Trayvon Toney Shifts
into High Gear
Oh, what a day the Huntington boys’ track and field team had at the John Glenn Invitational last weekend. Trayvon Toney and Tyriek Johnson helped the Blue Devil program gain more respect around Suffolk with a series of remarkable performances.
“Our boys showed up and showed out,” head coach Ron Wilson said. On Toney’s very first attempt in the discus, the sophomore threw 131 feet to edge out the rest of the field, which included teammates Dante Allen (120’2) and Nick Thompson (110’10), who finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
Toney’s heroics weren’t limited to the field events. In the 100m dash he passed tiring foes from Hills East, John Glenn and some old friends from Wyandanch, to finish the race first in 11.4 seconds, a new personal best.
“He’s another awesome young man to coach,” Wilson said about Toney. “He’s a great athlete that doesn’t mind putting in the work. He’s going to definitely make a name for himself here in Huntington. Look to hear his name a lot during the next football season.”
Toney grabbed a fifth place medal in the shot put with a toss of 42 feet. Junior Richard Fernandez got off to a tough start in the shot put, but regrouped and on his last attempt threw 43’8 to place second. Allen also threw a personal best of 42’6 to place third. Incredibly, junior Chris Keddell (38’7) and senior Dwayne Davis (39’11) also threw personal bests in the shot.
Johnson, a freshman, is quickly becoming one of Suffolk’s elite athletes. Last year he was the lead leg of Huntington’s 4 x 100m relay team of Jake Gayle, David Acton and Teddy Calligeros (subbing in for Josh Daves) that placed first in a new John Glenn Invitational record of 44.03 seconds. Commack had held that record since 2001 when it ran the race in 45.8.
“Johnson wanted his own claim to fame and he got exactly that,” Wilson said. In the finals of the 110m high hurdles, Johnson set a new meet record, crossing the finish line first in 14.7 seconds to break Comsewogue’s Jose Genao’s eight year old mark of 14.8.
A week earlier Johnson set a new FAT (fast automatic timing) school record when he ran 14.69 seconds in the event at St. Anthony’s. “He wants to take down the 28-year old hand-time event record of Paul Scudeiri, who ran 14.0 in 1982,” Wilson said. “The way he’s been performing and training, I don’t doubt it. He just has to remain focused and work hard and he will do exactly that.”
At the John Glenn Invitational, Johnson also placed first in the long jump (19’10) and 200m dash (23.3 seconds). Allen was third in the 200m dash in 23.7. In the 3200m run eighth grader Tyler Wolfe and freshman Danny Benitez appeared destined for second and third place finishes, respectively, but after 2400m, officials stopped the race and delayed the remainder of the meet because of a looming thunderstorm. The pair did receive medals for the race.
Wolfe and Benitez also won first place medals as part of the 4 x 400m relay team, which also includes junior Stevenson Gabriel and sophomore Ryan Ackerman. The group crossed the line first in what was an exciting ending. A runner from Wyandanch was closing ground fast in the final100 meters of the race, but Benitez was able to hold him off for the victory.
Ackerman also earned a medal in the 800m run, placing third in 2:07. In the 400m dash, Gabriel and sophomore Stephan Dietrich both earned medals, finishing second and third, respectively. Gabriel was also fourth in the 400m intermediate hurdles in 67.9 seconds.
Huntington’s horde of medals has set the stage for what Wilson hopes will be a spectacular finish to the season.
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