Bayman Quinn Smith Wins Small Schools Shot Put Title

There’s something to be said for consistency.

Hampton Bays junior Quinn Smith, seeded second in the shot put, won the event at the Small Schools Championships at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood on Sunday. The competition was, as interim head coach Virgil Romer put it on Monday, a bit weird, being that a number of higher-seeded throwers had bad days, while others who weren’t seeded high placed. It’s a good thing that Smith—who had a personal best throw by an inch at 50 feet 1 inch—is a model of consistency, continually throwing 50 feet at each competition. Amityville senior Alton Kimbrough was the top-seeded thrower in Small Schools with his best being more than 54 feet but he had hard time on Sunday, only reaching 42 feet 5¼ inches. Only Kimbrough and Commack’s Steven Vasile will be seeded ahead of Smith at the state qualifier, which is this Monday, February 11, back at Suffolk-Brentwood.

Sophomore Darwin Fernandez placed second in the 600-meter run in 1:27.70, just slightly slower than his personal best and a minute behind Mount Sinai senior Ryan Wilson. Fernandez should join Smith at the state qualifier.

Romer said that senior Thomas O’Connell could have a shot at making it to the state qualifier in the 55-meter hurdles even though he was unable to place in the top six at Small Schools. He finished the race in 8.51 seconds, which placed him 12th, but Romer said a lot of runners had personal bests at the meet, slotting O’Connell down a little bit. O’Connell placed fourth in the triple jump with a personal best leap of 40 feet 10 inches. David Madison, a junior, finished ninth with a leap of 38 feet 9 inches. Smith, Fernandez, O’Connell and Madison all ran on the 4x200-meter relay team that finished eighth in 1:40.82.

The Baymen finished a respectable sixth out of 24 teams with 22 points overall.

A pair of seniors in Rachel Reycroft and Christina Coulton finished their indoor track careers at the girls Small Schools meet on Saturday. Coulton finished the 1,000-meter race in 3:37.80, a personal best by nearly two seconds. Reycroft finished the 55-meter dash in 7.91 seconds and she also ran the 4x400-meter relay with sophomores Cassidy Moore, Shaina Pierce and Heilyn Ovares, which finished 11th in a season’s best 4:30.24.