Swift Start for Blue Devil Track
Despite some mishaps here and there, the Huntington boys’ winter track and field kicked off the season with impressive performances at a crossover meet at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood.
The first event was the 55m hurdles and immediately Huntington head coach Ron Wilson had a problem on his hands. “Tyriek Johnson made a mistake and ran with the freshmen/sophomore class instead of running with the varsity,” Wilson explained. Johnson is one of the top hurdlers in the county this year the coach wanted him to run against top competition.
Johnson won his race in a time of 8.17 seconds, his best ever and placed second overall behind last year’s county champion, Sancho Barrett of Amityville, who crossed the finish line in 7.95. Later, Johnson finished first in the long jump with a leap of 20'2.
Ryan Ackerman placed fifth overall in the 3200m run in a time of 11:02. Michael Garing (12:00) and Adam Cerini (13:00) also competed in the event and Wilson was pleased with their effort.
In the 600m dash, junior Stevenson Gabriel placed sixth overall in 1:36. The 55m dash saw Wilson’s “football boys” run well, despite another mishap. “Sophomore Tyre Brown, like Johnson, ran with the underclassmen instead of running with the varsity,” Wilson said. “He won that division, but ended fourth overall with a time of 7.24.” Close on the heels of Brown were sophomore teammates Trayvon Toney (7.42), Conor Reilly (7.44), and Danny Plant (7.9).
First time starter, junior Matt Poellnitz also enjoyed a successful afternoon. He finished the 55m dash in 7.36 seconds and placed sixth overall in the long jump with a leap of 18'1. Freshman Max Zelinka covered the 55m dash distance in 8.5 seconds and sophomore Fredrick Wilson ran a 7.8.
“Sophomore Jared Thorbourne was the only underclassmen who followed directions,” laughed Wilson. “He ran with the varsity class and did a superb job in the 1000m run. He placed third overall in a time of 2:56. He has a lot of potential and his performance announced to everyone that there is more to come.”
Freshmen Peter Goldsmith (3:34) and Ari Moskowitz (3:34) also ran in the 1000m run. Junior Stefan Dietrich turned in a gritty effort in the 300m dash. He slipped on the track but picked himself up and finished the race in 46 seconds.
In the shot put, Junior Richie Fernandez (37') and Trayvon Toney (36'1) placed fifth and sixth overall, respectively. The Blue Devils’ 4 x 200m relay team (Johnson, Thorbourne, Poellnitz and Brown) placed first out of more than two dozen relay teams with a time of 1:42. Huntington’s “B” team relay (Reilly, Toney, Plant and Sterlin Jamison) placed eighth in 1:48 and the “C” relay (Louie Contino, Ricardo Caballero, Dante Allen and Frederick Wilson) finished ninth in 1:49. The 4 x 800m relay team (Ackerman, Michael Garing, Cerini and Goldsmith) placed fourth overall in a time of 10:35.
“The coaching staff feels it was a good first day out for the young men in blue,” said Wilson, who is assisted by Gary Powder. “They all got the feeling of what is expected and now they can't wait for the next meet.”
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