Bonac Track Coaches Like What They're Seeing Early on Despite Losses

Despite not winning a dual meet yet this season, both Yani Cuesta and Sean Knight like how their respective East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton girls and boys track teams are progressing early on.

Cuesta’s girls are coming off a very close 76.5-73.5 home loss to Hauppauge this past Thursday, April 3, after having lost their season opener, 85-64, to reigning league champion East Islip on March 28. Cuesta said it seems lately whenever her team goes up against Hauppauge it tends to come down to the relays, and that’s where the Eagles edged her Bonackers.

“The girls worked very hard, and we just came a little short,” she said. “That said, we had some great performances, and we’re very proud of all they accomplished.

“It is still so early in the season and our eyes are set to what we can do at counties,” she said. “We have so much to learn about many of our new athletes and … they are all quickly improving each time. All our dual meets are just preparation for what we really want … to take as many girls to counties as we can get.”

Cuesta said, early on, her top returning athletes thus far are Bonackers Leah McCarron and K.K. Moore and Whalers Greylynn Guyer and Sara O’Brien. McCarron competed in a number of different events. She won multiple events last week against Hauppauge, including the long jump (15 feet 4 ¾ inches), shot put (29 feet 9 inches) and discus (91 feet 3 inches), and she also ran on the team’s 4x100-meter relay. McCarron makes a pretty good throwing duo with Moore who finished right behind her in both the shot and disc last week.

Guyer and O’Brien will continue to compete in the mid-to-long-distance events as they have over the course of the past few seasons. They also head up the team’s 4x800-meter relay team along with Laura Martinez and Josie Mott. That group won against Hauppauge in 10:39.5. O’Brien also won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles last week in 71.5 seconds.

Cuesta also has an up-and-coming group that included Martinez and Mott and C.J. Echavarria, Lucia Mogavero, Sophia Figueroa, Sierra Stumpf, Vicky Chen, Bennett Greene and Maggie Greenwald. Echavarria and Figueroa have really taken hold of the team’s hurdling responsibilities while Chen will score valuable points in the pole vault. Stumpf came out last season as an eighth-grader and placed fifth in the county in the pentathlon so she’s another versatile athlete for Bonac.

Of course, there are a number of other athletes who continue to improve each day.

“All these athletes have been mixing it in where we need them,” Cuesta said, “as we place them where we think they can help us the most for each dual meet. There is also a lot of promise in some of our new athletes.”

The boys also suffered losses to East Islip (79-44) in their season opener and then Hauppauge (89-39) also on April 3. But Knight liked what he saw from his athletes in both meets.

Thomas Cardenas led the sprinters, placing second in the 100-meter dash in 11.7 seconds and another second in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 23.2 seconds. Knight is hoping Cardenas can break 11 seconds this season. If so, he’d be the first Bonac sprinter to do so since his head coach and his teammate Brandon Hayes did so in 1997. Edmar Gonzalez-Nateras led the distance group with a 4:53 in the 1,600-meter race with teammate Max Bellenoue finishing right behind in 4:56.

Jasper Samuelson placed second in the 800-meter run in 2:19. Liam Knight, fresh off his trip to the YMCA New York State and Nationals Swimming Championships, placed second in the 400-meter run in 53.9 seconds.

Xavier Johnson is new to the team after transferring to Bridgehampton from Hampton Bays in the offseason. Fresh off his trip to Binghamton where the Bridgehampton boys basketball team reached the state finals, Johnson has proved he can be a great addition to the track team too, starting off the year with a 53.2-seconds finish in the 400 and a long jump of 18 feet 9 ¾ inches. Knight said assistant coach Davin Johnson is doing some great things with the jumpers early on and he expects to see some 20-foot jumpers by the end of the season.

Abe Stillman will continue to score much-needed points in the pole vault for the Bonackers and Joseph Bobek has been improved in the discus, reaching 95 feet and 6 inches and placing second the other day.

Both boys and girls competed against Eastport-South Manor on Wednesday. Their next dual meets won’t be until April 22 when they take on Comsewogue. The girls will be home that day while the boys will be away.