One of the best set of performances ever in the century long history of Huntington High School’s outdoor track and field program played out last weekend at Comsewogue as the Blue Devil boys’ and girls’ squad qualified athletes in multiple events for next weekend’s New York State Championships at Middletown.
Huntington’s athletes were magnificent setting new school records, lowering their previously established No. 1 state times and pushing themselves to new heights during the high stakes competition.
Blue Devil Girls Are Sensational
The Huntington girls’ team qualified the 4x400m relay for the state championships. Alicia Brooks is advancing to the state finals in the 100m dash and the long jump. Analisse Batista has qualified in the 400m dash.
Blue Devil coaches Mark Jackson and Eddie Santos were thrilled with the showing, which was the best ever for a Huntington girls’ outdoor track and field team.
The 4x400m relay consisting of Caroline O’Rourke, Analisse Batista, Alicia Brooks and Brianna Halbeisen raced around the track four times in 3:54.15, a mere 8/100ths of a second behind first place West Babylon.
Brooks set new school records in both the 100m dash (12.24 seconds) and long jump (18-09.75 feet), qualifying for the state finals in both events.
Batista set a new school mark of 55.36 seconds in the 400m dash to qualify for the New York championships. The performance gave her second place. It’s the third fastest time in the event this spring and placed the freshman second to Walt Whitman’s Gianna Paul, who ran New York’s fastest time of 55.04 seconds.
The 4x100m relay consisting of Olivia Conte, Analisse Batista, Alicia Brooks and Brianna Halbeisen went wire to wire in 48.71 seconds to place third and narrowly miss earning a berth in the state finals. It was an especially impressive showing since Conte, Batista and Halbeisen are only freshmen while Brooks is a junior.
Huntington Boys Dominate
The Huntington boys’ track and field team dominated the Section XI state qualifying with electrifying performances all around, which thoroughly pleased head coach Ron Wilson and assistant coach Eli Acosta.
Sophomore Anthony Joseph is headed to the state finals after finishing second in the 400m dash in the blistering time of 49.01 seconds.
In the 400m hurdles, junior Justin Stevens and senior Johnathan Smith finished second and third respectively in 54.55 seconds and 54.68 seconds to both earn berths in the state championships next weekend.
Smith is also headed to the state finals in the long jump after leaping 22-7.50 feet, the best jump of anyone from a Suffolk Division I school.
Senior Jaden Bholan cleared 6-04 feet in the high jump to advance to the state finals in that event.
Huntington’s 4x400m relay consisting of sophomore Isaiah James, junior Justin Stevens, sophomore CJ Kiviat and senior Johnathan Smith swept across the finish line in first place in a time of 3:17.80, which was nearly four full seconds ahead of the runners-up. The Blue Devils own the fastest time in the state this spring in the event; a mark of 3:17.29.
Huntington’s 4x100m relay just missed qualifying for the state championships by less than a second after placing third in 43.58 seconds. The Blue Devil relay consisted of sophomore Nasir Youngblood, senior Jaden Bholan and sophomores Anthony Joseph and Chad Rowe.
