Blue Devils Win Gold at Dartmouth College Relays
Kyree Johnson, Lawrence Leake, Exayvian Crowell and Infinite Tucker faced down intense competition to win the 4x400m relay at the Dartmouth College Relays and pace Huntington High School to an overall third place finish in the team standings out of more than 100 squads in Hanover, New Hampshire last weekend.
The Blue Devils held off strong opponents from Danbury, CT, Merrimack, NH and LaSalle Academy, RI to capture the relay in a time of 3:29.58, besting their previous best effort of 3:30.16.
Tucker also won a gold medal in the 55m high hurdles. The junior notched a time of 7.70 in the semi-finals before clocking a 7.73 in the finals to edge runner-up Griffin Madden of Scarborough, ME who crossed the finish line in 7.87.
Johnson placed a close third in the 55m dash in a time of 6.57, which broke the previous Blue Devil record of 6.61 held by Y’Majesty Allen. The junior’s time is now the best in Suffolk this winter.
The prestigious meet drew top talent from nine states and Canada. “There are some awesome athletes up here,” Huntington head coach Ron Wilson said from New Hampshire last Saturday night. “These folks are no joke.”
In other action for the Blue Devils:
• Leake finished fifth in the 300m dash in a time of 37.22.
• Tucker (21.04.50) and Johnson (20.08.00) finished fifth and seventh, respectively in long jump. Both athletes notched season best showings in the event.
• Kyle O’Brien placed eighth in his two-mile run heat in a time of 10:23.
• Jahmik Curry (40.09) Taqwan Gooden-Hill finished (42.17) both ran well in the 300m dash.
• John Arias (7.17) and Kymani Murray (7.53) looked good in the 55m dash.
• Mark Rafuse (2:59.37) and Quinn Kemerson (3:02.40) were strong in the 1000m run.
• Will Vollack ran the 600m dash in 1:38.09, about two seconds off his best time this winter.
• Jimmie Nelson (46-09.25) and Matteo McNeil (46-03.50) placed 13th and 14th, respectively in shot put.
• Freshmen Sam Bergman tossed a personal best of 38-11.25 in the unseeded shot put division. “He’s the No. 1 freshman in Section XI and the No. 2 freshman in the state according to Mile-Split results,” Wilson said.
• Sondy Jean-Baptiste cleared six feet in the high jump to finish seventh. Philippe St. Hilaire of Ahuntsic, Quebec, Canada leaped a remarkable 6-10.00 to claim first place.