Hurricanes Battle With The Best The State Has To Offer At Indoor Track Championships

Gavin Ehlers is a very talented runner. When the Wake Forest-bound senior graduates from Westhampton Beach this June, he will likely do so as one of, if not the, most decorated runners in school history, between cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring.

But the New York State Indoor Track and Field Championships is truly one of the biggest tests for an athlete, being that it brings in the state’s best, from all schools, large and small, public, private and otherwise. And that was on display Saturday at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island.

Ehlers competed in both the 3,200- and 1,000-meter races, and while his placements may be a little higher than most are used to seeing from him. He ran very well, but the competition was tough. In fact, he finished the 3,200 in 9:05.70, a 20-second personal best, which earned himself both All-State and All-Federation honors by placing fifth among public school runners, seventh overall between all public, private, New York City and Catholic school runners. And Ehlers did equally as well, if not better, in the 1,000, which he ran two hours after the 3,200. He crossed the finish line in that race in 2:31.40, placing fourth among public school runners and fifth overall, which again earned him both All-State and All-Federation distinctions.

Another Westhampton Beach senior, Colbie Mason, joined Ehlers as an All-State, All-Federation athlete by placing fourth among public schools, sixth overall in the pole vault after reaching 14 feet. Max Haynia, a junior, competed in the 3,200 with Ehlers and finished 13th overall, eighth among public school runners, in 9:24.29. And sophomore Trevor Hayes finished 21st in the 1,600-meter race, crossing the finish line in a personal best, 4:27.30.

But the 3,200-meter race was one of the most competitive the state meet has seen in recent memory. Fordham Prep senior Myles Hogan easily broke the meet record of 9:03.81 set in 2016 by Saratoga’s Aidan Tooker by finishing in 8:57.49. In fact, the top five runners in the race all ran under 9:03.81. Hogan also won a state title in the 1,600-meter race.

“That race was stacked. I don’t have another word for it,” Ehlers said, with a laugh, of the 3,200. “I can’t even be mad with the seventh. I was two seconds off the previous meet record so I’m pretty happy with it.

“I knew it was going to be a fast race,” he added. “Everyone kind of figured the meet record was probably going to go down, but the sheer number of guys who threw down those fast number of times was just insane. I expected one, two, maybe three guys to break it. I wasn’t expected to finish seventh. I probably could have gone a little faster, but I’m not mad about that. It went pretty well.”

Ehlers admitted, though, that he may have left something in the tank following his run in the 1,000, something he regrets after the fact. But considering the race was kind of an add-on for him — he wasn’t sure he was going to race in it until the last minute — he fared pretty well. His head coach, Joe Mensch, was impressed with how he ran the race and how he passed a number of runners down the final 180 meters or so.

“As it got closer to the race, regardless of how I felt, unless it was really bad, I was going to give it a shot in the 1,000,” Ehlers explained. “I didn’t really expect to put all of my focus in the 1,000 because that’s what I did for the 32. But I figured after what I did in the 32, if I could manage to be All-State and maybe All-Federation in the 1,000, I’d give it a shot. And that’s what I did.

“Looking back at that race, I started it not feeling great, tired from the 32, but with the way I finished, I feel like I could have won that race. Just the way I was running, especially if I was fresh and maybe hadn’t run in the 32. But I’m still happy I was able to be All-State and All-Fed in both of them.”

The winter season isn’t quite done for Ehlers, Hayes, Haynia and Mason just yet. Ehlers (mile, 5K), Hayes (Rising Stars mile) and Haynia (5K) will all compete individually at the New Balance Nationals Indoor at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York City this weekend. They’ll be joined by senior Cole Cammarata to run the 4x1 mile race. Mason will compete in the pole vault at the Nike Indoor Nationals which will be back at Ocean Breeze this weekend.

Following both meets, the spring high school sports season officially begins on Monday, and all runners, including Mason in the pole vault, are expecting big things from themselves, including Ehlers, who will be looking to top off what has been an impressive career already.

“I’d like to go out and top what I’ve done so far and grab a state title in outdoor. We’ll see what I can do there,” he said. “I’d like to throw down some serious times across all events, the 800. Maybe I’ll try my hand at the steeplechase. I want to go out there and see how fast I can run, see what I got.”