H-ton Track Royalty Reaps County Awards
A season of record breaking performances paved the way for Huntington High School’s track royalty to collect numerous honors at the county awards dinner that recognized Suffolk’s best on Wednesday night at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook.
The Blue Devils made an endless series of trips to the dais to pick up awards as a crowd of 750 applauded. Kyree Johnson and Infinite Tucker were both honored with the Outstanding Athlete Award, presented to a handful of spectacular performers. No other school had multiple winners of the county’s most prestigious track award.
Most Remarkable Event
The most remarkable event of the evening came when Reynolds Hawkins, Amityville’s longtime boys’ track coach was recognized as Suffolk’s Coach of the Year. He accepted the award and returned to his seat, only to appear on the dais about five minutes later.
The crowd was told that Hawkins wanted to say a few words, which ended up packing a wallop. As he stepped to the microphone, no one could have possibly anticipated what the veteran coach was going to say.
“I’ve been coming to these dinners for 20 years and have seen a lot of awards presented; some of them were deserved and some weren’t,” Hawkins said. “Tonight I received the county Coach of the Year Award. I do not deserve this. Ron Wilson does. I would like him to come up now and receive it.”
The large crowd sat stunned in its seats before applause broke out. Wilson dropped his head in embarrassment as the Huntington contingent at the dinner stood and applauded while the coach made his way to the dais.
“It was a very humbling moment, especially coming from Reynolds Hawkins, who is a great coach and a great man,” Wilson said. “Whatever awards I get as a coach are directly attributable to the young men that I am privileged to work with, so they are the ones who get the credit for this.”
Repeated Trips to Dais
Huntington boys’ track team members made repeated trips to the dinner dais to receive plaques. Kyree Johnson (55m dash, long jump and 4x400 relay) and Infinite Tucker (55m hurdles, long jump and 4x400m relay) each captured All-County honors in three separate events.
Lawrence Leake (300m dash and 4x400 relay) grabbed All-County recognition in a pair of events. Vernon Alexander (weight throw), Shane McGuire (1000m run), Mitch Rudish (4x400m relay) and Exzayvian Crowell (4x400 relay) were also presented with All-County awards.
The Blue Devil girls’ team celebrated as Latoya Shand won All-County honors in the 300m dash.
Trio Earns All-County Academic Honors
Huntington seniors Tom Kopstein, Kyle O’Brien and Mitch Rudish captured places on the All-County Academic team. The Blue Devil boys’ squad put more student-athletes on the county academic team than any other Suffolk boys’ team.
Huntington seniors Alexandra Koumas, Savannah Richardson and Latoya Shand were named to the Suffolk girls’ winter track All-County Academic team.
To earn a spot on the All-County Academic team a student-athlete needs to place in the top six of their respective event at either the county championships or state qualifier and be in the top 20 percent of their class academically.
Coach of the Year Awards
Huntington girls’ winter track and field head coach Debra Cheskes was honored as the Suffolk Small Schools Girls’ Coach of the Year. Blue Devil boys’ assistant coach Eli Acosta was recognized as the Suffolk Small Schools Boys’ Coach of the Year. Ron Wilson picked up the Suffolk League III Coach of the Year Award in addition to the overall County Coach of the Year Award that Reynolds Hawkins relinquished to him in dramatic fashion.