Blue Devil Girls’ Track Stays
Step Ahead
They didn’t hold anything back. The Huntington High School girls’ track and field team raced past visiting Comsewogue late last week at Blue Devil Stadium, 105-40.
“We had a cool day with a slight headwind, but even on tired legs the girls performed very well,” head coach Shawn Anderson said. Huntington’s showing in the field events was especially sensational.
The Blue Devils swept the shot put with Katie Nugent grabbing first place with a season-best throw of 30’8. Betty Huitt was second with an effort that measured 29’2. Nina Cartwright notched a season best toss of 28’10 to take third place. Also enjoying personal best days were Lindsay Saginaw (22’2) and Kayla Eidle (20’2).
Huntington also swept the discus event behind Cartwright (80’11), Huitt (78-10) and Nugent (71’3). The Blue Devils’ triple jumpers looked impressive, too. Anna Gulizio captured first place with a series of leaps that measured 32’3. Lexi Mills was second with a distance of 31’1.
Despite being nearly exhausted, Gulizio managed to take third place in long jump with a leap of 14’9. Maliyah Davis and Mills finished third and fourth, respectively, in the high jump. The pair both cleared 4’6, but Davis earned third based on the fewest misses. It was Davis’ first competition in the event.
Huntington swept the pole vault behind Davis (7’6), Sabrina Palacios (6’6) and Alexandra McKenzie (6’0).
In running events, Huntington’s highlights included:
• 100m high hurdles: Alexandra Koumas remained undefeated, finishing first in 17.5 seconds.
Ekaterina Koulakova took third in a season-best time of 19.0. Mardnie Mentor dipped under 20 for the first time, going 19.9.
• 1500m run: Alexis Pastorelli took the top spot in 5:18.3. “She led from the gun and pushed the pace the whole way,” Anderson said. In the first of four races on the day, Louise Koepele finished third in 5:21.
• 400m run: In what proved to be an exciting race, Suzie Petryk dropped down in distance to square off against her teammates, Latoya Shand and Anna Gulizio. Petryk and Shand were neck and neck going into the home stretch before Petryk poured it on to finish first in 59.7 and Shand close behind with a time of 1:00.6. Gulizio was superb in her debut, turning in an impressive time of 1:02.1.
• 100m dash: Christina Reinertsen finished third in 14.2 seconds.
• 1500m race-walk: Kayla Eidle continued her strong senior season, remaining undefeated in her main league event. She crossed the finish line with in 8:02, just seconds off her best time.
• 800M: Another Huntington sweep behind Nugent in a personal best time of 2:26.5, Pastorelli (2:26.5) and Koepele (2:43.2).
• 200m dash: Petryk, Shand and Gulizio squared off against one another again. This time Shand notched the win in 27.5 with Petryk (27.7) and Gulizio (28.3 seconds) in second and third, respectively.
• 400m hurdles: Koumas bested the field again with a sub-1:10 second performance. Koulakova finished right behind Koumas with a personal best time of 1:26.0 seconds.
• 3000m run: Freshman Nicole Abbondandelo cruised to a first place finish in 11:38. Koepele was third in 12:26.
• 4x100m relay: “Running four legs that normally don’t do blind handoffs can have some disastrous effects, but this wasn’t one of those times,” Anderson said. The team of Nugent, Koumas, Shand and Petryk (all running non-traditional races with the exception of Shand), easily won in a time of 51.60 seconds, just 0.4 seconds off the Huntington High School record in the event. It was the first time below 52 seconds in the event in several years.
• 4x400m relay: With the sun setting, the Blue Devils continued to shine. The team of Koulakova, Pastorelli, Abbondandelo and Koepele circled the track in 4:39 to win the final event.
“We used this meet to focus on some speed for several athletes and some strength for others,” Anderson said. “The versatility of this team and its depth also allowed us to sit some athletes out of their usual events and try out some others in new events.”
Huntington will travel to Hauppauge next Tuesday (April 28) for a league meet. The action kicks-off at 4 p.m.