By Five Boro Sports
Chukwue Enekwechi knew early on that he had a chance to do something special.
The Francis Lewis sophomore threw the shot put 45 feet in the preliminary round then upped his distance even more in the final. Enekwechi won the event with a personal best toss of 45-08.25 to set the PSAL sophomore record, according to Coach Ralph Montanaro. Teammate Richard Kim was second in 44-11.50
“I did something right today,” Enekwechi joked.
So did Francis Lewis.
The Patriots did just enough to hold off Springfield Gardens, 129 points to 113 points, to win their fifth straight PSAL boys’ indoor Queens borough championship at the Armory Tuesday night.
Francis Lewis has now also won five straight Queens cross country titles and will go for its fifth consecutive outdoor crown in the spring.
“I didn’t want this year to be the first year that we lose,” Enekwechi said.
Silvano Parchment expected to win the 55 meter hurdles, but not as easily as he did for Francis Lewis.
“I expected [Devon] Duncan from Campus [Magnet] to give me a push,” he said. “I felt disappointed because I know I probably could have PR’d a lot better than I did.”
The senior won the event in a time of 8.38; his personal best time is 8.2. Bayside’s Jan Gregor Hipol was second in 8.49 and Duncan fourth in 9.17. Parchment was also second in the 600 (1:27.43) to Springfield Garden’s Tadd Willoughby and third in the long jump in a leap of 18-07.50. Parchment is still hampered by tendonitis in his left knee from an injury he suffered last season.
“He hurdles also,” Montanaro said. “He should be breaking 8.0 and running 7.8, 7.9.”
David Johnson felt he left enough in reserve to earn the Patriots another first-place finish. But there was just one problem. There were less laps left in the 1000 then he thought because of a mix-up at the finish line by the judges, who failed to change the numbers counting the laps correctly.
“I see the time and I am like, ‘All right, I have two laps left,’ ” Johnson said. “We came around the next lap and the lady did not ring the bell. They have to ring the bell. Runners can’t keep track of what they are running.”
Leader Joseph Miner of Benjamin Cardozo did, though.
“I looked at the clock at 800 [meters] and it was at 2:06 or something,” he said. “I told myself that’s got to be an 800.”
Johnson, in fifth place at the time, noticed Minor begin to kick and followed him all the way to second place and key points for his team. Minor won in a time of 2:37.04 and Johnson finished in 2:41.24.
“Give me one more lap and I think I would have caught Joe, too,” Johnson said.
Geum Sahng Park won the pole vault for Francis Lewis in 10 feet and Anthony Charalambous was second in 9-06. Springfield Gardens’ Weymour Johnson took first in the high jump (6-00) and the triple jump (40-10.50). Christopher Guerrero won the 1600 in a time of 4:40.58 and the 3200 in 10:12.19 for Townsend Harris. He beat Francis Lewis’ Samuel Rojas in both events.
