While the athletes at New Utrecht High School were lifting, running and sweating, Barry Lefkowitz was doing his own sort of preparation for his sporting future.
“I loved harness racing,” the 63-year-old Lefkowitz told Scholastic Roundup, “my love with the sport started when I first went to Monticello Raceway.”
He was nine-years-old at the time.
This weekend, Lefkowitz – President of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the United States Harness Writers – will preside over the 75th annual awards meetings at the Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla.
“The Horse of the Year will be announced on Sunday (Feb. 19th),” he said. “It’s the Dan Patch Award Ceremony presented by Caesar’s Entertainment.”
Some 200-275 race track operators and horse owners will be present.
“Everybody who’s anybody in harness racing will be attending,” he said.
So how did Lefkowitz work his way up the harness ladder?
“I started my career writing a weekly harness racing column for the Brooklyn Times and Brooklyn Spectator,” he said, “and sent that column to people in the industry.”
Allen Finkelson, a giant in the industry, and former VP at Pompano Park, read his columns, and called.
“This was back in 1981,” Lefkowitz said. “He told me to show up at The Meadowlands and he’d get me a job.”
Lefkowitz did – and Finkelson, a USHA Hall of Famer, was true to his word.
It was off to Jackson (Mich.) Raceway for the New Utrecht grad, where he served as the track’s publicist.
Roosevelt Raceway called in 1984, and then Lefkowitz served as PR Director at Windsor Raceway, Scioto Downs in Ohio and later toiled as General Manager at New York’s Batavia Downs.
Today, he serves as President of the USHWA – an organization celebrating 75 years of Harness Racing Reporting.
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Sports Writers from Long Island newspapers began regularly covering harness racing at the track. On May 8, 1947, 12 of them formed the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), becoming the organization’s charter members.
Lefkowitz was elected President of the organization in 2022 –and the USHWA today is the industry’s largest group of communicators and the only media organization promoting harness racing, its equine and human participants, and leading performers.
Lefkowitz remembers Leon Greenberg, the former President of Monticello Raceway – and how he promoted that track.
“He wanted the region in and around Sullivan and Ulster Counties in New York to know how influential Monticello Raceway was for the local economy,” he said. “So, the raceway became the largest purchaser of Kennedy half-dollars.”
And soon, the merchants in the region were getting an influx of those coins.
“They finally realized Monticello Raceway was not only a viable business for the local economy, but a large contributor to local business,” he said.
A larger-than-life sportsman from New Utrecht High School – without breaking a sweat.
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Nine boys and girls from Holy Name of Jesus Parish, Park Slope, were named local 2023 Knights of Columbus free-throw champions. They were: Sydney Cilente (5), Lynn Cottingham (6), Jax Islam (7), Morgan Cottingham (8), Licia Dispenza (9), Jesse Duprevil (9), Oliver Kelly (10), Kaitlyn Lenahan (12) and Audrey DiFusco (13).
Jakai Sanders, a Bishop Loughlin basketball junior, scored his 1,000th career point against Xaverian last Friday.
Pratt Institute will hold its annual Alumni Basketball Game and Reception, Saturday (Feb. 18th) 11:30am – 4 pm at Pratt’s ARC – Activity Resource Center. The Alumni Game is set for 11:30, reception at 1 pm and Pratt’s men’s basketball team will face Newport News Apprentice School at 2 pm.
Pratt’s sophomore Kylie Grant recorded her 12th double-double of the season for the women’s basketball team against Cazenovia College last week. She finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds in a 65-40 defeat.
The Cannoneers closed their 2022-23 season Wednesday night against the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
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Graduating senior Mousa Sinera scored 15 points and snatched 23 rebounds for Medgar-Evers College last week in a lop-sided 105-34 loss to John Jay. Sinera boosted his career total to 1,034 rebounds.
LIU’s women’s gymnastics team scored a season-high 195.100 at the EAGL quad meet, Sunday. Individually, Syd Morris led the way for the Sharks on the vault, scoring 9.775; Mara Titarsolej scored 9.950 on the uneven bars and Ilka Juk led the way on the beam at 9.825. Ella Barringon scored a team-best on the floor at 8.850. North Carolina won the meet with a score of 196.275; the Sharks placed fourth.
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The Sharks women’s softball team returned from Florida with a 1-4 record – their lone win in the Florida Gulf Coast Kickoff Classic was against Binghamton. LIU grabbed a 2-0 lead Sunday in the second-inning on freshman Alexia Castro’s leadoff homer and Gabby Padilla’s RBI single, but FGCU used a two-run fifth to take a 3-2 lead.
This weekend, the Sharks are in Statesboro, Ga., for five games – two apiece against host Georgia Southern and Radford and a single-game against Bryant.
Anthony Vincent’s second goal of the game, an empty-netter with 21 seconds remaining, sealed the win as the Sharks men’s hockey team defeated No. 20 Alaska Fairbanks, 3-1, Saturday at Northwell Health Ice Center. Goaltender Brandon Perrone made 24 saves and improved his record to 6-0-0 this season.
LIU has now defeated then No. 12 Ohio State and No. 20 Alaska Fairbanks and has tied No. 7 Quinnipiac.
Mo Elsayed went 5-1 on the day, improving his regular-season record to 19-2 for the LIU fencers at the Tar Heel Invitational, Sunday.
“Mo is having a great season. He will go to the regionals as the top-ranked epee fencer in the nation,” coach Ivan Lee said in a post-match statement.
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The LIU indoor track teams had a banner weekend at a pair of venues.
At Boston University, Saturday, Elyas Ayyoub shattered the program’s indoor 500-m record with a time of 14:06.13, besting the previous school mark of 14:25.7 set by Martin Ryan in 1992.
Also, at the event, Jonathan Gonzalez (2:26.21) and Aidan Haughian (2:32.73) set PRs in the 1K.
Ainhoa Brea ran a 4:50 at BU (Friday) while unattached. Otherwise, it would have topped the school record by six seconds.
And at the Fastrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island, the highlights included:
Faith Shaw and Sade Panton with PRs in the weight throw, at 15.94-m (fourth-place) and 14.22-m (12th), respectively.
Rali Mihaylova finished second and had a PR in the 800-m at 2:15.09. Shaunelle Wallace on Day 2 set a personal record in the 60-m with a time of 7.75 while finishing third. London Claxton competed in her first 800-m of the season and ran an indoor personal record of 2:20, which was good for 11th. Alessandra Pastor had season bests in the 200-m on Day 1 and 400-m on Day 2; Gabriela Ortuna and Emily Ginty accomplished mile PRs; Jordan McKenzie produced an indoor personal record in the 200-m Saturday with a time of 21.83 and finished second; TJ Roberts had a season-best 8.5 and finished fourth in the 60-m hurdles; Brandon Lopez (Friday) had a season-best long jump of 5.73-m; Langston Richardson on Day 1 produced an 800-m time of 2:05.31 in his debut in the event, then had a time of 2:02.93 the following day.
Connor Knight had a personal record in the weight throw (13.68) and shot put (11.93); Dustin Keomanikhoth, on Day 2 had a season-best long jump of 5.79-m; Julian Jimenez in the 800-m and Michael Kurpisz in the 400-m had PRs.
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It also proved to be a record-setting final weekend of the indoor track and field regular-season for the St. Francis men’s and women’s track and field teams.
After the women’s 4×400 relay team cracked the program record at the Fastrack National Invitational, sophomore standout Malachi Aiken did the same in the long-jump Saturday, as a limited Terrier squad competed in the Big Apple Invitational.
Aiken continued his pace as the Terriers’ top men’s jumper, cracking a program record in the long jump with a 7.21-m best mark. That mark qualifies Aiken for the IC4A/ECAC Championships in the event.
On the track, Makhi Theosmy took the best finish of the day with a fifth-place in the 400-m final (49.62). Shevon Walker qualified for the 60-m dash prelims after taking first in his qualifying heat (7.07). He took 15th place in the prelim.
For the women, Janee Patterson set a new personal best, 25.56 in the 200-m, good for eighth place; her relay teammate, Armani Dunkley, took 15th place with a 25.96 finish. Patterson clocked a 59.62 finish in the 400-m final, good for 14th place. The Terriers return to Ocean Breeze Athletic Conference Complex for the Northeast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Feb. 19-20.
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The women’s Water Polo Team of St. Francis defeated Mount St. Mary’s and Mercyhurst Sunday to begin the season with three straight victories. It was the first time in program history in which the Terriers began the season, 3-0. They defeated LaSalle, 11-8 Friday. Sydney DeVroedt scored three times against Mount St Mary’s and MK McKendry made eight saves for the game.
The Terriers topped Mercyhurst, 16-4.
Freshman guard Katie Januszewska has been named Great Britain’s U18 Women’s Player of the Year. The Terriers’ frosh is a Derby native and was also part of Kenrick Liburdi’s GB U18s side that went 4-3 for an 11th-place finish in Division B, where she averaged 9.6 points per- game and 6.0 rebounds per-game across all seven games. She’s shooting a team-best 86.7% from the free-throw line for the Terriers.
For the second-time this season, Josiah Harris has been named a Northeast Conference (NEC) Prime Performer. The St. Francis forward had a pair of double-doubles against Wagner and Stonehill. He led the Terriers averaging a double-double with a 17.5 ppg and 10.5 rebounds-per-game. He matched a career-high with 20 points and four blocks and 11 rebounds in the season-sweep over Wagner. He scored his fourth double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds at Stonehill.
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Cristina Bermejo, an LIU grad student, scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Sharks to a 78-68 win over Wagner last week. Junior Ashley Austin added 19 points. Emaia O’Brien scored 12 while freshman Mariah Elohim dropped in nine.
Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR
