Strong Start for Blue Devil Boys’ Winter Track
Despite a pair of false starts that possibily cost the Blue Devils victories in two separate events, the Huntington High School boys’ winter track and field team turned in great evening of performances in the first crossover meet of the season held at Suffolk-West in Brentwood.
The Blue Devils boasted strong efforts by the team’s throwers, including Matteo McNeil (47’1.75) and Jimmie Nelson (44’4.25), who captured first and third place, respectively in shot put. Nelson missed the entire football season with a new injury, but the senior is determined to make his final year with the Huntington track program a memorable one.
Junior Michael Lonergan (37’8), freshmen Sam Bergman (35’9.5), senior Emmanuel Clerveaux (35’1), junior Cristian Espinosa (33’10.5), sophomore Edward Daly (32’0), freshmen Clay Jamison (29’8), junior Julio Colon (29’5) and freshmen Mike Marziliano (25’3) were also impressive in shot put.
In the high jump, senior Sondy Jean-Baptiste easily cleared 5’10 to place second in the competition, which was shortened due to time constraints. Kyree Johnson tied for fourth with a leap of 5’6. Junior Jahmik Curry cleared 5’2 in the event.
Junior Infinite Tucker enjoyed a great day in the long jump pit, besting the field with a leap of 21’3.5. “He had no other choice but to do well since he was DQ’d in the 55m high hurdles for false starting,” laughed Ron Wilson, Huntington’s head coach. Junior John Arias leaped 17’11.25 to place 11th in long jump.
Junior Exayvian Crowell reached the 55m high hurdles finals by winning his heat in 8.23, but he was DQ’d for false starting in the championship race. Crowell came back to finish second in the triple jump with a leap with 40’1.75. Also in the triple jump, sophomore Quinn Kemerson placed 16th with a leap of 33’2.5.
Sophomore Kyree Johnson sparkled on the track. The teenager won his 55m dash heat and went on to take second place in the finals with a time of 6.68 seconds.
The 4x400m relay team of Curry, Crowell, Leake and Tucker easily glided to victory in a time of 3:38.03.
In other action, sophomore Lawrence Leake was a bit apprehensive about running the 600m dash with the varsity. “He wanted to run with his class,” Huntington head coach Ron Wilson said. “Assistant coach Eli Acosta convinced him it would be best to run in the open section of the race and Lawrence took it from there.” Leake grabbed an early lead on the first lap and then stretched his advantage to 30 meters to place first in 1:29.19. Kemerson ran 1:40.49 to finish 26th in a field of 37.
In other action:
• Junior Kyle O’Brien placed ninth in the 3200m run in a time of 10:39. Freshmen Ryan Smith (11:26) and Nick Sanin (12:38) also competed in the event.
• Mark Rafuse (3:01), Will Vollack (3:05) and Evan Aguirre (3:21) raced in the 1000m run.
• Huntington’s long list of entries in the 55m dash included John Arias (7:14 seconds), Taqwan Gooden-Hill (7.41 seconds), Jahmik Curry (7.53), Aidan Dunn (7.59), Ta’Reek Hamilton (7.69), Brian Pierre(7.76), Christian Morales (7.80), John Riley (7.81), Jonathan Schecter (8.12) and JT Duffy (8:18), Julian Orellano (8.20) and Jonathan Smith (8.73).