academy.

Monroe-Woodbury successfully defended the boys championship with 92 points, followed by Middletown (60) and Kingston (52.5).

Cornwall piled up 124 points to repeat as the girls’ titlists, followed by Monroe-Woodbury (93), Pine Bush (89), Minisink Valley (39) and Kingston (31).

For Kingston’s boys, junior Joe McDonald Jr. won the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, eight inches and was runner-up in the long jump with a personal best of 21-5 ¾. Junior Andrew Lee won the 3,200-meter run in 9 minutes, 30.57 seconds and was fourth in the 1600-meter run in 4:35.71.

Lee was also part of the Tigers’ 3,200-meter third-place team of senior William Hack and juniors Tim Leiching and Lukas Paunovic. The quartet finished the race with a time of 8:42.7. Paunovic also finished fifth in the 1,000-meter run with a personal best time of 2:38.23.

Junior Jared Nerone was runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 43-2 ½. Junior Shawn Bleboo was fifth in the weight throw with a toss of 46-11 ¾. Junior Logan Manor was sixth in the high jump at 5-9.

Junior Daniella Johnson led Kingston’s girls by winning both the weight throw (42-4 ½) and the shot put (38-0 ½). Junior Maia Rich captured the 55-meter high hurdles in a time of :08.26 to break her own school record.

Rich later competed in the Tigers’ sixth-place 1,600-meter relay team, which also included seniors Alex Coffey and Olivia Coffey and freshman Reese Longo. The quartet had its best time of the season (4:20.22).

Kingston had 12 personal bests and season bests in four events at the Section 9 meet. Kingston will compete in the Section 9 State Qualifying Meet on Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York City.