Blue Devils Come Oh-so-Close behind Strong Performances
While the Giants-Packers football game had many sports fans glued to their televisions, at that same hour the Huntington boys’ winter track team centered its attention on the Suffolk Division IV championships at Suffolk Community College West as the Blue Devils turned in another stirring performance.
Huntington was one of a dozen teams in the championship meet and the eleven-man Blue Devil contingent came within a whisker of winning the team title. Still, individual and relay results were enough to make football fanatic and Blue Devil track coach Ron Wilson feel good even though he missed his beloved Giants win in overtime.
The Blue Devils started behind the proverbial 8-ball since the team had no entries in either the 3200m or 1000m runs. Huntington’s exceptional distance runner, junior Brian Cotter, has been sidelined by illness and his absence hurt.
“However, midway through the meet, we began a big rally,” said Wilson excitedly. “We did awesome in the field events.” To get the ball rolling, Huntington’s Eric Santos (43’3) passed teammate Fritz Barreau (42’9) to capture the Division IV shot put crown. But, that was only the start of a very special night.
In the long jump, Josh Daves saved his best effort for his final jump, passing the event leader with a leap of 20’2 to win by four inches. Teammates Emmanuel Dume (19’3) and Jake Gayle (19’2) placed third and fourth, respectively, to give the Blue Devils a small lead in the team score battle over its main competitors, Harborfields, East Hampton and Kings Park.
That narrow advantage soon disappeared as Kings Park and Harborfields surged ahead after a 55m hurdles race that didn’t include one of Huntington’s best runners, who was unable to make the meet. But, all was not lost when junior Hector Vega placed fifth to give the Blue Devils two points.
Huntington eventually regained the lead with a 1-2 finish in the 55m dash. Quillian Respass (6.8 seconds) passed teammate Emmanuel Dume (6.9) and former Blue Devil Jamal Johnson (7.0) (now a Harborfields Tornadoe) to become Division 4 champion.
Harborfields responded by winning the 300m dash in a race that saw Gayle and Daves place 2-3 in 38.9 and 39.5 seconds, respectively. Respass contributed a sixth place finish in 40 seconds. “It was a really great showing,” Wilson said.
The top tier teams continued to battle it out through the final events. The Blue Devils received a lift when their 4 x 200m relay team of Gayle, Dume, Daves and Respass came-from-behind to beat Harborfields. But the Tornadoes placed 2-3 in the event to again gain the edge.
Huntington finished up with a fifth place finish in the 4 x 400m relay behind David Acton, Stevenson Gabriel, Hector Vega and Dwayne Davis, garnering two more crucial points. But, in the end, the Blue Devils fell just short. “It was a great effort by all,” Wilson said. “We knew without our top distance runner and our hurdler, it would be tough.”
A small but talented group of athletes has helped Huntington remain a competitive force in the metropolitan region all winter. Yet, if the roster included just a few more names, the Blue Devils might be among the state’s elite teams.
“That’s been our problem this year in Huntington; not having enough athletes at the end to finish,” Wilson said. “However, we took on all challengers and almost upset the Tornadoes. These young men fought hard right up to the last event.”
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