GUILDERLAND — He ran the fastest 800 meters on Saturday at the New York State Track-and-Field Meet at St. Lawrence University in Canton.

Unfortunately for Guilderland High School’s Brian Rhodes-Devey, he was entered in the 1,600-meter event.

Rhodes-Devey ran a phenomenal 2:01 for the first 800 meters in the race but was passed by Fayetville-Manlius’s Owen Kimple in the third lap. Kimple won the race in a time of 4:07.1. Rhodes-Devey finished in 4:11.40 to take home the silver medal.
"The plan was to run a 2:04 for the first 800," Rhodes-Devey said. "It is a comfortable pace for me and I’d been working on pacing in workouts. I was getting used to it.
"At states, I went out hard right away," Rhodes-Devey said. "The first 400 was like 59 seconds, which is way too fast. Then I saw Owen Kimple behind my shoulder and I tried to shake him. It threw me off my race.
"I tried to push it and that probably wasn’t the best idea"On the third lap, he lined me up and just annihilated me. I tried to hold on. But what can you do" You can’t go back and change. I’m looking ahead."
"Brian ran a blazing 800," Guilderland Coach Pete Wachtel said. "But the kid from Fayetville-Manlius, in the third lap, ran a 59 or 60-and-a-quarter and finished at 4:07. Brian was disappointed but he said that the kid ran a better race and that second in the state is not bad either."

Rhodes-Devey gained some knowledge looking back on his race.
"I learned a lot from states," he said on Tuesday. "I had the race plan worked out in my head and everything was going great. Once the race began, the plans went to hell. I was going out too hard and I did not adjust, though I should of.
"I ran 2:01 through the first 800 and, after that, I didn’t run a smart race," Rhodes-Devey added. "But I finished second at states and came close to a personal record."

"Not too shabby"

Mark Domaracki also represented Guilderland at the state meet. The Section II large-school champion in the 400, had a disappointing season finale at the state meet.

Domaracki ran 50.03 to finish fifth in the large-school meet and 11th overall.
"Mark was disappointed in his time," Wachtel said. "He ended up fifth but he could’ve finished third if he ran his time. He finished 11th overall so he didn’t qualify for the Federation Meet. You have to be in the top nine. But he finished fifth in the state among large schools and got to race out of the section. I’m proud of Mark this season. He had a wonderful season."

Seth Dubois competed in the 3,200 and had to deal with rainy nasty conditions.
"He ran a 9:20," Wachtel said. "That is the third fastest time. His last three races have been his best three times."

Dubois finished the race with a time of 9:28.67 to finish 20th overall but was the best among Section II runners in the event.
"That’s not too shabby," Wachtel said. "It’s not where he wanted to be. But there is no doubt that he has come along. This race was just not in the cards."

Guilderland’s Krystal Myers competed in the pole vault at the state meet. Her best vault was 9 feet, 20 inches to place 17th overall but was the best among Section II athletes.

Kyle Jacobs of Voorheesville also competed at the state meet. His time of 59.35 in the 400-meter hurdles placed him seventh overall in the small-school division, but made him the best from Section II.

On to Raleigh

It’s not the last race for the three Guilderland runners. They are working their way to Raleigh, N.C. for the national track-and-field meet this weekend.

Domaracki, Dubois, and Rhodes-Devey will be joined by Justin Wager to run in the distance medley relay at the event. Rhodes-Devey is also considering running the mile.
"They are going to nationals," Wachtel said "I’m not going with them. They are going with their folks. They are planning to run the DMR, but they are still trying to get down there."

Co-champs

The season came to an end for Wachtel on Tuesday at the team’s end-of-year picnic at Tawasentha Park.
"We had a great group of kids and parents," Wachtel said. "We had great support from the parents. You can’t have a track-and-field team without the parents."

Wachtel is also pleased with what the team accomplished this season and what is ahead.
"When we stepped up to the Blue Division," Wachtel said of moving up to a higher division in the Suburban Council, "We were Gold Division champs but we were looking to go up against Saratoga, Shen, and Shaker, and it was ‘Oh, my God.’
"But then we beat Saratoga, and then we beat Shaker," Wachtel added. "We then thought we had a chance to win the Blue Division. It was just that there was a bomb scare at Shen the day we were supposed to meet them. We couldn’t find time to make it up so we ended up co-champions."

The Dutchmen finished with a 9-1 dual meet record and as co-champs with Shenendehowa. The junior-varsity Dutch also ended the season with a 9-1 record.
"We were giving out awards at the banquet," Wachtel said. "And, after we did the junior varsity awards and then we called up the juniors, we realized that there were just 12 seniors out of 170 kids. It looks good for next year. Usually we are wondering at the beginning of the season how we are going to do things. We won’t have to worry about that next year."