Dajon Dixon was motivated by the events that took place at Icahn Stadium just a year ago. Then a junior, the Jefferson star didn’t come in better than sixth in his events and finished the 110 meter hurdles with a groin injury as his team captured their first outdoor city title since 2003.
“It gave me motivation in the offseason to train harder and be more focused,” Dixon said.
All of that paid off in e big way.
Dixon won the pentathlon with a score of 3306, the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 2 inches and was third in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.82. The performances helped lead the Orange Wave to their second straight PSAL boys track & field outdoor title at Icahn Stadium on Sunday. He hit the winning leap in the high jump right after completing the finals of the hurdles. Jefferson, again relying primarily on field event scoring, won with 88 points, Sheepshead Bay was second with 47 points and South Shore scored 40 points to place third.
“Seniors are supposed to step up and he took it upon himself to do that,” long-time Jefferson coach Claudel Martin said.
Jefferson has come up with quite a formula for getting itself at the top of the podium as well. For the second straight year it won the meet , scoring the bulk of its point from the field events. The Orange Wave practices start with running and then each player breaks off to work on their individual events.
“It’s good to bring tradition back to Jeff,” Dixon said.
Romario McDowell placed second behind Dixon in the pentathlon with a score of 3242 and teammate Qasim Ray was fourth with 2776 points. Marquis Lillard was fourth in the high jump with a leap of 6-00. Sidgie Green won the 3000 steeplechase with a time of 9:43.80. Tarik Registe was second in the discus with a toss of 120-00, Sheim Neil Brown (119-04) was second and Lesley Clervil was third in 113-01. Clara Barton’s Steve Baker was first with a mark of 129-10. Clervil was third in the shot put (44-09.00) behind winner Leandro Del Rosario (49-03.00) of Thomas Edison.
“That showed us that as long as we are doing well in like the hurdles and field events we are going to be fine,” McDowell said.
He said it was special to win back-to-back crowns without really scoring on the track to show last year wasn’t a fluke. Martin talked about the importance of his athletes scoring anywhere from first to six and credit his assistant coaches for helping make this possible.
“We showed that we could do it twice,” McDowell said.
Winner’s circle: Danito Dixon of Sheepshead Bay won the 100 with a time of 10.72 and teammate Tyroy Lawson took the 200 crown in 21.71. Columbus star Strymar Livingston placed first in the 400 with a mark of 47.90, but was second behind Robert Rhodes (1:51.67) of Boys & Girls in the 800. Felipe Yanez of Forest Hill was the 1600 champ in 4:25.32 and Stuyvesant’s Konrad Surkant took the 3200 with a mark of 9:42.36. Clinton dominated the hurdles with Rudje Beckford (14.75) was first in the 110 version and Jeremiah Obeng Agyapong took the 400 crown in 54.31.
Joseph Gray of Hunter took the javelin crown with a toss of 153-09 and Michael Hall Jr. of Truman won the long jump with a leap of 22-09.00. Fillian Lee of Lehman took the triple jump title (47-07.00) and Steve Baker was first in the discus with a toss of 129-00.