Cardozo, Jefferson Claim PSAL Crowns

The 110th PSAL City Championships took place at The Armory on Sunday afternoon and both meets provided plenty of fireworks.

The Cardozo girls' beat Medgar Evers, 91 to 85, to win another title. Going into the last event the Judges had a two-point lead over Evers, but the difference was that Cardozo saved it two biggest stars — Deajah Stevens and Sabrina Southerland — and they were able to win the race in 3:53.94 with Medgar Evers in third.

The PSAL is often known for its sprint prowess — and this year is no different with Kadecia Baird and Stevens ruling the Armory oval all winter long. Baird won the 55- and 300-meter dashes, and was on the winning 4x200-meter relay. Stevens was second in the 300-meter and a member of the winning 4x400-meter relay.

But the distance races provided some fast times as well. Southerland doubled up for victories in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter runs with winning times of 2:48.24 and 4:39.55. But the girls' 1,000 also saw Corinne Birchard of Curtis run 2:56.82 and Fabiola Oubida of Health Professional clock 2:58.85. Tottenville's Angelique Demeo was secnd in the 1,500m in 4:49.82 with Cardozo's Denise Branch right on her tail in 4:50.11.

Branch had earlier won the 3k in 10:15.42 — having to out kick Stuyvesant's Kineta Wahl, who ran 10:16.52. Back in 2008, the sixth-place finisher in the 3k ran 11:25 while this year's sixth runner ran 10:52. Clearly the PSAL distance runners are improving dramatically.

The girls' field events were highlighted by Shayla Broughton of Medger Evers who cleared 5-4 and just edged out Dypna Umunakwe of Dewitt Clinton. Keziann Jones of Boys & Girls took the shot put in 37-8 3/4.

Ji Won Kang of Townsend Harris won the 1,500-meter race walk in 6:44.62 — which now ranks her seventh-best in U.S. history. She is the first PSAL athlete to ever break seven minutes.

The boys' team scoring wasn't as close as the girls' meet as Jefferson beat MSIT, 56-39. Sidgie Green was among the stars for Jefferson as he won the 1,000 meters in a very fast 2:27.73. He beat Ronaldo Bell of Curtis who ran 2:28.20. Both could be factors at the State Championships in Ithaca this coming weekend.

Richard Rose of Boys & Girls won the 600 meters as expected and Harvard-bound Jack Stevenson of Stuyvesant and Pier Berkmans of Bronx Science battled it out in the 3,200 meters with Stevenson outleaning Berkmans, 9:29.56 to 9:29.64.

Sheepshead Bay teammates Axel Joseph and Powel Deslandes went 1-2 in the 55-meter hurdles while Dellon Peters of James Madison took the 55-meter dash in 6.51.

Samuel Tilden won both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays, but Bronx Science edged Midwood in the 4x800 by just .29 seconds.

In the evening, the teams from CCNY, the College of Staten Island, Lehman College, Medgar Evers and York will go after the CUNY crown.