Tyriek Johnson Tops
State Hurdles Champ
Tyriek Johnson is really that good. The Huntington High School sophomore defeated indoor and outdoor state hurdles champion Sancho Barrett of Amityville at the Suffolk small schools winter indoor track and field championships.
The county meet was held in the Suffolk-West field house in Brentwood. Huntington finished fourth in the team standings with 38 points, trailing Hills West (79), Port Jefferson (44) and Kings Park (38.5).
Barrett (7.68 seconds) and Johnson (7.78) both advanced to the finals in the 55m hurdles after running strong races in preliminary rounds. In the finals, Johnson, running in lane four, was the first to break out of the blocks. Barrett, running in lane three, kept pace.
"Both athletes were next to each other going over each hurdle," said Ron Wilson, Huntington's head coach. "Johnson at the end of the race was able to keep form and cross the finish line alongside with Barrett. It was a photo finish."
Johnson won the race with a personal best time of 7.63. Barrett was second in 7.68. "It was a great race to watch," Wilson said. Huntington junior Dan McQuade also competed in the event, placing 14th overall.
In the shot put, Huntington senior Richie Fernandez placed second behind top seeded Brandon Reynolds of Kings Park with a throw of 46'11.75. Junior Trayvon Toney threw a personal best of 438.75 to place 7th and sophomore Shaheem Lewis finished 8th with a throw of 42'7. Eighth grader Matteo McNeil grabbed 18th place after an effort that measured out at 35'6. "McNeil said he was just happy to be in competition with such an elite group of throwers," Wilson said.
Johnson captured second place in the long jump with a leap of 22'1, four inches short of the first place jump. Huntington senior Matt Poellnitz jumped 19'6 to place 11th.
In the triple jump, junior rookie Michael Marchetta surprised his teammates and even himself when on his first attempt he jumped 40'10. The mark kept him in first place for awhile until Amityville senior Nigel Simmons jumped 42'1 on his last attempt to win the event.
Huntington's 4x200m relay team (Poellnitz, Jared Thorbourne, Toney and Johnson) earned fourth place medals and All-County honors after a solid effort in a very fast field.
"Our thoughts of coming in first vanished when second leg runner Toney was tripped up coming around the final curve of the track, but he was able to keep his feet and hand the baton off to third leg runner Thorboune," recounted Wilson.
Thorbourne ran a swift leg and kept Huntington close behind the other five teams in the race. Johnson received the baton and appeared to be closing in on the rest of the field, but he pulled up because of a pulled hamstring muscle. "He showed great courage and continued the race after nearly stopping on the back stretch," Wilson said. "He even managed to run past the fifth runner to claim a fourth place finish for his relay team."