Cerullo Is Leading Southampton Girls Indoor Track Team

Kyla Cerullo is on fire.

The Southampton junior has placed first, fourth, second and first in her past four meets in her number one event, the 55-meter dash. In the Mariners latest crossover meet on Sunday at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, Cerullo won the 55 in 7.77 seconds, just slightly slower than her personal best of 7.70 seconds, which she ran just a few days prior on January 5 at the Jim Howard Invitational, which was also held at Suffolk-Brentwood.

Cerullo also anchored the 4x200-meter relay, which placed second in 2:00.48 at Sunday’s crossover. Emma D’Italia, Emily Zukosky and Diamond Brown joined her in that race.

“The faster the competition, the faster I think she will go,” Southampton head coach Eddie Arnold said of Cerullo. “She’s already qualified for leagues, small schools and the state qualifier, so the goal here is to place in the top three in the league champ, place top six in small schools and then potentially top four at state quals, and that last one will be her biggest challenge, but it’s certainly within reach. She’s seeded 10th in the county right now, and there are people ahead of her who have ran with spikes at The Armory, so she has room to grow and I expect her to in the next few weeks.”

Diamond Brown, another junior, placed third in the 55 on Sunday in a personal best 8.11 seconds, and Arnold said the past few meets have been about the student-athletes continually setting personal bests.

Jeorgiana Gavalas set a big personal best in Sunday’s meet, finishing third in the 3,000-meter race in 11:14, shaving 22 seconds off her previous best. Sloane Edson set a new best in the triple jump, leaping 30 feet 4 ¾ inches, which placed her third, while Emily Zukosky, in just her second time competing in the triple jump, reached a best 29 feet 10 ¼ inches, which placed her right behind her teammate Edson.

Harper Souhrada (26 feet), Lily Esposito (25 feet 9 ¼ inches) Seraphia May (24 inches 2 ¼ inches), Danna Nieto-Perdomo (24 feet 1 ¼ inches), Veleria Nieto-Cruz (24 feet 1 inch) and Emma Cervone (20 feet 10 ¾ inches) all set personal bests in the triple jump as well.

Veronica Lopez set a new personal best in the shot put at 18 feet and Emma Suhr ran a personal best in the 1,000-meter race, crossing the finish line in 3:35.10. Melanie Lepez (50.73 seconds), Bailey Brown (51.97 seconds), Emma Marsilio (54 seconds) and Logan O’Neill (57 seconds) all finished the 300-meter dash with personal bests.

“At this time of the season, for this many girls to get personal bests, it’s remarkable,” Arnold said. “Sometimes kids peak too soon but right now the girls are doing very well and getting ready for the league championship.”

The girls league championship is January 22 at Suffolk-Brentwood.

Southampton sophomore Christian Duggal won the 300-meter dash in 40.76 seconds at the boys latest crossover on Saturday at Suffolk-Brentwood, which was one of many top-five performances for the Mariners.

Jake Cook, another sophomore, placed third in the 1,600-meter race in 5:36.20. Freshman Liam Lavinio and Cook placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1,000-meter race in 3:15.10 and 3:18.35. Senior Thayer Schwartz finished fourth in the 600-meter dash in 1:32.85 and the Mariners 4x400-meter relay team finished third in 3:59.75. Names of who made up that team were not available.