Blue Devils Swift in Division II Championships
Ron Wilson isn't the type of coach who takes "no" for an answer. He's relentless in pushing the Huntington boys' track and field team to realize its full potential.
The Blue Devils turned in a strong effort last week at the Suffolk Division II Championships at Connetquot, placing fourth in the team standings behind a string of exceptional performances.
The 110m high hurdles put Huntington's awesome roster depth on display. Wilson entered Danny McQuade and Tyriek Johnson. Johnson won a semi-final heat on the first day with the best time of the evening, 14.77 seconds. McQuade ran in the third heat and placed fourth in 16.94, a swift time that unfortunately wasn't enough to get him in the finals on the next day.
The next day Johnson was unbeatable in the finals, claiming the Division II title in the event for the second consecutive year after crossing the finish line in 14.72. Section XI, the governing body for interscholastic athletics in Suffolk, granted Johnson a medical waiver to compete in the championships. "He injured his left hamstring during the indoor season, which prevented him from participating in most of the spring season," Wilson said.
Johnson also won the Division II long jump crown. He was seeded sixth coming into the championships, but leaped 20'11 to claim the top seed in the finals. Wilson had the teenager pass on his first attempt, but as opponents started to get close to Johnson's mark, the dynamo took to the runway. He temporarily fell out of first place before reclaiming the top spot and winning the title by soaring 21'10.
Senior Eric Szilagy contributed to the team effort by running a personal best 50.8 seconds in the 400m dash to take third place in the event. Huntington's discus throwers shined, too. Four Blue Devils qualified for championships, including second seeded Trayvon Toney, seventh seeded Dante Allen, No. 10 Shaheem Lewis and No. 14 Richie Fernandez.
"In practice, the most impressive was senior Dante Allen," Wilson said. "He had some practice throws well over 155 feet." In competition, Allen managed to get off a throw that went only 132 feet. It was good enough to get him to the finals. On his first attempt, Toney launched the discus 153'1, farther than any other Suffolk athlete in the championships. But, as luck would have it, Deer Park's Andrew Bylicki threw 153'6 on his last attempt to claim the Division II discus crown as Toney fell to second.
Lewis placed fourth in discus with a personal best effort of 140'6 and Allen was seventh. Fernandez finished 12th with a throw of 123'.
Huntington qualified four athletes in the shot put. The Blue Devils responded with repeated personal best performances. Wilson credited that effort to Huntington football coach Todd Jamison, who worked with the group in practice a day earlier and then came to the Division II finals with his "stick."
"Our athletes were starting to have some difficulty in staying inside the circle after they released the shot put," Wilson said. "Coach Jamison showed up at practice with a stick in his hand and stood in front of the circle. His words were, 'Alright, if you step out of the circle you are going to trip over this stick.' It worked! During the competition, our kids didn't foul by stepping out and were able to get some very impressive marks in."
Five Blue Devils placed in the top 11 in shot put. Allen finished second with a personal best 50'10, followed by Fernandez in third with a 49'4. Toney turned in a 48' foot effort for fifth place, Lewis threw 45'9 to finish eighth and Davon Nelson threw a personal best 44'6 to place 11th.
"Toney was the biggest surprise of them all," Wilson said. "He doesn't prefer to throw the shot put and has only been throwing 42 to 45 feet."
Huntington finished fourth in the race for top team honors, trailing only Half Hollow Hills West, Smithtown West and Copiague, respectively. Wilson called the final result "outstanding" and gave credit to his team. "We were very pleased with the performances of our boys," he said.