Chaminade boys track's Dan Hilton upends seeding in 1,600, wins CHSAA Intersectional title
Dan Hilton of Chaminade leading off the 4x 800 relay at the CHSAA indoor track and field Intersectional Championships at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Saturday. Credit: Errol Anderson
Seeds are generally important in sports — until the actual competition begins.
Chaminade senior Dan Hilton turned the pre-meet seed sheet into post-meet fodder, as he pulled off the biggest upset of the CHSAA Intersectional championships at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island on Saturday. Hilton won the 1,600 meter in 4 minutes, 24.98 seconds despite entering the meet as the No. 5 seed.
His seed time of 4:28.5 had him 13.5 seconds behind Monsignor Farrell junior Edwin Alleva. The seeding was dead-on accurate through the first six laps, as Hilton dropped to fifth place by the start of the seventh. While trailing Iona Prep senior Michael Rynne, Xaverian juniors Elliot Stowe and Alleva and Xavier senior Sam Ryland, Hilton made a move toward the outside on the home straightaway, allowing him to move into third by the start of the final lap.
Once the bell sounded to signify the final lap, Hilton used every electrolyte and calorie he had in his body, cutting in front of Rynne and Stowe to take the lead. After completing the final bend and entering the home straightaway, Rynne ascended on Hilton’s right and matched him stride for stride. As they inched toward the finish line, Hilton stuck his head out to get his chest across the line first, and he stumbled over the line to secure the win by 0.04 seconds.
“You can always put it on paper, but it all comes down to who is ready on the day,” Hilton said. “That’s the fun part of track: going in as an underdog and pulling off an upset. I felt [Rynne] coming up on my shoulder, and I just wanted to give it all I had to get the win.”
After falling across the finish line, Hilton had to look up at Ocean Breeze’s scoreboard and wait for a couple of seconds to see the results. Once he saw his name pop up at the top of the results, he rejoiced.
“Those two seconds felt like a while, but seeing my name at the top was such a relief and such a joy,” Hilton said. “All the guys here are dogs, and to be at the top of that field is a really big honor.”
Worth the wait for Paggi
Kellenberg junior Zach Paggi’s yearlong breakout continued when he won the 600 meters in a personal-best time of 1:20.98. His time ranks fourth in New York State, per MileSplit.
However, Paggi’s victory took much longer than 1:20.98 to determine. He ran in the first of seven heats, forcing him to watch six more races and wait patiently after finishing his own race to find out if his time would outlast all the others.
Much to his pleasure, it did, officially making Paggi an intersectional champion.
“It’s very rewarding, just being able to have something to show for it after all the work you put in that no one sees,” Paggi said. “They see the awards, they see the fastest time, but they don’t see all the work that goes into it. I put my heart into this sport, so just to be able to be the best of all the schools that represent my faith feels good.”
Later, Paggi anchored Kellenberg's 4 x 800-meter relay to a victory in 7:51.61. He followed senior Daniel Meenan, sophomore Aidan Hopkins and senior Amir Ajenishe. Paggi was named the meet’s Track MVP.
Morello, Szymanski show off their arms
Long Island also dominated the throws. Chaminade senior Jonathan Szymanski won the shot put with a top throw of 60 feet, 1 ¼ inches. St. Anthony’s senior Anthony Morello followed him with a throw of 55-6 ½.
However, that scorecard flipped in the weight throw, when Morello chucked the weight 69-8 ¼ to beat Szymanski by just four inches. Morello has been consistently one of the best and well-rounded throwers in the state since last year, but he has been slightly outdone by Szymanski in most of their championship meets together.
It feels good to finally be the winner.
“Our league has been crazy competitive, so finally being able to come out on top matters a lot,” Morello said. “It’s my final year and last chance to win, so the fact that I did it just feels great.”
Szymanski was still named the Field MVP for his sparkling throwing display.
St. John the Baptist senior Joseph Quinn hit the state standard and placed third in the shot put with a throw of 53-10 ¼ to qualify for the New York State and Federation championships on March 6-7 in Staten Island. St. Anthony’s sophomore Nathan Blind placed third in the weight throw with the state standard, throwing 65-4 ¼ to also qualify for the state and Federation meet.
Flyers top LI
Chaminade was the top-scoring Long Island team, placing fourth with 23 points.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
