The temptation is to suggest that early May is not the time for Shelby Greany to be hitting her peak and that she should be saving a little something for the final week or two of her scholastic career before the Suffern senior heads off to college.
But Greany would be the first to tell you that stretch runs aren’t what she’s about.
"My coaches always joke that I'm 'Miss Outkicked,' " Greany told USA Today this week. "I would often lose a lead in the last 200 meters. At the beginning of last year, I was so sick of being outkicked, of thinking, 'Oh, now they're going to steal my win.' You can't think that way.”
No, you can’t. So Greany is addressing the issue by pounding the competition into submission over the first 90 percent of the race, leaving nothing to chance. Last week alone, she set a national record in one event and a Rockland County mark in another as she continued to wind down her scholastic career and prepare to head off to Providence College in the fall.
She ran the 2,000-meter steeplechase on May 4 for the first time this season and won the Cornwall Steeplechase in 6 minutes, 33.7 seconds to eclipse the three-year-old U.S. record of 6:35.63 by Marie Lawrence of Reno, Nev., despite splashing into deep liquid trouble on the first water barrier.
And over the weekend she came up big in the rarely run girls 1,600 meters, breaking the Loucks Games and county records with a 4:48.25 effort. Emily Menges of Garden City was second in a solid 4:53.09.
If seeing Greany run metric miles rather than the more traditional 1,500 meters is rare, then seeing her compete in anything other than distance running is now rarer still. In her younger days, Greany tried numerous sports and was especially keen on soccer and lacrosse. But in short order as a sixth-grader, she broke her left wrist in a horseback riding accident and her right wrist in a fall while snowboarding.
With contact sports out of the question during her recovery from surgery after the second mishap, Greany went out for cross country in seventh grade. A year later, she was winning the first of her five straight county titles. In six Class AA state meets – one of the most competitive annual races in the country -- she placed 39th, ninth, fourth, fourth and then second the past two seasons in NYSPHSAA cross country.
This winter, she won the 3,000 meters at Cornell’s Barton Hall for her first NYSPHSAA indoor state championship, also placing second in the 1,500. That was followed with second place in the two-mile run at Nike Indoor Nationals.
In her most recent steeplechase appearance prior to setting the U.S. record, Greany clocked 6:42.86 to win at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in June.
More Track and Field: Clayton goes long
* Suffern junior Jen Clayton is back in form, having gone 20-2½ — third-best in the U.S. this spring — to win the girls long jump in the Loucks Games. Clayton's LJ was also a meet record, tacking half an inch onto the mark of Toni Rucker of Washington, D.C., in 1981. Clayton has been held back by injuries this season and hadn't gone beyond 18-7 after twice uncorking 20-footers as a sophomore. She returned a day later to win the 200 meters in :24.72.
* Also at Loucks, Commack’s Mike Levine broke the meet mark in the boys discus with a throw of 185-2,
Joe Fox of Clarkstown South won the shot put with a state-leading 56-2 3/4, and Ramapo scored victories in the 400 and 1,600 relays in :42.95 and 3:17.48, respectively. Chidi Ezemma and Mike Abelard ran legs on both, and each also had a second-place showing in an individual event.
Boys Lacrosse: 700 wins for Messere
* West Genesee coach Mike Messere posted career victory No. 700 on Saturday as the Wildcats routed visiting Liverpool, 17-4. Numerous former players were in attendance as Messere ran his record to 700-46 in 34 seasons. His Wildcats have won 15 NYSPHSAA championships — more than any team in any sport.
Messere trails only Joe Cuozzo (737) of Ward Melville and Mount Sinai on the all-time state list.
* Kevin Interlicchio's overtime goal, his fourth tally of the day, carried No. 8 Yorktown past No. 4 Chaminade, 9-8, in a non-league battle between two of the state's top Class A boys teams.
* Matt Osgood’s goal 53 seconds into overtime lifted Class C No. 4 Penn Yan to a 10-9 win at Hamburg, ranked fourth in Class B. Neither team held more than a one-goal lead throughout the game.
* Corning East went on a six-goal run spanning the third and fourth quarters to earn a 12-9 victory over Orchard Park at Alfred University. Corning East is ranked No. 1 in Class B by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Orchard Park is No. 3 in Class A.
Orchard Park was without goalie Ryan Cole, who was sidelined by a sprained ankle.
* Queensbury captain and scoring leader Jeremiah Ellement was suspended for the rest of the season after the school district learned he hid a mid-March arrest for marijuana possession from school officials, The Post-Star reported.
Compounding the situation is the revelation that Ellement's father is the team's coach and that neither he nor Principal Michael Patton and AD Scott Stuart were aware of the arrest until a reporter called them about the matter.
Keith Ellement told the paper via e-mail that his son hired a lawyer and went to court without his parents' knowledge. Under state law, persons over 16 are prosecuted as adults and police or court officials are not required to notify parents of arrests.
Odds and ends
* The Sidney boys tennis team won its 67th straight Mid-State Athletic Conference contest to extend a winning streak dating to the 2004 season.
* West Seneca East softball ace Chelsea Dustin’s 4-1 victory over Williamsville South ended her string of 66 innings without allowing an earned run. Dustin (8-0, 0.11 ERA) struck out 10.
* Buffalo McKinley senior Kara Edwards threw back-to-back softball no-hitters while beating Lafayette, 10-0 and 11-1. She struck out a total of 10 batters.
* The PSAL is extending its varsity softball regular season one week to compensate for time lost to recent wet weather. PSAL softball commissioner Asimoula Makresia said May 25 will be the last day teams can make up games, and playoff games will start three days later. The previous deadline had been May 16.
* In Rochester, Mercy basketball coach Tim Lambert has resigned after a 34-31 mark in three seasons.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
johnschianosports@gmail.com
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