'Fast & Furious'

TED WADDELL
Posted 5/30/18

MIDDLETOWN, NY — It was Mike Mullally’s day in the blistering afternoon sun, as the Sullivan West senior and defending Empire State track star turned up the heat and smoked the …

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'Fast & Furious'

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MIDDLETOWN, NY — It was Mike Mullally’s day in the blistering afternoon sun, as the Sullivan West senior and defending Empire State track star turned up the heat and smoked the competition in three events: 110m hurdles (14.20), 100m dash (11.24) and the 400m intermediate hurdles (58.45).

On Friday, May 25, the Section IX Class C and D Track & Field Championship was held at Faller Field, part of Middletown High’s premier sports complex.

In the qualifying preliminaries, Mullally turned it down a notch as he posted winning times of 14.69Q in the 110m hurdles, 11.52Q in the 100m dash and 23.75Q in the 200m dash.

But the heat started to take its toll in the wake of the 200m dash, and Mullally’s veteran coach Ron Bauer showed a streak of mercy, allowing his star scholar athlete to pass on the upcoming 200m dash final in preparation for energy-consuming 400m hurdles.

After winning the 400m intermediate, Mullally collapsed along the sidelines, apparently due to his strenuous exertions under the sweltering skies, much to the consternation of the track officials and his coach.

Bags of cooling ice and a bit of rest, and all was well.

By all accounts, the Sullivan West track champ continued to show his fellow athletes the soles of his golden spikes, clearing the hurdles in gazelle-like style with a razor slim margin between victory and crashing to the deck in defeat.

In the 110m hurdles final, Mullally finished 2.48 seconds ahead of second place finisher Jeremy Dolansky of Pine Plains, in the 100m dash .30 in front of Erik Manfredi from Millbrook, and the 400m hurdles combined, 2.30 better than second place finisher Thomas VanSaders of Tri-Valley.

Women’s team rankings (22 events scored, top five): Sullivan West (260), Rondout Valley (191.5), Onteora (176), Pine Plains (144), Tri-Valley (120). Eldred finished sixth, Liberty ninth and Fallsburg 12th.

Men’s team rankings (22 events scored, top five): Tri-Valley (261), Sullivan West (188), Pine Plains (147), James I’ O’Neill (139), Rondout Valley (123.5). Fallsburg and Liberty were tied for 16th with Dover, while Eldred was 19th.

Asked what it was like to watch his son Michael Sean compete, his father Michael Vincent Mullally replied, “Always nerve wracking, but exciting at the same time… it displays all the hard work… he practices very hard.”

middletown, track

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