SPORTS | THE LONG-ISLANDER, FEBRUARY 9, 2006

THE 99TH MILLROSE GAMES

Nervous Start, Memorable Finish For St. Anthony’s

In CHSAA races, girls win 4 x 400, boys last in 4 x 800; Glenn boys 2nd

By Michael R. Sisak / The Long-Islander

NEW YORK — Hours before the former Olympians and world champions took their marks at the 99th Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden last Friday, the relay teams from St. Anthony’s and Elwood/John Glenn made theirs.

St. Anthony’s, of South Huntington, carried a first-lap lead to the finish line in the Catholic High School Athletic Association Girls 4 x 400. Juniors Katherine Sirico, Gina Perno, Caitlin White and Alex Amaitis, completed the race in 4 minutes and 7.35 seconds, more than 2 seconds ahead of second-place Cardinal Spellman.

Glenn finished second in the Long Island High School Boys 4 x 400 meters after briefly taking the lead on the third leg. Juniors Emile Barnett and Cliff Faulkner and seniors Carlton Wildman and Billy Miltenberg finished in 3 minutes and 35.9 seconds, a second-and-a-half behind the champion Hempstead.

The boys 4 x 800 team from St. Anthony’s and the boys 4 x 400 team from Commack, both finished last in their respective races. St. Anthony’s completed its CHSAA event in 8 minutes, 26.97 seconds — about 22 seconds off the pace set by five-time champion Fordham Prep. Commack, which qualified as the second-fastest team in Suffolk County with a time of 3 minutes, 27.6 seconds, finished the Long Island High School run in 3 minutes, 43.7 seconds.

“It’s such a thrill,” White said. “I’m so proud of my team…. The whole experience is just a blur.”

Olivier St. Aude, the first-year girls track coach at St. Anthony’s, met his runners with bright smiles and broad embraces in the dim corridor between the track and a staging area.

Coaches, parents and administrators from Glenn greeted their quartet with cheers, handshakes and pats on the head and back outside the first turn in the short, steep-banked track.

Sirico, the long-legged lead runner, sprinted the St. Anthony’s girls to the front with her first strides. Perno and White increased the lead in the middle legs, and Amaitis broke the tape with a quarter-lap lead over Brittany McRae of second-place Cardinal Spellman.

“Once I got onto the track and realized that ‘I’m standing on the Millrose track,’ it was nerve-racking,” White said. It was her first time running in the Millrose Games.

Sirico and Amaitis had been there before. They ran the 4 x 400 in the Millrose Games last year, when St. Anthony’s finished fourth in 4 minutes, 19.2 seconds.

“It was really amazing just to do it again,” Sirico said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and to do it twice is amazing.”

The girls from St. Anthony’s spent the hours before the race in a room at the Hotel Pennsylvania, across 7th Avenue from Madison Square Garden, the same stop they made a year ago. It provided serenity on a day of tension and drama.

“It was a really relaxing atmosphere to be in before you get to a real high-pressured area,” Sirico said.

As the interscholastic undercard played out under the retired numbers and championship banners from the Knicks of basketball and the Rangers of hockey, the girls from St. Anthony’s and the boys from Glenn tied themselves to the history of the Millrose Games, the premier indoor track and field event in the United States and of the Garden, the world’s most famous arena.

Last year, Sports Illustrated named St. Anthony’s as the school with the best athletics program in New York State. The win at the Millrose Games has added to that reputation and focused attention on the girls track program built by former coach Syd Martin, who has remained close to the squad after stepping aside last year.

“We kind of set a legacy for the girls coming up,” White said.

A legacy set on the grandest night in track and field.

Like Martin, Joe Burke, the longtime boys coach at Glenn, remained close to his squad even after he moved to fill a coaching vacancy on the girls team, earlier this season.

“It’s the best feeling in the world to see kids that you’ve trained achieve at a national event,” Burke said. “You work so closely with them, day in and day out, it becomes like a second family.”

Lou Hanner, the varsity boys soccer coach, took over for Burke.

“It’s almost been easy for me, because these kids really worked hard and really worked for each other,” Hanner said. “The four of them really made a commitment to each other.”

Hanner coached Barnett, Faulkner and Wildman in soccer. Miltenberg, a full-time runner, is the youngest of four brothers who have spent their autumns, winters and springs on the track at Glenn. Chris Miltenberg, 25, ran the high school mile at the Millrose Games in 1998. He is now a track coach at Columbia University. Matt, 23, helped establish a school record in the 4 x 400 in 2000. Brian, 20, ran for Glenn from 1999 to 2003.

“There is no Glenn track without the Miltenberg family,” Burke said. “They put us on the map and set the bar for future runners at Glenn.”

The Knights’ strong finish in their first Millrose Games appearance capped a season of great accomplishment. They broke the 4 x 400 record that Matt Miltenberg helped set and they established a new one, three days later. On January 8, they completed the 4 x 400 in 3 minutes and 36 seconds — 3 seconds better than the previous best. On January 11, during a Millrose Games qualifying session at the 168th Street Armory in New York, they finished in 3 minutes and 27. 22 seconds.

“As a relay team, it’s good because we don’t have to worry about having a weak leg,” Faulkner said. “We all sort of feed off each other.”

Faulkner ran the third leg at the Millrose Games and overtook Joe Vassel of Mepham to give the Knights a brief lead. Peter Joseph, of top-seeded Hempstead, passed Wildman on the final leg, bumping Glenn down to second-place.

“It was physical, because the track is so short and so tight,” Miltenberg said. “You have to fight for your spot. There’s a lot of shoving and elbows.”