Matteo Armstrong Impresses at Six Flags Wild Safari

Matteo Armstrong turned in an impressive performance at the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational in New Jersey on Saturday. The Huntington senior covered the 5K course in what’s believed to be a new Blue Devil record time of 15:59.69 to finish fourth in a field of 100 in his race.

“I started off slow,” Armstrong said. “For the first half mile, I was only in the top 30, but I gradually started to catch people. I hit the first mile at a time of 5:05 and I expected to slow down, but that never happened. I definitely didn't expect to run 1:17 better than last week, but I’m happy about it.”

Due to the large number of runners, there were five separate varsity races and Armstrong’s time placed him 14th out of 597 runners overall. The athletes came from numerous states.

Blue Devils Ian Rotonno (55th in 18:48), Ethan Goleski (71st in 19:29), Justin Perez (84th in 21:10), John Joyce (92nd in 23:04) and Michael Mendikyan (94th in 24:45) also competed.

Seven Huntington girls’ cross country team members also raced in the event with junior Jessica Kuom turning in the best time. The teenager ran the 5K distance in 22:50, which placed her 48th. Jannel Marroquin (53rd in 23:09), Damaris Mani-Munoz (55th in 23:19), Andrea Mani-Munoz (87th in 25:35), Cindy Alvarez (98th in 28:13), Talia Addeo (99th in 28:19) and Kiera McGuir (104th in 30:52) also ran in the race.

“Everything went great,” said John Romano, the head coach of Huntington’s boys’ team. “Both teams had a bunch of personal records set. It was a great day. It was a long day, but a lot of fun.”

Birth of Huntington Boys’ Cross Country

The Huntington High School boys’ cross country program was first organized in the fall of 1923 by physical education director W.H. Grigson. That year he took several members of the team to the 11th Annual Columbia University Cross Country Race at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. They competed for the Gutavus T. Kirby Trophy.

The race course covered 2½ miles. Huntington’s entrants included Oliver Helffrich, Theodore Prime, John Robbins, William Henneborn and Sidney Perry.

“Sidney Perry lost a shoe after he had covered about one-fourth of the distance, but continued and finished the race with one foot bare,” according to the December 1923 edition of The Mirror, the high school’s monthly journal. “This caused him to lose considerable time and forced him to take a position lower than he would doubtless have taken otherwise.”

The new Huntington team finished in 17th place in a field of 22 squads. Pennsylvania’s Mercersburg Academy led by national high school one mile and cross country champion W.J. Cox captured first place.

“While the local team did not finish high in the list of entries, they did fully as well as could be expected of a group of lads who had never before run in a cross country race and Coach Grigson is satisfied that they gain experience, which will be invaluable to them in the runs which they have scheduled for next month,” stated The Mirror.

Huntington finished above Jamaica High School, George Washington High School, St. John’s Preparatory School, Mount Vernon High School and White Plains High School.

The new program was formed to benefit Huntington High School’s spring track team. “Last June all of our distance runners were graduated,” stated The Mirror. “In order to develop some men for the half mile and mile, Mr. Grigson suggested that we start a cross country team. About 15 fellows started, but due to many reasons the number decreased. At present, we have seven men who are ‘making good.’”

The Blue Devil cross country program enjoyed staying power. In 1949 and 1950, Huntington was second in Suffolk. Doug Sweezy was 21st in the state in 1952. Ken Baker, John Carlson and Pete Sears all advanced to the state championships in 1954. Allan Chapman placed 16th in the state as a sophomore in 1956 and then won state championships in 1957 and 1958, Mike Schuster placed fifth in the state in both 1958 and 1959. Al Vandermass was eighth in the state in 1960 and second in 1961. Bob Zeph was 14th in 1960 and fifth in 1961. Huntington won state team titles in 1959 and 1961 and was third in 1960.