Blue Devils Finish Third in League IV Track Meet
The Huntington High School boys' winter track and field team racked up a horde of medals at last weekend's Suffolk League IV championships. The Blue Devils finished third in the team standings, trailing only Kings Park and Eastport-South Manor.
The league meet brought forth many compelling stories, including one involving senior shot put specialist Shaheem Lewis, who avenged last year's loss to Kings Park star Luke Toscano. The two greats went at it and put on a show with first place changing hands several times in the competition. Lewis ultimately prevailed with an outstanding throw of 51'3.5 to claim the gold medal.
Huntington sophomore Matteo McNeil placed third in shot put with a toss of 43'6 and Blue Devil sophomore Jimmie Nelson finished fifth after his best effort was measured at 41'1.5.
"The shot put event brought everyone's attention to the thrower's circle because it featured two of the top throwers in the county," said Ron Wilson, Huntington's head coach. "We're just looking for our throwers to continue to improve every time they step into the circle. Lewis is going to have his hands full again when he and Toscano battle for the county championship."
In other action, sophomore Sondy Jean-Baptiste leaped 5'10 to take fourth in the high jump. "His best so far this season has been 6-feet, which would have won the competition," Wilson said. "He will look to rebound next week at the small schools county championship."
On the track, junior Y'Majesty Allen captured a bunch of medals, placing second in the 300m dash and third in the 55m dash. Allen was part of the winning 4x400m relay, which also included freshman Exayvian Crowell, junior Josh Watkins and senior Tom Boisclair.
Crowell also ran a personal best 8.68 seconds in the 55m hurdles to place fourth in that event. "His mentor Tyriek Johnson was on the scene and couldn't believe how much Crowell's form improved," Wilson said. Watkins and Boisclair also earned medals in the 600m dash placing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Huntington will compete in the small school county championship this Saturday afternoon. The state meet qualifier is set for Sunday, February 10 at 11 a.m. Both meets will be held at Suffolk Community College-West in Brentwood.