Blue Devils Sharp at Early Season Meets

It’s still early in the winter season, but the Huntington boys’ indoor track and field team is off to a great start. Among 17 possible events, the Blue Devils have the top Suffolk marks in seven of them.

Senior Matthew Armstrong continues to shine, breaking a pair of school records within days of each other. The teenager shattered Huntington’s 3200m record, finishing first in a time of 9:49.58 in a crossover meet at Suffolk West. He followed that up by breaking Shane McGuire’s eight year old Blue Devil record in the 1000m run. Armstrong placed first in 2:35.78 at last weekend’s Nassau Coaches Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Track & Field Complex in Staten Island. The time snapped the previous record of 2:37.

Huntington also won gold in the 4x400m relay at Ocean Breeze. The relay team consisted of

senior Nikolai Seferian on lead leg; senior Ryan Centeno on the second leg; Armstrong on the third leg and junior Johan Fajardo in the anchor position.

A battle between Huntington, Freeport, Elmont and Amityville started early in the event. “Seferian closed well on the second lap, passing Freeport and Elmont,” Blue Devil head coach Ron Wilson said. “Centeno kept pace, but lost ground late in the race giving Freeport a narrow lead going into the third leg. Armstrong’s great strength kept him in contact with Freeport’s third leg and in the final stretch, Armstrong passed him giving Fajardo a small advantage. Fajardo gave up the lead as the Freeport runner passed him on the final turn, but Johan didn’t ‘give up.’ He dug deep inside and passed the Freeport runner for the gold.”

The Blue Devils’ 4x400m relay time of 3:37.43 ranks them No. 6 in the state and first on Long Island.

In the 4x200m relay, Huntington placed second in 1:35.25, which is No. 11 in the state, No. 2 on Long Island and No. 1 in Suffolk.

In other action:

• Kender Edouazin finished fourth in the 600m run in 1:27.69. “He had just returned back to action after being sidelined because of an illness,” Wilson said. “His earlier in the season time of 1:26.52 still ranks him No. 5 in New York, No. 3 on Long Island and No. 1 in Suffolk.”

• In the 55m high hurdles, Seferian finished third in a time of 8.58 with Delgado (8.90), Centeno (8.94) and Lulewich (9.11) placing eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.

• In the 300m dash, junior Jahmar Francis finished fourth in a time of 37.13, which ranks him No. 4 on Long Island and No. 1 in Suffolk. Sophomore Dominic Mattio finished second in his heat in 40.05 for a medal in the freshmen/sophomore section.

• Other rising stars of the Frosh/Soph division included freshman Ethan Lawless in the shot put, who placed sixth with a toss of 31-09 feet.

• Junior Carmine Carusone finished in eighth with a toss of 38-07 feet and senior Vito Aloe finished in 11th with a personal best of 38-00 feet.

• Junior David Dje Bi finished in 11th in the 55m dash with a time of 6.94.

• In the high jump, Roberto Rodriguez finished in fifth and Fajardo and Niko Lulewich tied for seventh. All three finished with a leap of 5-06 feet.

Huntington is No. 1 in Suffolk in the 300m (Francis 37.13), 600m (Edouazin 1:26.52), 1000m (Armstrong 2:35.78), 3200m (Armstrong 9:49.48), 4x200m (1:35.25), 4x400m (3:37.43) and weight throw (Carusone 34-04 feet).

The Blue Devils will compete in the Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational on Saturday at Armory in Manhattan, which is billed as the fastest track in the world. The team competes in Crossover D at Suffolk-West in Brentwood on Sunday.