Clubbing In New York

In and around Gotham, all the club news fit to print:

Central Park Track Club New Balance

Behind the meet MVP performances of Heather Miller and Rolston Braithwaite, Central Park TC crushed the competition at the 12th USATF National Club Track & Field Championships held in Omaha, Neb., Friday and Saturday.

Miller scored an astounding 43 points as the CPTC women defeated Club Northwest, 265-183, for the team title. Miller was second in the long and triple jumps, third in the high hurdles and javelin and fourth in the 200 while also running on the winning sprint medley and 4x400m relays.

Recently finishing ninth in the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Miller had taken a great attitude into that national championship in Eugene, Ore., telling the St. Cloud Times, "This is essentially my Olympics. This is the biggest meet I realistically can achieve. I have nothing to lose. I’m going to go out there and have fun. I’ll be going against the best in the country."

The men's team chase at the Club Championships was even more of a blowout as CPTC nearly doubled up on Team Nebraska/Brooks, 259-133. Braithwaite — who had starred at Trenton Central High in Central Jersey — won the high hurdles, took second in the triple jump, third in the long jump and ran on the second-place 4x100m relay.

Three CPTC athletes broke meet records — Jeremy Bascom in the 100m dash (10.19), Zara Northover in the shot (16.27m) and Kateema Riettie in the javelin (54.99m). Another New York area sprinter — Lalonde Gordon of Zenith Velocity — broke the meet mark in the 400m as his 45.02 should land a spot on the Trinidadian Olympic team.

Complete results are available here.

New York Athletic Club

The grand old NYAC — which has sent athletes to the Olympics since the first Games in Athens in 1896 — will have a record number of Olympians in 2012. Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post is reporting that the number is likely to climb to more than 50.

NYAC — which supports 10 Olympic sports — had sent 39 athletes to Athens in 2004 and 40 to Beijing four years ago. Perhaps the highest profile track athlete will be marathoner Meb Keflezighi, who won a silver medal in Athens.

The athletic director of the Club, former New England Patriots receiver Cedric Jones, said that the numbers have left "a buzz circulating around the club as the Olympics draw closer."

New Jersey New York Track Club

The town of Clinton, N.J. — led by Mayor Janice Kovach — is having a big to-do for Julie Culley on Sunday morning at the Clinton Firehouse. After all, Clinton's favorite daughter won the 5,000-meter run at the U.S. Olympic Trials and will run for gold at the London Olympics next month.

The Rutgers graduate, now running for Group Gags, told Andrew Prezioso of the Express-Times: "My mom and dad said it was ... literally the greatest moment in their entire lives. Obviously, it's so special for you, but what it brings to other people is just incredible. I think that has been so moving to me, just seeing the amount of people that were watching and cheering and crying."

Shore Athletic Club

This report might be a little self-serving here at The Armory, but Shore AC's Aliann Pompey won national titles in both the 200- and 400-meter dashes at the U.S. Club Championships in Omaha, Neb., over the weekend. Pompey — who is the director of Armory College Prep — blazed through the 200 in 23.64 and her specialty, the 400, in 52.10 (three seconds ahead of the competition). Here is video of the 400.

Next month Pompey will represent her homeland — Guyana — for the fourth straight time at the Olympic Games. Her coach, Manhattan College assistant Joe Ryan, will serve as the Guyanese head coach at the Games for the second time. Ryan — now at Manhattan for 22 years — began his coaching career at Cardinal Hayes High in the Bronx.