White Plains’ Thomas Johnson Qualifies for New State Championship

For the second time in just a month, the White Plains Track at Glenn Loucks Memorial Field was filled with extraordinary talent. A little under a month ago White Plains was hosting the Loucks Games and on Friday the city hosted day of the Section 1 State Qualifier meet.

Junior Thomas Johnson was the only White Plains Tiger to qualify for the two-day New York State Champion Meet being hosted by Cicero North High School in Syracuse this coming weekend. On day one at the state qualifying meet at Arlington High School, Johnson finished second in the Long Jump.

On Friday, back on his a familiar runway and jumping pit, Johnson soared 46 feet 10.25 inches to win the triple jump competition and qualify for the state championship.

In March, Johnson captured his first state championship in the indoor season in the triple jump. He will try to duplicate that feat at the outdoor state meet.

Before Johnson hits the New York Thruway to travel north he has a few intense days of practice ahead of him. Johnson’s is coached by White Plains Boys Coach Lamont McCormick who was happy that his athlete qualified for states in the triple but said after the meet that Johnson needs to jump over 48 feet to have a chance to win the State Championship in the Triple Jump.

McCormick is a unique coach, mixing in his good sense of humor with a stern determination in trying to get the absolute most out of his athletes. According to McCormick ,Johnson will only jump one day this week before they travel up to Syracuse. McCormick believes for Johnson to succeed he will need to do a lot of his speed training. This is nothing new for McCormick and Johnson. McCormick has been constant in trying to help Johnson get faster so he can jump further.

The most talked about event of the two-day meet was the girls 1500-meter run. Mary Cain of Bronxville ran into the record books again and broke her own state record, posting the third fastest time in the history of high school track and field in the country.

With Cain running now, it’s getting to the point when she runs a race there should be movie theme music played in the background because of her record breaking style. Her winning time of 4:16:52 broke the elusive 4:17 U.S. Olympic Trials Standard.

She will need to improve on this time  in state and nationals to have a better chance of qualifying for the games. According to the official track and field website the 1500 meter race will have 30 runners in it.

Cain’s best time of 4:16.52 isn’t within the top 50 times run in this event, according to the official USA Track and Field website. The 50^th best time run this year is currently is 4:16.30. The 30^th best time in the nation is 4:13.33. What makes this story so interesting is the facts that she is only a sophomore and we’re talking about making the Olympic trials. One can only imagine what 2016 will be like when Cain will be a sophomore in college.

Finally, the state-qualifying meet was the final high school competition for several White Plains High School seniors. The White Plains boys and girls track teams are a very cohesive and supportive community. Everybody knows each other and there are always a lot of smiling faces, even after a hard workout or race. It’s nice to see student-athletes enjoy what they do. Good luck to all the seniors graduation and heading off to the college in the fall.

Here is list of athletes from local schools who qualified for the State Championships:

Alexander Hamilton

100-Meter Hurdles- Jessica Barrera

200-Meter Dash- Maiya Scott

4-x-100-Meter Relay – Janel Batiste, Robin Jessame, Jasmine Robinson and Barrera

4-x-400-Meter Relay – Robinson, Kenya Isabel, Barrera and Scott

Sleepy Hollow

Triple Jump- Jillian Berger

Woodlands

100-Meter Hurdles – Keturah Smalls

400-Meter Hurdles – Smalls

100-Meter Dash- Jonathan Albert

200-Meter Dash- Albert

Shot Put- Crystal Hopkins