The long-awaited high school spring interscholastic athletic season is on the horizon and the Blue Devil boys’ track and field team is expected to emerge as one of Long Island’s best.
Huntington High School welcomes back five members of the 2020 indoor state championship 4x400m relay team, including seniors Anthony Joseph, Isaiah James, CJ Kiviat and juniors Julio Martinez and Tyriek Mays-McKoy.
Huntington boys' track and field head coach Ronald Wilson.
Before the pandemic took hold in March 2020, the Blue Devils completed a sensational indoor season that saw them win county, Long Island and Millrose Games titles among other accomplishments.
Huntington boasts a spring roster that has talent at just about every event, “however our depth is low this year,” said head coach Ronald Wilson, who is assisted by Eli Acosta. “Our strength in terms of quality and balance, however, lies in that of our sprinters and throwers.”
Joseph has won multiple state and national medals since his debut on the varsity in eighth grade and he will be looking to add more individual titles and records to his already impressive resume.
“We graduated a great thrower and state qualifier in Gary Barash last June,” Wilson said. “We have a thrower that will definitely draw some attention this year in senior Mekai Butts, who will be among the elite on Long Island. Our distance program has shown steady improvement.”
Seniors Aidan Heller, Andrew McKenzie and Carlos Martinez lead the Blue Devil distance continued. They will be joined by junior Henry Vohs, who showed some promise in his debut during the recent winter season. Junior Quincy Chery has made substantial progress in the hurdles. “He will definitely make some noise this year,” Wilson said.
The top returning sprinters include seniors Chad Rowe and Joe Shea, juniors Josiah Melendez and John Chirico and freshman Jahmar Francis. Newcomers include a few from Huntington’s phenomenal soccer team, including senior Mike-el Ollivierre and junior Cristian Avelar and another from the football team in Leonid Martinez.
“We lost one of our great sprinters in senior Nasir Youngblood to injury and it will be challenging to replace him,” Wilson said. “We will depend on some newcomers or younger athletes to step up and make a name for themselves.”
Practices begin on Monday afternoon. “We will look to advance several of our athletes to the division and county championships this year,” Wilson said. “We don’t have a state meet, but we will look to compete in a meet that involves elite athletes from the northeastern region of the country in June.”