Blue Devils Race to Second Place Finish
Some exceptional performances powered the Huntington boys' track and field team to a second place finish in the League IV Championships at Suffolk West.
Calling it a "spectacular finish to an awkward start," Blue Devil head coach Ron Wilson was a happy man. Huntington strong showing came despite missing one of its best athletes, who was unable to attend due to a work commitment.
"We did exceptional in the field events," Wilson said. Even though we did not have any league champions, we had some spectacular performances."
In the long jump, the Blue Devils entered sophomore Tyriek Johnson (ranked No. 3 going into the competition), senior Matt Poellnitz (No. 8) and freshman Y'Majesty Allen (No. 13). On his first attempt, Johnson fouled a jump that looked to have been over 22', which would have been his best this season. On his second attempt he was able to cleanly leap 21'8.5 to capture second place finish. Poellnitz's first attempt resulted in a jump of 19'9.5, good for sixth place and all-league honors. Allen jumped 18'9.5 to place 10th in the league.
"Our league is loaded with some of the top throwers in the county and I'm happy to report that Huntington is among the elite," Wilson said. On his second attempt, senior Rich Fernandez threw the shot put a personal best of 49'3 to place second in the league championship behind the No. 1 seed in the county Brandon Reynolds of Kings Park, who threw 51'. F
"Fernandez continues to improve every time he steps into the circle," Wilson said. "He is now the No. 2 seed in the county." Teammates Shaheem Lewis, who won the county sophomore championship in the shot put a week earlier, placed third in the league with a throw of 43'9, a personal best. Junior Trayvon Toney, who won the county freshman and sophomore discus championships placed fifth in the league in the shot put with a throw of 42'6. "So from this event, we took a total of 16 out of 31 points," Wilson said.
In the triple jump, junior Mike Marchetta, a rookie on the team, placed third with a leap of 39'3. In the high jump, junior Dan McQuade soared 5'8 to capture fourth place. It was his best jump of the season. Freshman Joshua Watkins also improved, jumping 5 feet to place seventh.
Huntington was strong in the sprints, too. Johnson placed first in the 55 meter hurdles in 7.74 and teammate Dan McQuade finished fourth in 8.86. In the 55 meter dash, Marchetta placed sixth in 7.13. In the 600 meter run, Jared Thorbourne was fifth in 1:33. In the 1000 meter run junior Ryan Ackerman placed third in 2:45 and teammate Mike Garing placed sixth. Freshman Tyler Wolfe finished second in the 1600m run in a time of 4:45. In the 300 meter dash, senior Matt Poellnitz placed sixth in 40.19.
Near the end of a long day, the grueling competition to determine the top teams came down to the relays. "Each school is allowed to enter three relay teams," Wilson explained.
"We entered two in the 4 x 200m relay and one in the 4 x 800 meter relay," Wilson said. "Our 4 x 200m 'A' team (Marchetta, Toney, Thorbourne, Johnson) ran a spectacular race earning first place in 1:39. It was great! Our 'A' team pretty much trailed throughout the race by about 20 meters. Marchetta handed off to Toney who made up some ground and handed the baton off to Thorbourne who continued to make up ground on Kings Park. Our second team the 'B team (Conor Reilly, Giancarlo Puello, Allen, Poellnitz) was in fourth position. When Thorbourne passed the baton off to our anchor, Tyriek Johnson, we were behind about 10 meters. Once the baton was in his hands, I knew he would not be denied a victory."
On the back stretch the Kings Park anchor and Johnson traded some elbows. Kings Park maintained a 5 meter lead coming around the last curve. Johnson gained ground, kept his form and crossed the finish line alongside the Kings Park runner who fell over the finish line.
"The crowd was going wild," Wilson said. "It was a photo finish. It was Johnson's form that kept him pressing toward the finish line. He and his teammates ran an excellent race." The Blue Devils' "B" team finished third in the race in 1:43 to grab all-league honors.
Huntington's 4 x 800m relay team (John Ceide, Garing, Ackerman, and Wolfe) placed second behind Harborfields.
The many fine performances helped the Blue Devils accumulate a pile of points. Kings Park edged Huntington in the team standings, 97-90 with Haborfields close behind with 86 points. Huntington's total was the most it had scored during the indoor season.
"We have a handful of players that have qualifying times and distances to compete in the Small School Suffolk Championship," Wilson said. These young men that earned all league in this meet will be competing at the next level.
Huntington's 4 x 200 meter "A" team relay of Tyriek Johnson, Shaheem Lewis, Trayvon Toney and Richie Fernandez will be competing this Saturday in the State Qualifying Meet. The group is vying for berth in the state championships at Cornell University.