Blue Devils Welcome Track Coach John Kaplan

The Huntington girls’ winter and spring track and field teams have a new head coach in John Kaplan, who has also been appointed as a full-time probationary health teacher at J. Taylor Finley Middle School.

A graduate of SUNY Cortland, Kapan qualified for the NCAA championships in cross country and was All-Conference in college track in the 3000m steeplechase. He has been the head coach at Bayport-Blue Point High School since 2018.

A graduate of Bayport-Blue Point, Kaplan was a three-time All-League and All-Division/All-County cross country runner who qualified for the state championships. In track, he was a six time All-League/All-County performer who reached the state championships in the 3000m steeplechase. His high school team won the county title twice.

As Bayport-Blue Point’s coach, Kaplan won a pair of league titles and was the county runner-up twice. In track, he coached the team to two league crowns, a county title and four relay county championships in the 4x400m and 4x800m. He coached athletes to eight individual Section XI titles and one athlete to All-State and All-Federation honors.

Kaplan is studying for his master’s degree at Stony Brook University. He has also coached girls’ winter track and field and JV girls’ volleyball at Harborfields; middle school boys’ track and field at Brentwood; and boys’ volleyball at Ronkonkoma Middle School.

An ocean lifeguard for the Town of Islip, Kaplan is state certified to teach health and physical education. He garnered the Anthony P. Tespori Student Teaching Award at SUNY Cortland.

“I am excited to join the Huntington coaching staff and hope to start to make an immediate impact on the team,” Kaplan said.