CALEDONIA – Greene senior Chad Noelle finished his high school career with five state titles in track and field, and he added an elusive Federation title at Saturday’s New York State Track and Field Championships at Caledonia-Mumford High School.
Noelle won the Division II state championship in the 3,200 meters Friday night, but was narrowly edged for the overall Fedration title. A day later, Noelle ran a tactically perfect 1,600 meters hitting the finish line more than a second ahead of any other runner.
“That 1,600-meter win was a big relief,” said Greene track and field coach, Tim Paske. “You could feel the tension on Friday night, and we throughout the night we kept reviewing how we wanted to run the race. It unfolded just like we talked about.”
Similar to last year, Westbury’s Owen Skeete set a rapid rabbit pace, and led the entire pack of runners in the 1,600-meter final until the bell lap. With about 500 meters left, Noelle shifted into a higher gear, and pulled away running his final lap in 57 seconds to finish in 4:11.17. In second was 800-meter state champion Zavon Watkins of Liverpool, Noelle’s chief rival.
“We knew going in that Watkins’ best was about 4:13, and we wanted to push the pace,” Paske said. “I kept telling Chad to use his experience, Watkins had only run the 1,600 a couple of times. The last half mile, Chad decided to go for it, and his goal was to make it hurt. If Watkins was going to beat (Chad), he would have to run a personal best and really beat him. Fortunately, it worked out for us. Chad was very determined.”
Noelle burst on the state scene a year ago sweeping the Division II state titles in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. In preparation for this year’s outdoor season, Noelle added an indoor state title in the mile, and was unbeaten against New York State competition during the 2011 spring season. Noelle was a prohibitive favorite in Friday’s event, and had the best time among all entries by over five seconds.
Noelle, knowing he had a tough race on Saturday, attempted to conserve his energy and run with the pack through most of the race. An unexpected turn of a events was Liverpool’s Tim Luthin running the race of his life. On the final lap, Noelle used an early kick to open a lead with 300 meters to go. Luthin closed the distance, and it was in an all-out kick with Noelle to the finish line, one in which Luthin prevailed by a mere 11 hundreths of a second. “It was just a heck of a race, and that was the best I’ve ever seen Luthin look,” Paske said. “They’ve raced against each other five other times, and this is the first time Luthin beat Chad. It was a five- or six-second PR (personal record) for Luthin...he’s a just a heck of a runner and he’s been the bridesmaid to Chad. This time, he edged Chad out.”
Still, Noelle can gain some solace that he was a two-time Division II state champion in the 3,200. “Chad definitely wanted to be number one, but he has nothing to hang his head about. He ran hard, the other guy just beat him,” Paske said. I don’t think we’re going to see another runner around here like Chad for a long time. Hopefully (this success) will continue for him at the next level. His goal is to be in the Olympics. I hope it happens, that would be awesome.”