St. Anthony's Matthew Payamps wins the boys 1600 meter run in a time of 4:22.53 at the CHSAA Intersectional Championships at Ichann Stadium on May 25, 2019. Photo Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy

By Jordan Lauterbach Newsday

No one in the CHSAA had forgotten about the range, precision, intuitiveness, and downright fierce nature of Matthew Payamps’ talent. Payamps, the St. Anthony’s senior who is one of the best distance runners in the state, won the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes, 22.53 seconds, the 3,200 in 9:20.22, and was named track MVP at Saturday's 92nd running of the CHSAA Intersectional track and field Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.

The victories qualify Payamps for the state championships, scheduled for June 7-8 in Middletown. Payamps said he will run the 3,200 on June 7, then return home for his high school graduation on June 8.

 “I’m ok with it,” said Payamps of missing the Saturday session at the state championships. “I won the 1,600 (state championship) indoors, so I’m ok with missing it.”

Despite his recent pedigree as a cross country force, Payamps tends to focus on the 800 and 1,600 come track season. But, sure as his stride is long, Payamps can reenter the long-distance fold at will and showed why Saturday.

“I ran the two mile at (the Loucks Games two weeks ago) and that was a really good race for me,” Payamps said. “So I knew that I was strong enough to come here, run the two-mile, and then run the mile afterward.”

Payamps was both tactical and methodical as he moved around the track in the 3,200. He stayed behind the leaders early and then settled into fourth place at the 800 mark. By the 1,200 mark, he was in third. Payamps moved into second at the bell – which signifies the final lap – and passed Iona Prep’s Pedro Bravo with 300 meters remaining, cruising home for his first win of the afternoon. Bravo was second in 9:25.29.

“I wanted to stay as relaxed as I could,” Payamps said. “I knew I had to run the mile afterward, so I wanted to save myself for the next race. I knew Pedro (Bravo) was running the 1,600 as well. Once I made my move, I could hear his coach say ‘take it easy’ and I knew that I did what I had to do to finish on top and conserved myself as much as I could for the next race.”