1981 SUFFERN HIGH SCHOOL
GIRLS’ SPRINT RELAY TEAMS
1981 was a banner year for Suffern’s sprint relay teams. They had already been incredibly successful in the previous two years, but this group, a mix of two seniors, two sophomores and an eighth grader, set high standards in the sprint relay marks that had tremendous longevity as New York State, school, and Rockland County records. They set standards that really were not eclipsed entirely until the beginning of the 21st century!
All these performances involved five girls: Robyn Blessett, Peggy Newsom, Sheila Bugdin, Nancy Rosenfeld and Lintz Rivera. Rivera and Rosenfeld are already individual inductees of the RCT&FHOF. Blessett, Bugdin, Newsom and Coach Tom McTaggart now join them in being recognized as new members.
The first of these records set was at the Penn Relays the last weekend in April 1981.
Penn Relays 4x400: The team of Peggy Newsom, Nancy Rosenfeld, Sheila Bugdin and Lintz Rivera ran the stunning time of 3:53.6 to place third in the penultimate of the qualifying heats. As many know, at Penn there are finals that are run on Friday; the Championship of America qualifies eight teams and a consolation final also of eight teams. Suffern’s time just missed qualifying for the consolation final by one- tenth of a second.
This performance set Rockland County, Section 9 and Suffern High School records. The 4x400 Rockland and Suffern school record lasted 23 years until 2004 when a Suffern team broke that record.
To show how things have progressed, it is now the No. 8 performance on the Rockland County list, with Suffern having 9 of the top 10 performances.
These same four girls combined to win the New York State championship at Cornell in June, running 3:54.0. On that same day, Rivera finished second at 400 meters and Rosenfeld placed second at 800 meters. Suffern’s 26 points for those places were the highest number scored by any girls’ team that day, giving them the coaches’ unofficial State championship, since no official team scores were kept back then.
The second of these records was set in the mile sprint medley relay at the New York Relays, the last non-metric relay meet held at Downing Stadium on Randalls Island (the next year the track was metric).
Coach McTaggart entered the team of Robyn Blessett and Peggy Newsom (220-yard legs), Lintz Rivera (440 yards) and Nancy Rosenfeld (880 yards) and entered this team with a seed time of 4:05.6. He was confident that they would be put into the fastest heat and have a shot at being first or second. One team he knew would be competitive was Columbia High School of New Jersey, which was to be anchored by Pamela Bryant, an outstanding half-miler who he thought could be challenged by the emerging sophomore talent in Rosenfeld.
While the race was being set up, Lintz Rivera got McTaggart’s attention and told him that Suffern was not included in the seeded heat. An agitated McTaggart went to the Clerk of the Course, Jack Donovan, to protest that none of the teams in the seeded heat – all but Columbia claiming sub-4-minute seed times – had ever run close to their seed times. Donovan moved Suffern into the seeded heat.
The race immediately emerged as a race between Columbia and Suffern. The eighth-grade speedster, Robyn Blessett, came up dead even on Columbia’s lead-off just before the handoff and Columbia’s second girl lost her poise and went out way too quickly. Blessett’s handoff to Newsom was perfect. The Columbia girls’ handoff was past the zone line, but that did not slow the race down at all. Rivera had all she could do in the 440 leg to keep Suffern dead even at the handoff to Rosenfeld. It was now a showdown between two of the best half-milers around. Bryant took the lead early, but Rosenfeld went right with her. They both came through the 440 mark together. Bryant took a two-yard lead past the 660 point that held up past the top of the straightaway until Rosenfeld made it evident that this was going down to the wire as she got side by side and the two of them lunged past the finish. Bryant got the edge, but it did Columbia no good, because they were disqualified for an illegal first handoff.
Suffern’s time of 4:05.6 in winning the championship plaque established a New York State record that lasted for 19 years until broken by the Tilden High School 1,600-meter sprint medley in 2000 (3:55.16) at the National Outdoor meet.
The third of these records was the 4x200: Lintz Rivera, Sheila Bugdin, Peggy Newsom, and Robyn Blessett combined to run 1:44.00.
"The 4x200 at the New Jersey Relays at Rutgers was run as a warm-up for three of our 4x400 runners competing later that same day," McTaggart said. "We ended up in third place to the champion Willingboro (N.J.) High School team while running and winning the fastest of the unseeded sections in a final based on time."
The Mountie foursome set a Suffern High School record that lasted exactly 20 years to the day, when another Suffern team beat Willingboro to win the East Coast Relays at Morristown, N.J., in 2001.
Coach McTaggart really did not “load” Suffern’s 4x100 team; they ran it stacked only once or twice that year. They ran in the mid-49’s, but they also knew Ramapo was a better team and stuck with the long sprint relays as their 1981 focus. The strategy paid off in setting marks that lasted for a generation.
All these performances involved five girls: Robyn Blessett, Peggy Newsom, Sheila Bugdin, Nancy Rosenfeld and Lintz Rivera. Rivera and Rosenfeld are already individual inductees of the RCT&FHOF. Blessett, Bugdin, Newsom and Coach Tom McTaggart now join them in being recognized as new members.
The first of these records set was at the Penn Relays the last weekend in April 1981.
Penn Relays 4x400: The team of Peggy Newsom, Nancy Rosenfeld, Sheila Bugdin and Lintz Rivera ran the stunning time of 3:53.6 to place third in the penultimate of the qualifying heats. As many know, at Penn there are finals that are run on Friday; the Championship of America qualifies eight teams and a consolation final also of eight teams. Suffern’s time just missed qualifying for the consolation final by one- tenth of a second.
This performance set Rockland County, Section 9 and Suffern High School records. The 4x400 Rockland and Suffern school record lasted 23 years until 2004 when a Suffern team broke that record.
To show how things have progressed, it is now the No. 8 performance on the Rockland County list, with Suffern having 9 of the top 10 performances.
These same four girls combined to win the New York State championship at Cornell in June, running 3:54.0. On that same day, Rivera finished second at 400 meters and Rosenfeld placed second at 800 meters. Suffern’s 26 points for those places were the highest number scored by any girls’ team that day, giving them the coaches’ unofficial State championship, since no official team scores were kept back then.
The second of these records was set in the mile sprint medley relay at the New York Relays, the last non-metric relay meet held at Downing Stadium on Randalls Island (the next year the track was metric).
Coach McTaggart entered the team of Robyn Blessett and Peggy Newsom (220-yard legs), Lintz Rivera (440 yards) and Nancy Rosenfeld (880 yards) and entered this team with a seed time of 4:05.6. He was confident that they would be put into the fastest heat and have a shot at being first or second. One team he knew would be competitive was Columbia High School of New Jersey, which was to be anchored by Pamela Bryant, an outstanding half-miler who he thought could be challenged by the emerging sophomore talent in Rosenfeld.
While the race was being set up, Lintz Rivera got McTaggart’s attention and told him that Suffern was not included in the seeded heat. An agitated McTaggart went to the Clerk of the Course, Jack Donovan, to protest that none of the teams in the seeded heat – all but Columbia claiming sub-4-minute seed times – had ever run close to their seed times. Donovan moved Suffern into the seeded heat.
The race immediately emerged as a race between Columbia and Suffern. The eighth-grade speedster, Robyn Blessett, came up dead even on Columbia’s lead-off just before the handoff and Columbia’s second girl lost her poise and went out way too quickly. Blessett’s handoff to Newsom was perfect. The Columbia girls’ handoff was past the zone line, but that did not slow the race down at all. Rivera had all she could do in the 440 leg to keep Suffern dead even at the handoff to Rosenfeld. It was now a showdown between two of the best half-milers around. Bryant took the lead early, but Rosenfeld went right with her. They both came through the 440 mark together. Bryant took a two-yard lead past the 660 point that held up past the top of the straightaway until Rosenfeld made it evident that this was going down to the wire as she got side by side and the two of them lunged past the finish. Bryant got the edge, but it did Columbia no good, because they were disqualified for an illegal first handoff.
Suffern’s time of 4:05.6 in winning the championship plaque established a New York State record that lasted for 19 years until broken by the Tilden High School 1,600-meter sprint medley in 2000 (3:55.16) at the National Outdoor meet.
The third of these records was the 4x200: Lintz Rivera, Sheila Bugdin, Peggy Newsom, and Robyn Blessett combined to run 1:44.00.
"The 4x200 at the New Jersey Relays at Rutgers was run as a warm-up for three of our 4x400 runners competing later that same day," McTaggart said. "We ended up in third place to the champion Willingboro (N.J.) High School team while running and winning the fastest of the unseeded sections in a final based on time."
The Mountie foursome set a Suffern High School record that lasted exactly 20 years to the day, when another Suffern team beat Willingboro to win the East Coast Relays at Morristown, N.J., in 2001.
Coach McTaggart really did not “load” Suffern’s 4x100 team; they ran it stacked only once or twice that year. They ran in the mid-49’s, but they also knew Ramapo was a better team and stuck with the long sprint relays as their 1981 focus. The strategy paid off in setting marks that lasted for a generation.
