On the fast track to success


By LANDON JOHNS


Special to The Millerton News  


WEBUTUCK — The Webutuck Track Club registered another impressive showing at the O.C.I.A.A. Championship Track Meet on Friday, Feb. 20. 

Tiere Spruill began the afternoon in the 55-meter dash preliminaries by easily qualifying for the finals by winning his heat with a time of 6.81 seconds. 

Jim Boeding was next to run for the Warriors.  Jim has diversified this season. Formerly only a distance runner, he is now rapidly improving as a middle-distance runner and is beginning to demonstrate that he is a force to reckon with in the Hudson Valley. Jim easily bested his heat in the 600-meter winning by 30 meters in a time of 1:32.17. Unfortunately, the meet was arranged so that the fastest runners did not run in the same heat and, after all four heats were finished, Jim’s time only allowed him third place overall.

Tiere had to make his way through the 300-meter preliminaries next. The winner of each of the five preliminary heats was guaranteed a spot in the finals of the event. Nationally ranked in the 300 meters, Tiere was able to cruise to a first-place finish in his preliminary heat and post the fastest qualifying time for the finals.

The finals in the 55 meters was a real tantalizer for sprinting fans, with some of the finest Class B speedsters in New York assembled on the same track. Tiere Spruill, once again, showed why he is considered one of the finest sprinters in the state as he recovered from a poor start and walked away from the rest of the field in the last 20 meters of the race.

Jim Boeding completed his evening’s performance with an outstanding showing in the 1,600 meters (metric mile). A talented field of milers began the strategic race keeping pace with defending New York state champion Colin Seidl (Sullivan West). The first 800 meters of the race was run in a cautious 2:31. Everyone in attendance knew that they were in for a dash to the finish line. Jim kept pace in a huddle of the fastest six runners throughout the race. When everyone made their break for the finish line, Jim, an 11th-grader, held on to finish third, closely behind the two seniors who took first and second.  Jim’s second 800 meters was run in 2:23 for a final time of 4:54. 

The evening was capped off with the running of the boys 300-meter finals. Tiere Spruill was awarded the middle lane for the event as a result of his preliminary performance. He ran a near-perfect race, without being pushed. He won the event with 25 meters between him and the second-place finisher.

Tiere Spruill was one of only three competitors (two men and one woman) to win multiple individual events at the O.C.I.A.A. Championship Track Meet. Tiere has earned an invitation to run in a very select field of runners at the 72nd Eastern States Championship Track Meet, held at the (Manhattan) Armory on Tuesday, Feb. 24. This meet will feature some of the top ranked high school runners in the United States.  Tiere has been invited to run in both the 200 meters and the 400 meters in the meet.

 


Landon Johns is the Webutuck track coach.

Latest News

Classifieds - December 4, 2025

Help Wanted

CARE GIVER NEEDED: Part Time. Sharon. 407-620-7777.

SNOW PLOWER NEEDED: Sharon Mountain. 407-620-7777.

Keep ReadingShow less
Legal Notices - December 4, 2025

LEGAL NOTICE

TOWN OF CANAAN/FALLS VILLAGE

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Les Flashs d’Anne’: friendship, fire and photographs
‘Les Flashs d’Anne’: friendship, fire and photographs
‘Les Flashs d’Anne’: friendship, fire and photographs

Anne Day is a photographer who lives in Salisbury. In November 2025, a small book titled “Les Flashs d’Anne: Friendship Among the Ashes with Hervé Guibert,” written by Day and edited by Jordan Weitzman, was published by Magic Hour Press.

The book features photographs salvaged from the fire that destroyed her home in 2013. A chronicle of loss, this collection of stories and charred images quietly reveals the story of her close friendship with Hervé Guibert (1955-1991), the French journalist, writer and photographer, and the adventures they shared on assignments for French daily newspaper Le Monde. The book’s title refers to an epoymous article Guibert wrote about Day.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nurit Koppel brings one-woman show to Stissing Center
Writer and performer Nurit Koppel
Provided

In 1983, writer and performer Nurit Koppel met comedian Richard Lewis in a bodega on Eighth Avenue in New York City, and they became instant best friends. The story of their extraordinary bond, the love affair that blossomed from it, and the winding roads their lives took are the basis of “Apologies Necessary,” the deeply personal and sharply funny one-woman show that Koppel will perform in an intimate staged reading at Stissing Center for Arts and Culture in Pine Plains on Dec. 14.

The show humorously reflects on friendship, fame and forgiveness, and recalls a memorable encounter with Lewis’ best friend — yes, that Larry David ­— who pops up to offer his signature commentary on everything from babies on planes to cookie brands and sports obsessions.

Keep ReadingShow less