Herricks' Kenneth Ramdayal wins discus, shot put titles at Nassau Class AAA track and field championship
Kenneth Ramdayal of Herricks throws the shot put during the Nassau Class AAA track and field championships on Wednesday in Lido Beach. Credit: Dawn McCormick
With how strong the winds were at Long Beach Middle School in Lido Beach on Wednesday, it was a bad day to be a runner, jumper or pole vaulter. That being said, it was a good day to be a thrower, which made it a great day to be Kenneth Ramdayal.
The senior thrower from Herricks threw the discus 189 feet, 1 inch to win the Nassau Class AAA championship. That distance is the best in the state by almost 10 feet, as of Wednesday night. Later, Ramdayal threw the shot 55-6 ½ to double up on gold medals.
Ramdayal fouled on three of his first four discus throws. To combat the wind, he shifted to his left, that way the wind would push his throws into the landing sector. That worked, as on his fifth attempt, he unleashed the best throw by a New Yorker since 2022, per MileSplit.
“To go and prove myself wrong that I can throw far feels pretty good,” Ramdayal said. “I was 100% feeling a lot of pressure. I definitely did not think that I could do that. Getting this experience with that pressure here, it sets me up well for states, so it’s definitely good to have had this.”
Baldwin senior Brandon Thweatt was also a double champion, as he won the 100 meters in 11.15 seconds and the 110-meter hurdles in 15.03. Uniondale had a pair of double champions in seniors Ross Wallace and Ai’Shan Powell. Wallace took the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 30.14 seconds and the 3,200 in 9:40.59. Powell flew 21-6 in the long jump and cleared 6-4 in the high jump.
On the girls’ side of the meet, East Meadow senior Zaria Hall won three events for the fifth time in her career. She took the 800 in 2:18.88, the 1,500 in 4:53.69 and the 3,000 in 11:04.93.
Freeport senior Angel Omokeni won the long jump (18-3 ½) and the triple jump (37-9 ¼). Baldwin junior Savannah Stephenson became the latest in a long, recent line of sprinters from her school to win a championship, as she won the 100 in 12.41 and the 200 in 25.1.
“I always admired the other girls who came before me in how hard they worked to get to that point,” Stephenson said. “Training with them pushed me to get faster … They were role models for me and gave me a place that I wanted to get to. Just knowing that I did this by myself makes me even more proud.”
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.
