New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory, December 20^th – When Benjamin Cardozo High School graduate Sabrina Southerland headed south to Georgetown University in late summer 2013, she expected the records she left behind to last a while. After all, she was named Armory Girls Track Athlete of the Year and her series of brilliant performances were first-rate. But nothing's ever written in stone in her sport and, just look now, one of her more notable record-breaking performances has already been erased from the books.

Southerland's 4:56.25 mile performance at the Bishop Loughlin Games had a shelf-life of just two years. It was shattered Saturday by Pennridge HS senior Marissa Sheva who cruised to a sensational 4:50.73 win at the 61st annual Bishop Loughlin Games, first of the "majors" on the four-month-long Armory winter season.

Catherine Pagano of Northern Highlands bettered Southerland's old mile mark, too, but her 4:53.29 clocking sufficed for just second place. Also "breaking 5" was Bella Burda of Arlington HS at 4:59.26 for third place.

These were first-class performances and, coming so early in the campaign, are certain omens of even bigger things just ahead. Amazingly, Sheva did all this just one week after concluding a great cross country season. She'd run 25th in the Foot Locker finals December 13th at San Diego's Balboa Park.

"This is really exciting for me," said Sheva, "especially coming so soon after cross country."  

The win made her an automatic qualifier for the NYRR Millrose Games at The Armory on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. Further down the road, though, she'll face a very big decision.

Sheva is also an outstanding soccer midfielder – starring for the IMG Academy Pennsylvania Fusion team – who has already accepted a Penn State scholarship. So the process of changing shoes – XC to indoor spikes to soccer cleats – is one more matter she'll have to deal with.

There were tons of other of outstanding middle distance running highlights at the Loughlin Games, the historic season-opening meet hosted by the Brooklyn school whose own heritage dates back to 1851.

Boys and Girls HS sprint phenom Richard Rose surely rose to the occasion, shattering the boys 600m record with a 1:18:40 clocking (46/100 faster than the meet standard) that won it decisively over Clara Barton's Kemani Mighty, who ran 1:21.68. 

Yet another meet record-smasher, Archbishop Molloy HS triple jumper Jared Lovelace, hopped, stepped and jumped exactly 50 feet (wrecking the Loughlin standard of 48-8 1/2).

Put Anna Flynn, James Burke and Stephen Garrett on that list of top performers at the Bishop Loughlin meet, too.

Flynn, representing Ursuline Academy, claimed the girls two mile title in 10:51.65 with a decisive win over Caroline Foley of Tatnall HS who ran 11:06.11. But the 33-year-old meet record of 10:36.50 remained unscathed.

Garrett, another Tatnall star, missed out on Foot Locker XC Nationals, but considers that something of a surprise. After all, it gave him a two-week head start on his indoor season track training. Garrett was one of the best junior two milers in the nation last spring (with 9:04 credentials) but hopes to move to the top of the pack in 2015. And hard on his heels in Delaware circles is his brother, Joey, who ran second behind him in their state divisional XC final. 

"I was really geared up for this one," said Stephen Garrett. "Couldn't wait for indoors to start."

Jordan Leon of Milford gave valiant chase to Garrett for the first mile, but he eventually dropped back to a 9:26.42 second place behind Garrett's winning 9:19.58. The meet record remains Howie McNiff's 9:09.8 back in 1972 for Albertus Magnus HS.

Gamely, Stephen Garrett came back some two-plus hours later to run the mile and gave it his best shot there, too. A very big move lifted Garrett from fourth to first in the final 400, but Port Jefferson's James Burke had too much left and broke it open for a 4:17.51 win to Garrett's 4:20.58.

"I was just waiting to kick," said Burke. "Garrett made a crazy move, guess he thought the pace was too slow. But he made it exciting, too, and fun. Everybody went with him. Then he passed me again. So, I just said 'it's time to go.' When I heard the announcer (Ian Brooks) saying 'he can break 4:20,' I knew it was time to go."

To Brooks, formerly of England, "Stephen Garrett looks a lot like Seb Coe to me. The same kind of compact stride, the same confident look. I see a lot of similarities.  He can have a great future in the sport, too."

Burke ran a 4:11 last winter, only to have a bout with mononucleosis wreck his outdoor campaign. Burke's win, like Sheva's, was an automatic ticket to the NYRR Millrose Games.

Not to be outdone, the sprinters had a big day at the Armory, too.

Newburgh Free Academy's Zack Warden dashed off with the boys 55m title in 6.46, just 6/100 off the meet record. Just a short lean back in second was Newark Central's Jamique Mitchell.

"Weight training's been the key to my improvement this year," said Warden, whose best last season was 6.66. "A lot of benches presses and squats, a lot of reps. Not too heavy, but a lot of reps."

Brenessa Thompson of Middle College claimed the girls 55m in 7.02 after a 7.20 trial.

300m crowns went to Mount Vernon's Rai Benjamin with a head turning 33.81 in the boys final and Arianne Strunkey of Taft Educational Campus who edged her sister Ariel (38.80 to 39.14) for the girls title. Penn State grad Shana Cox, now a British Olympian, continues as the Loughlin girls 300 record-holder with her 1:30.00 for Holy Trinity in 2004.

Back on the straightaway, 55m hurdle gold went to Dover's Mykele Young-Sanders in 7.47, edging McClancy's Sidney Gibbons (7.49) in the boys final, and girls titlist Shayla Broughton of Middle College HS in 8.19 after an 8.20 prelim. And Broughton made it a daily double by winning the high jump with a 5-6 leap.

Winners at 1km were Germantown Academy's Sam Ritz in 2:28.81 and Jessica Drop of Connecticut's Coginchaug Regional HS in 2:57.13.

Girls titlist over the 600m route was Amanda Crawford of Brookyn's Paul Robeson HS (1:33.83).

Other girls field event winners were Broughton in the high jump at 5-6; Monroe-Woodbury HS pole vaulter Sam Beyar (12 feet); Holton-Arms HS long jumper Lisa Anne Barrows (18-7); Baltimore Poly triple jumper Deja Stevenson (37-8) and New Rochelle HS shot putter Nijera Manuel (39-9).

Boys winners in the field were pole vaulter Ryan Herrera-Murphy of Iona Prep at 15 ft, a height also cleared by teammate Matt Fay in another event decided by jump-off; long jumper Anthony Roderick of Hackley School (21-9 3/4), and shot putter Eric Favors of North Rockland HS (with a mighty 62-0.)

When all was said done, Xavier (15 points), Newburgh Free Academy (14) and Iona Prep (12) ranked 1-2-3 in boys scoring, and Middle College (23 1/3), Taft Educational Campus (19) and Coginchaug Regional (16) on the girls team charts.

The meet attracted boys and girls teams from eight states – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as the Virgin Islands.

To meet director Angela Murdock – a Loughlin grad who, of course, was rooting for Bishop Loughlin's own athletes - the meet is a win-win-win regardless.

Thanks to her efforts – and those of a legion of officials and volunteers – the indoor season is already off to a red-hot start. Veteran Armory-goers know that Loughlin results invariably lead to much better things in the road just head.

By Elliot Denman // Meet Photos by John Nepolitan and Karthik Adimula

Full Results, Videos and Photos: http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?do=view_event&event_id=7051&mgroup_id=45586&year=2014