A large contingent of Huntington High School boys and girls track and field stars will be competing in the state indoor championships in March. The Blue Devils turned in many impressive performances at the Section XI state qualifying meet at Suffolk-West in Brentwood earlier this week.
Senior Julio Martinez will race for a state medal in the 300m dash with sophomore Jahmar Francis lining up for the 600m run.
Jahmar Francis won the 600m dash to advance to the state championships. (Darin Reed photo)
Martinez, Francis, junior Matthew Armstrong and Nikolai Seferian and seniors Quincy Chery and Nicholas Grover have all qualified in the 4x400m relay.
Francis earned his first trip to the state championships in an individual event with a second place finish in the 600m run in a time of 1:24.90, his best effort of the season.
“Jamar has kept the tradition alive, where we have either won or placed in this event for many years,, including in 2015 and 2016 with Infinite Tucker and then with Lawrence Leake in 2017, with Johnathan Smith in 2018 and 2019, with CJ Kiviat in 2019 and 2020 with Isaiah James in 2019, with Justin Stevens in 2020 and now Francis in 2022. (Note: There was no indoor season last winter.) We are very proud of the progress this young man has made.”
Martinez punch his state championships ticket with a great showing in the 300m dash. The teenager finished second in a personal best time on a flat track of 35.42 seconds. “This time converts to 34.8 seconds on a banked track, which would place him in the top five in the state,” Wilson. “With only 17 minutes of rest, he had to come back and team up with Francis and seniors Quincy Chery and Nick Grover in the 4x400m relay. Normally we would have been given about 45 minutes of rest time in between, but the meet was rushed toward the end because it had fallen behind in the time schedule.”
Martinez received the baton on his leg about 10 meters behind the leaders, but he managed a drive in the final stretch to make it a photo finish. “Unfortunately, his efforts fell short and we placed a close second behind Ward Melville,” Wilson said. “We finished in 3:32.07 and Ward Melville 3:32.06. Our time of 3:29 [earlier in the season] still ranks us No. 1 on Long Island and No. 6 in the state. With fresher legs, we will go much faster.”
Earlier in the 4x400m trials, Grover and Chery teamed up with Seferian and Armstrong to advance the Blue Devils to the finals. “The team along with its alternates are All County and will represent us at the state championship to try and make it three in a row for Huntington, which has the meet record of 3:19 in 2020,” Wilson said.
In other action, sophomore Johan Fajardo placed fourth in high jump with a leap of 5-08 feet to earn All-County honors. His best jump of the season was 5-10 feet. Freshman Nikolai Lulewich ended his season tied for 12th in the county in high jump with an effort that measured 5-04 feet.
Blue Devil Girls Head to State Meet
The Blue Devil girls’ squad was also sensational in the state qualifying meet. Senior Olivia Conte qualified for the state meet in both the 55m dash (7.43 seconds) and 55m hurdles (8.47 seconds), finishing second in both events.
Kiana Nosile qualified in shot put with a throw measuring 39-09.5 feet, well below her best distance of the season, but good enough for second place and a berth in the state meet at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex at Staten Island in March.
Analisse Batista easily swept to victory in 600m run in a time of 1:36.21. The senior is one of the top high school athletes in the nation in her events and she’s well positioned for the state championships.
The Huntington girls’ 4x400m relay also won at the Section XI state qualifier with Batista, Elizabeth James, Megan Donaghy and Hope Bilkey circling the track four times in 4:08.96. Olivia Conte is the alternate on the relay team.