Tyriek Johnson's Exceptional Season
Tyriek Johnson enjoyed a sensational senior year winter track and field season, winning county 55m high hurdles and long jump crowns and placing fifth in the state in the latter event.
The teenager ran the fastest hurdles time in the state championships, but tore his hamstring in the semi-finals and was unable to compete in the final race. Johnson's time of 7.41 seconds in the preliminary round of the state competition was better than the eventual winning time, but his injury put him in no condition to run the race.
Huntington head coach called Johnson "arguably the best all-around athlete in the school." The senior won 55m high hurdles crowns in the league and county championships as well as the Long Island championships. In the long jump, he captured first in both the league, county and Long Island meets and finished fifth in the state.
Johnson broke a number of school and meet records this past winter. For example, he shattered the 55m high hurdles record at the Long Island Championships at St. Anthony's by running the event in 7.51 seconds, besting the previous two-year old mark of 7.69 held by Amityville's Sancho Barrett. Johnson now owns both the meet record and fieldhouse records.
At the Suffolk Small School Championships, Johnson broke the 19-year old meet record in the long jump with a leap of 22'4. The mark had been held by Huntington's own Aaron Johnson, who soared 21'1.5 nearly two decades ago. Johnson's jump of 21'6.5 in the state championship at Cornell gave him fifth place among NYSPHSAA members and 6th among all high school finalists (including PSAL and Catholic high school athletes.)
Johnson's time of 7.41 seconds in the 55m high hurdles was the best in the state this year and the 13th swiftest in the country. The time put him among the elite in the United States, according to Wilson.