Konigsberg Hits the Mark, Reaches States

The entire track season came down to one final race Sunday morning for Harrison standout Ben Konigsberg.

After setting a school record Thursday in the 100-meter dash at Arlington High School and finishing second in the 400-meter hurdles Friday at White Plains High School, Konigsberg still wasn't qualified to represent Harrison and Section I in the state meet.

His final chance was another run at the 400-meter hurdles, this time at the Eastern States Championship at Iona Prep. At 9:45 a.m. the gun sounded, and the veteran leader of the Harrison track team took off running.

Just 55.64 seconds later, Konigsberg crossed the finish line first, setting a new school record and finally earning a well-deserved birth in the state meet.

"Talk about pressure," said Harrison Track and Field coach Dominic Zanot, who proudly announced this week that Konigsberg's time on Sunday was the best for any Section I hurdler regardless of school size.

In order to qualify for the state meet runners must finish in the top two of a qualifying race while beating the state standard. Konigsberg had defeated the standard in the 100-meter on Thursday, but finished fourth. In the hurdles on Friday he finished the top two, but was just behind the standard.

Konigsberg put it all together Sunday, finishing first while defeating the state standard by two-tenths of a second, sending him to Cicero-North Syracuse High School this weekend to compete in the New York State Championship.