Sports Recap: Johnson Wins State Qualifier

Johnson wins state qualifier

Fox Lane senior Janice Johnson, who is going to SUNY-Albany on a track and field scholarship, showed why once again at the Section 1 Division I state qualifier on Thursday at Arlington High School.

Johnson broke her own school record and personal record in the shot put with a throw of 41 feet and 6.75 inches to place first at the qualifier and earn a trip to the state championships. The state championships will take place Friday and Saturday, June 10 and 11 at Caledonia-Mumford High School in Rochester.

“Any time you have a kid advance to that next level, it really feels good for us and fantastic for the kid,” Fox Lane co-coach Chris Dossena said. “She’s been to the states already last spring and this winter. She’s had some of her stronger performances going into this last major competition.”

“She is going to have an opportunity to do what she can do against the best and she tends to rise up to the occasion when the competition gets better,” Dossena continued. “Coach (Steve) Petrillo and I are looking forward to seeing how she does.”

Another Fox Lane athlete took part in day two of the qualifier on Friday at White Plains High School and that was junior Rachel Eisman who placed ninth with a time of 5:09.37 in the 1,500-meter run.

“She has shown a tremendous amount of improvement over the course of not just this entire spring season but over the course of the year,” Dossena said. “We (him and co-coach Petrillo) have been both pleased with her competitive fire and her maturity as a racer.”

Townsend earns honor

It’s been a great year for Horace Greeley senior boys basketball star Matt Townsend and it continued this past week.

First on Wednesday he was named the top award winner at the 60th annual dinner of Con Edison’s Westchester Scholastic Sports Award Program at the Rye Town Hilton.

The 6-7 foot Greeley forward earned the Irwin “Red” Klein scholarship, valued at $10,000. That will be put towards his education at Yale University, where he will be playing basketball next year.

The reason Townsend, who has a 4.0 GPA, earned the scholarship is because of his work ethic and having a tremendous passion for what he does.

“I think at the end of the day its hard work and a commitment to try to do your best at whatever you are doing, put 100 percent into it whether it’s school or a sport or really anything that you are doing,” Townsend said. “The key was finding things I am really interested in doing so the hard work doesn’t seem so hard.”

Then on Thursday, Townsend played his first game since the Quakers first-round upset loss in the sectionals to Clarkstown South in February. He played on the Frenji Black team, which defeated the Frenji white squad, 106-105, at the Theodore D. Young Community Center in Greenburgh for Frenji’s Fourth Annual Frankie Williams Charity Classic.

“I tore my meniscus with five games left in the season,” Townsend said. “I was able to play and finish the season but then I needed surgery right after the season. I have been training since the surgery but this is the first game since my recovery.”

Townsend, who tallied over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his Quaker career, said that he had his surgery about a week after the game against Clarkstown South.

“The worst part about going through any sort of injury is it takes you out of what you love doing, and in my case it’s playing basketball,” Townsend said. “To be back on the court and playing felt great.”

Greeley softball

No. 12 Horace Greeley (12-9) saw its season end with a 7-4 loss to No. 4 Ursuline on the road in the quarterfinals of the Section 1 Class AA tournament on Tuesday. Leading the way for the Quakers was catcher Hannah Marks going 3 for 4 with an RBI.

“Ursuline has one of the faster pitchers and her bat does better with faster pitching,” Greeley sophomore pitcher Jamie Weisser said. “She made great contact.”

Weisser was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI while teammate, left fielder Katelyn Francese, was 2 for 3. As a team, Greeley registered nine hits at the plate but it was its four errors defensively that did them in.

“We were able to make contact and just hit it where their players weren’t,” Weisser said. “I thought as a team we hit the ball well. I thought we did a good job offensively.”

Greeley trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of sixth but there the host broke  open the game with four runs. Weisser felt with one out and a Ursuline runner on first is when the host garnered the momentum to break the game open.

“One of our players, our first baseman, Meryl Rosenberg, got injured,” Weisser said. “From the sun, the ball hit her in the face as she went to go get it. That is what I think threw everybody off. Everyone was sad all of sudden and we lost our momentum. Everything went downhill from there. That was the big turning point in the game.”