Blue Devils Qualify for State Track Championships
It's been a good year for the Huntington High School boys' winter track and field team and it's getting even better. Senior Shaheem Lewis and junior Y'Majesty Allen have qualified for the New York State championships at Cornell University on March 2.
Lewis surpassed the state shot put qualifying standard of 52-feet when he tossed 52'4 in the Suffolk small school championships to set a new school record in the event. But, he still had to finish first through third in the Section XI state qualifier at Suffolk-West.
"It was no easy night for us all," said Ron Wilson, the Blue Devils' head coach. "It was a bit nerve racking. Lewis seeded second behind top seed Ben Bonhurst of Smithtown West. The third seed was the runner-up from the small county championship, Luke Toscano of Kings Park. Dennis Russell of Longwood, the runner-up for the large school county championships was seeded fourth and the remainder of the field was comprised of athletes who have tossed the shot between 44-49-feet.
In the first flight, Huntington had the only sophomore in the competition, Matteo McNeil who met the qualifying mark to compete in the meet. On his second throw, McNeil tossed the shot a personal best of 46'4 to claim the top mark for that flight. "After congratulating him on his impressive performance, I had to break the bad news to him that his toss was probably not going to be good enough for the finals," Wilson said.
The second flight of seven included everyone who had thrown over 49-feet. Lewis led the first round of throws with a toss of 50'7. Bonhurst followed in the second round with a toss of 55-feet to recapture the lead. Toscano then threw the shot an amazing 53'6.5 to capture second place. Lewis got off a good toss, but it only measured 51'11, which would end up being his best of the night and give the gentle giant third place, edging Sachem North's Mike Kerns (51'7) and Russell (51'4). (Bonhurst eventually threw 58'8.5 to keep first place.)
In the 300m dash, Allen was in the same boat as Lewis. He had already met the state standard and now had to place first, second or third. After the trials, Allen's time of 37.4 seconds was the second best behind William Floyd senior Diamonte Corley's 37.3.
Again, Wilson's nerves began to flutter as the finals for the 300m dash went off. Allen held off former Huntington teammate, sophomore Gerald Riley of Walt Whitman to claim a third place finish and a seat on the bus to Cornell to compete in the state championship.
In other Blue Devil action:
• Huntington sophomore Sondy Jean-Baptiste finished fourth in high jump with a leap of 6-feet.
• The 4x400m relay team of freshmen Exayvian Crowell and Infinite Tucker, junior Joshua Watkins and senior Thomas Boisclair completed a preliminary race in 3:41, narrowly off the time that would have qualified the group for the finals. "As coaches, we had made the decision to keep Allen fresh so he could run both 300m races," Wilson said. "Had the team made the finals, Allen would have run in the finals giving his team a better shot at finishing on top."