HHS Girls' Winter Track
Garners Honors
The Huntington High School girls' winter track and field team finished sixth in the league and ninth in Suffolk. The large roster featured a mixture of experienced athletes and first time team members.
Maia Cadle-Hinton earned All-League and All-County honors in shot put. Jontae Smith (300m), Suzie Petryk (3000m), Michelle Clerveaux (shot put) and Latoya Shand (55m dash) also garnered All-League recognition.
Cadle-Hinton set a new school winter track shot put mark with a throw of 36'2. She won the league and Suffolk small school crowns and was third in the state qualifier.
Petryk was fourth in the 3000m league championships, four in the 1500m at the Suffolk small school meet and fourth in the 1500m at the state qualifier. She is the first Blue Devil to record a sub-five minute time (4:59.77) in the 1500m in an indoor meet. She also set a new school record with the sprint medley relay team, which clocked a time of 2:27 over 800m.
Shand, a talented freshman, emerged as a top sprinter and long jumper. She was sixth in the league in the 55m dash, but an injury prevented her from advancing to the county championships.
Smith placed second in the league in the 300m run and ran with the 4x400m relay, which also finished second in the league championships. The senior was also a member of the record-setting sprint medley relay team.
"This was a great group of hardworking young ladies," said Debra Cheskes, Huntington's head coach. "They pushed each other to improve, not only for themselves but to help the team."
The Fordham University Christmas Classic set the stage for what Cheskes called "a very successful season." The Blue Devils won five events and had a number of other top six finishes to capture first place in the overall standings at the invitational.
Cheskes said the top returnees next winter include Petryk, Shand, middle distance runner Rachel Boisclair, fine sprinters and triple jumpers Morgan Mars and Lexi Mills, hurdler and long jumper Naomi Medina, outstanding triple jumper and 55m hurdles specialist Hayley Drace and race walk threats Christine Simpson, China Celestin and Caitlin Yabroudy.
Blue Devil Notes: Huntington was captained by Kerri Giambruno, Katie Healy, Naomi Medina, Adelia Witt and Caitlin Yabroudy . . . The season closed with 35 athletes on the roster.