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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Shayla Broughton wasn’t quite as quick as she was in the trials, but she was fast enough to win the 100-meter hurdles at the Mayor’s Cup championships at Ichan Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
The Medgar Evers sophomore had clocked a trial time of 14.55 on Friday night — beating the 2011 meet record of 14.73 set by Cardozo’s Akayla Anderson — but she won the event with a time of 14.87. Still, she was pleased with a strong early season showing.
“It’s really good because I know I am going to bring my times down throughout the whole season,” Broughton said.
The victory was her second of the meet, as Broughton also took home the high jump crown with a leap of 5-feet, 4 inches. It was part of a strong Mayor’s Cup for Medgar Evers, which took home five individual titles as well as the team crown.
Brenessa Thompson won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.12 and JaNai Cameron was the 400-meter champion in 58.29. Cameron hoped for a slightly faster time, but said it was tough running against a field that did not push her.
“It is pretty hard, but you have to be mentally strong and focused,” Cameron said. “You have to be competitive with yourself mostly.”
Bishop Loughlin’s Caleb Wright received plenty of competition in his 800-meter victory with a time of 1:59.71. The senior said he could feel Fordham Prep’s John Tannian and Kyle Guzman breathing on his shoulder as he approached the finish line. He beat both by less than a second. It was Wright’s first victory in four years at the Mayor’s Cup.
“I’ve been coming here since freshmen year and never really medaled,” he said. “It feels really nice to take gold.”
Kemarni Mighty of Clara Barton wasn’t sure if he could do the same after feeling a twinge in his hamstring at the start of his 400-meter race. He told himself to relax down the back straightaway, but was forced to finish strong with he competition closing the gap. Mighty could hear them breaking behind him and knew he couldn’t hold back.
“Time to go,” Mighty told himself in the home stretch.
The meet was a bit of a coming out party for him. Mighty is just a sophomore and feels a win at the Mayor’s Cup is just the start of good things to come.
“It feels good because I’m a sophomore,” he said. “It lets people know that I’m here, that I’m what’s up.”
Sheepshead Bay’s Tearson Modeste won the high jump with a leap of 6-02-00 and the long jump with 21-10.25. Billy Hector of Midwood grabbed gold in the 3200 with a mark of 9:25.61. Teammate Taj Blount-Oden was the triple jump champ with a leap of 44-03.25. Samuel Tilden’s Joseph Bacchus placed first in the javelin with a throw of 161-06. The Tilden 4 x 400 relay team of Kwasie Applewhite, Kyle Baptist, Christian Blades and Nathan John placed first with a time of 3:25.44. On the girls’ side, Thomas Jefferson’s Abbigale Butler was the champion in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:07.66.