The Huntington boys’ indoor track and field team turned in a strong performance at the Section XI large school county championships on Monday at Suffolk-West in Brentwood, finishing third in the team standings and winning an avalanche of medals.
Blue Devil coaches Ronald Wilson and Eli Acosta were pleased with how the meet unfolded. The pair has been nurturing the team’s underclassmen and both coaches believe they have some special athletes on the roster.
Huntington’s young team continues to impress Suffolk. The Blue Devils’ 4x400m relay consisting of freshmen Jason Turner and Anthony Joseph, sophomore Justin Stevens and junior Jonathan Smith captured first place, easily outrunning runner-up Northport, which went on to win the overall team title.
Huntington’s throwers were also splendid with Clayton Jamison, Eric Sands and Sam Bergman finishing second, third and fourth, respectively in shot put. Levi Leach was tenth in the event.
Jonathan Smith finished second in the 600m run. The Blue Devil junior was nipped at the finish line by 67/100ths of a second. Anthony Joseph ran a strong third in the 300m dash.
In other action for Huntington:
• The 4x200m relay consisting of Nasir Youngblood, Alex LaBella, Jaylen Bush and Arkim Pierre finished sixth in a field of 18 teams, four seconds behind first place Brentwood.
• Michael Drake and Jaden Bholan placed fifth and sixth, respectively in high jump. Joe Garetano was eighth.
• Jason Turner placed 15th in the 55m dash.
• Isaiah James finished 13th and Andrew McKenzie was 19th in the 1000m run.
• Jason Verville placed 19th in the 3200m run.
• Gary Barash and Anthony McDonald placed 15th and 16th, respectively in shot put. Shateek Parler was 19th.
Final team standings: 1. Northport-69; 2. Brentwood-62; 3. Huntington-46; 4. Longwood-40; 5. Smithtown West-29; 6. Bay Shore-24; 7. Commack-22; 8. Copiague-20; 8. Ward Melville-20; 10. Patchogue-Medford-19; 11. West Islip-16; 12. Walt Whitman-15; 13. Riverhead-10; 14. Smithtown East-9; 15. Connetquot-7; 15. North Babylon-7; 15. William Floyd-7; 18. Sachem East-6; 19. Half Hollow Hills East-3; 20. Sachem North-1.
