Best Finish in a Decade for
Blue Devil Girls
A series of gritty performances powered the Huntington High School girls’ winter track and field team to a second place finish in the Suffolk League III Championships at Suffolk-West in Brentwood.
The second place finish is the Blue Devils best showing in a league championship meet in at least a decade. Huntington head coach Debra Cheskes said “it was a total team effort.”
Junior twin sisters Tara and Ellyn Byrnes both enjoyed great days. Tara had a personal best throw of 32’6.75 to finish third in shot put with Ellyn tossing 29’11.75 to take fourth place in the event.
Freshman Marina Ruzic captured third place in long jump with a leap of 15’1.75. She also went on to finish third in the 55m dash in a time of 7.88 seconds.
In the 3000m run, juniors Suzie Petryk and Kiara Roman both executed their races as planned, finishing second and fourth, respectively. Petryk ran a season best 11:11.01 while Roman was clocked at 11:33.10. Petryk later came back to run a superb race in the 1500m, finishing in another season-best time of 5:01.57 to place second. The teenager had the fastest closing 200m of anyone in the race.
Freshman Louise Koepele ran a gutsy race in the 1000m run, crossing the finish line in sixth place in a time of 3:24.
The 600m run played out in thrilling fashion with the champion being decided at the wire. Huntington’s Alexandra Koumas continued her excellent season, covering the three lap race in 1:41.42. The sophomore had the lead coming into the home stretch, but was nipped by .05 by North Babylon sophomore D’Jai Baker.
The race of the day for the Blue Devils came in a walk – literally. Huntington’s trio of race-walkers, senior Christine Simpson and juniors Kayla Eidle and China Celestin finished 3-4-5, respectively. Simpson set a new school record in the event when she crossed the line in 8:14.39; more than eight seconds faster than her previous mark. Eidle was right on her heels in a time of 8:14.59, which also shattered the old Blue Devil record. Celestin finished in 8:43.94.
Huntington’s 4x200m relay team of Ruzic, Latoya Shand, Mills and Catherine Koumas ran a season-best 1:56.40 finish in second place. The Blue Devils’ time was about five seconds off the pace of first place North Babylon.
Huntington was third in the 4x800m relay behind Koepele, Hayley Drace, Petryk and Alexandra Koumas, who ran a solid race, finishing in a time of 10:42. First place North Babylon clocked in at 10:28.83.
“Overall, the team laid it on the line, executed race plans, performed at a high level and left it on the track,” assistant coach Shawn Anderson said. “Really, what more can a coach ask for?”
Final team scores: 1. North Babylon-142; 2. Huntington-76; 3. Hauppauge-68; 4. Half Hollow Hills West-51; 5. East Islip-42; 6. Bellport-25; 7. Copiague-24; 8. West Babylon-16; 9. Riverhead-15; 10. Deer Park-6.
Blue Devil Notes: Sofia Bialkowski finished 11th in the 3000m run in 13:36.76 . . . Katerra Griffin placed 15th in the 1000m run in 3:39.62 . . . Sara Stewart was 19th in the 1000m run in 3:50.23 . . . Alexandra McKenzie was 14th in the 600m run in 1:55.92 . . . Carolyn Cimetta placed 17th in the 1500m run in 6:26.65 . . . Savannah Richardson was 10th in triple jump with a mark of 31’6.25 . . . Morgan Mars was 10th in the 300m dash in 47.40 . . . Caroline Petrozzo finished 28th in the 300m dash in 53.42 . . . Heather Joseph was 17th in long jump with a leap of 12’2.5 . . . In triple jump, Hayley Drace (31’0.75) and Lexi Mills (29’6.5) finished 11th and 14th, respectively . . . Huntington’s 4x400m relay team placed seventh in 4:46.31, about 23 seconds behind the first place North Babylon.