Bellport Nips Blue Devil Boys' Track
The Blue Devils came oh-so-close, but in the end fell just short. In a showdown for the Suffolk League V crown, the Huntington boys' track and field team was nipped by host Bellport, 73-68 on a dreary, overcast afternoon.
A series of strong performances just weren't enough for Huntington to overtake the state-ranked Clippers. Late in the meet, it appeared the Blue Devils were in a position to pull off a stunning upset, but then the pendulum swung Bellport's way.
"They have three of the state's top ranked distance runners who can win events from the 200m dash on up to the 3200m run," Blue Devil head coach Ron Wilson said. "Our game plan almost worked. In those distance events we had hoped just to score a second and maybe a third place here and there."
Early in the meet Wilson decided to pull sensational senior Tyriek Johnson off of the 4x100m relay team and put him in the 200m dash against Bellport's Travis Correa. A reluctant Johnson had already won the long jump with a leap of 22'4, the 100m dash in 11.4 seconds and the 110m high hurdles in 14.5 seconds and was now being asked to extend himself a bit more. He decided he would do it for the team.
Remarkably, Johnson won the 200m in 22.9 seconds. "He was exhausted after that event and rightly so," Wilson said. "All week we've been asking our boys to step up because we knew just how difficult it was going to be."
Among those rising to the occasion was Huntington freshman Gerald Riley, who on his second attempt soared 20'6 to take second place in the long jump. "That was huge," Wilson said. "He was so excited when he heard the official give his mark." In the 1600m run, Blue Devil freshman Scott Gulizio also turned in a second place finish with a time of 4:36, six seconds off his personal best.
One of the biggest surprises came when senior John Ceide temporarily moved into first place in the triple jump with a leap of 40'6, only to be edged in the final standings when Bellport jumped 40'9 to reclaim the top spot. "We didn't really care at the time because we were just so happy for John Ceide," Wilson said. "His personal best has only been 37 feet. He was ecstatic with that leap, and so was the entire team for that matter."
In other action for the Blue Devils:
• Senior Ryan Ackerman (800m) and freshman Alex Alvarenga (3200m) each placed third in their respective events.
• Eighth grade sensation Exayvian Crowell ran a personal best 61 seconds in the 400m intermediate hurdles to finish second, edging teammate Joshua Watkins (63 seconds), who was third. Watkins went on to also place third in the high jump.
• In the 400m intermediate hurdles Crowell ran a personal best of 61.0 seconds to take second place, edging out sophomore teammate Joshua Watkins (63.0), who placed third. Watkins also captured third place in the high jump.
• Huntington's throwers continued to dominate, taking every point in both shot put and discus. In the shot put, junior Shaheem Lewis placed first, junior John Cimetta grabbed second and junior Ray Vega took third.
• In the discus, senior Trayvon Toney placed first, Lewis was second and freshman Matteo McNeil nabbed third.
• Toney also placed second in the 100m dash in 11.6 seconds.
• In the pole vault, senior Andrew Funk finished third after clearing 10 feet.
The meet was ultimately decided by the three relay events. A team needed to win two-of-three races to win the meet. "We stacked the 800m run with our best distance runners who did an outstanding job, but just not good enough to win," Wilson said. "We ran a personal best of 8:27 and were just nipped by Bellport, which ran 8:25."
The Blue Devil relay team of Ackerman, Gulizio, Alvarenga and senior Mike Garing nearly pulled off the biggest upset of the afternoon. "Defeating the defending county champs, who are state ranked, would have been awesome," Wilson said.
Bellport went on to also capture the 4x400m relay to lock up the team victory. However, at the conclusion of the popular 4x100m relay, you would have thought Huntington had won the meet. The team of Toney, Riley, Watkins and Ceide closed ground late and beat the Clippers' with Toney nipping the Bellport runner at the finish line. The Blue Devil foursome ran a team personal best time of 44.3 seconds.
"It was great," said Wilson about the 4x100m performance. "The crowd and the athletes were all going wild. It was great."
Once the competition had ended, the two great teams shook hands. "We all congratulated them on their win," Wilson said. "We threw all we had at them. We had some outstanding performances. The Huntington coaches are very proud of the way our boys fought. They fought to the bitter end and for that I am most pleased."