Queensbury’s Kilgallon wins before home fans
Spartans’ sprinter captures 110 hurdles at his school’s invitational
It was a home game for Michael Kilgallon, who slept a few extra minutes Saturday morning and by the time the senior showed up at his school for the Queensbury Invitational, Kilgallon was ready to go.
The 6-foot-3 Kilgallon put his mark on the meet early as his preliminary qualifying time in the 110-meter hurdles is the top time in the state this year and though he didn’t top it in the final, his effort of 14.74 in front of family and friends in the rising temperatures during the afternoon at Queensbury High was plenty good enough to win the event.
“I felt kind of cranky getting up. I set my alarm for 7:30, got up at 8 and was a little behind schedule,” Kilgallon said. “In prelims, it was a little cooler so I had to keep putting ice on my neck (before the final) because it was getting really hot. I love seeing all the fans in the stands, they are looking at me right now.”
Kilgallon’s afternoon wasn’t finished with the 110-hurdles as he joined teammates Koda Jones, Ethan Langford and Bergen Caprood to win the 400 relay with a time of 44.29 seconds, just enough to nip Saratoga (44.43) at the finish line.
As the meet went along, the heat became a factor though it didn’t slow down Peter Fulgieri of Burnt Hills in the Quentin Howe Memorial One Mile Run, nor did it stop Daryl Headen of Schuylerville in the high jump.
Fulgieri raced to the lead of the pack at the outset of the mile and stayed there as he kept track of his desired time for each lap and pulled away in the final 300 meters for the win.
“I tried to go through at 65 seconds per lap. It’s pretty hot out so it got to me a bit,” Fulgieri said. “Today, I was focusing on hydrating a lot, yesterday too. I definitely performed better with the heat. With 300 to go, we do 300 workouts every two weeks so I’m used to that pain in the last 100. I’ve definitely been working on closing speed. I never really had a closing kick and now I do.”
Fulgieri’s efforts helped Burnt Hills to a second-place finish, one-half point behind Saratoga in the team standings while Mount Anthony nipped Burnt Hills by just more than a point for the girls’ team title.
Headen outlasted the competition in the high jump, winning with at 5-10 though he entered the meet with a season-best
mark of 6-4, and cleared 6-6 last season.
With the heat becoming an issue in the pit area and delays in the event, Headen passed on a chance to increase the height after he’d clinched the meet title.
“It was a little hot so I didn’t get as high as I wanted to,” Headen said. “Hydration is key. I was drinking water before I was jumping but the more I stood out in the sun, the more tired my muscles got. That wasn’t good.”
Though nursing an
ankle injury left over from the indoor track and field season, Stillwater senior Gianna Locci managed to get one jump in the long jump, an event-winning effort of 18-2, and posted the top preliminary time of 12.65 seconds in the 100 and 25.68 in the 200 meters before scratching from both finals to nurse the injury.
“I have multiple bone bruises in my ankle, that has been a disappointment this season,” Locci said. “I did my first practice
back jumping two days ago so we thought we’d try this meet and I came prepared. I was going to go with a fivestep approach instead of eight. I tried to come back slowly but it flared up again so I’m out again. I got really good times today but I feel weak because I haven’t been able to train.”