Huntington Shines at Frosh/Soph County Championships

Heinz Ketchup may be known for pouring out slowly, but there is nothing slow about Huntington High School track star Eric Heinz. He has once again captured his second straight Frosh/Soph county title in the 800m run.

Heinz outlasted Northport last spring and this year he held off a late surge from Nikolas Gasparis of Miller Place and Raylucas Galan of North Babylon.

“At the opening shot of the starting gun, Heinz took off and led the first lap with Miller Place and North Babylon hot on his trail,” head coach Ronald E. Wilson said. “At the 600m mark, in a tactic move similar to the champion racehorse Seabiscuit from the 1930’s, Heinz gave up the lead to a late charge from Miller Place and North Babylon. Coming off of the last turn, Heinz caught up to the pair and ran them both down in the final 100m stretch for the gold and sophomore county championship title in 2:03. This time is not a personal best, however, it was good for a Huntington win.

Heinz’ best time came recently at Bethpage when he completed the 800m course in 2:00 flat. He would later team up for the featured event, the 4x400m relay with lead leg, freshman Rasiere Blizzard, second leg sophomore Robbie Campbell and third leg sophomore Adan Ntambwe. The quartet earned gold in a similar fashion as Heinz did in the 800m.

“Connetquot took a commanding lead after the first leg of the race with Hampton Bays and Brentwood hot on their tail and battling for the fourth position was Huntington and Longwood,” Wilson recounted. “Blizzard ran a tough first leg and managed to keep Huntington in contact with the leaders. Campbell found his best stride late and passed Hampton Bays and Brentwood and closed ground on Connetquot. Ntambwe kept in close contact with Conntetquot and then came off the turn with a full head of steam and ran down the Connetquot athlete in the final 100 meters of the race. Heinz got the baton in first and would stretch the lead even more.” The quartet finished in 3:35 seconds for first place and the gold.

Former Huntington greats Kyree Johnson and Shane McGuire watched the relay unfold. Johnson coaches at Amityville while McGuire is a volunteer with the Blue Devils. Both were members of Huntington’s family state and national 4x400m relay championship team.

After watching the Blue Devil 4x400m relay team claim first place, the alumni duo looked at each other and said simultaneously, “I see Huntington’s future is bright.”

In other action:

• Campbell earned two additional medals. He placed fifth in high jump and third in triple jump.

• Blizzard earned a silver medal for second place in the 400m dash.

• Ntambwe took bronze for fifth place in the sophomore section of the 400m dash

• The 4x100m relay team consisting of lead leg sophomore Zayvion McCoy, second led sophomore Joe Raymundo, third leg sophomore Dylan Michaelson and anchor freshman Wilmer Benitez earned bronze medals for placing fourth.

• Benitez would earn two additional medals, including a silver in the 200m dash and a bronze in the 100m dash where he placed fourth.

• Sophomore Zach Matthews earned a bronze medal in the shot put with a toss of 38 feet 6 inches, just an inch shy of his personal best for the season.

Huntington resumes competition on Tuesday at the county championship at Commack at 2:30 p.m.