Hampton Bays Qualifies Nine Athletes for New York State Track and Field Championships

Nine.

It may seem like an ordinary number to most, but for the Hampton Bays boys and girls track teams, it’s a very impressive number. It’s how many athletes, between both squads, qualified last week for the New York State Track and Field Championships, which are this weekend, Friday and Saturday, at Middletown High School. It was not known as of press time whether or not having nine qualified is a program record — Kevin O’Toole, who has been coaching the girls team for over 10 years now, said it’s the most he’s ever seen the program send. Either way, it’s pretty impressive, and it was how it was done that may be all the more impressive.

All six boys who competed at last week’s state qualifier on Thursday, June 1, and Friday at Comsewogue High School, qualified for the state meet. Matthew Papajohn, a junior, finished fourth in the preliminary race of the 400-meter dash on Thursday in 50.22 seconds to qualify for the finals on Friday where he finished third in the county in 50.27 seconds. He was the top Small Schools/Division II runner in the field and therefore punched his ticket to states.

Papajohn actually improved upon his school record time in that preliminary race. He had broken Sean Culhane’s 45-year record of 50.34 seconds at the county championships two weeks ago when he ran a 50.28.

“That’s twice the age of me,” Papajohn said, with a laugh, of taking down the record from 1978. “Almost three times the age of me.

“Felt like my legs were about to give out,” in the finals, he added. “It’s my first time ever coming to the state qualifier. I’m excited. I’m definitely going to be nervous when I go into [states]. I’m looking forward to it, going for a PR. If I was by myself I’d be a lot more nervous, but having my teammates come up with me, it’s going to take some of the pressure off.”

Liam Sutton, a senior, finished fifth in his prelim race of the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 58.14 seconds, and being that he was the only Division II runner to qualify for the finals, he had already secured his spot at states. But he went ahead and finished fourth in the county, crossing the finish line in the finals in 57.45 seconds.

Sutton said it was nice to come back and qualify for states this season after falling short a year ago. He’s also looking forward to going with a large contingent of teammates.

“We’re all really supportive of each other,” he said. “It’s nice to have such a supportive team. We all push each other to do our best, so it’s nice.”

Charlie Garcia, a junior, placed 11th overall in the county in the 200-meter dash in 23.05 seconds, but was the top Small Schools/Division II runner in the field and therefore punched his ticket to states. Garcia, Sutton, Papajohn and Eddie Benenaula then ran in the 4x400-meter relay and finished ninth in the county in 3:32.65 but beat out their only competition in Mount Sinai to secure their spot upstate. Their time broke yet another 45-year school record of 3:33.24 set by Culhane, Tom Jones, Dan Motil and S. Hefter.

Joffre Proano, another junior, is also going to states in the pole vault after clearing 13 feet 6 inches, a personal best by a foot and a half and tying Josiah Hoshyla’s school record. He was also the Division II Champion.

Proano explained that he began pole vaulting two years ago as a freshman, but when he failed to clear a starting height that entire season, he quit. He picked it back up last year as a sophomore, started going to clubs like Long Island Pole Vault, then switched to apex vaulting this past winter, which really helped him improve as well.

But as far as how he made such a vast improvement when he needed it most, “honestly, it was a really hot day, but there was no wind so that really helped out a bunch. Getting on the right poles definitely helped.

“All throughout my school day I think about getting out to practice track and get quicker and stronger for pole vault,” he said. “I really want to continue in college and hopefully going DI. [My height] definitely opened up some spots for some DI walk-ons. Hopefully, I can get recruiting standards next year.”

On Monday, Hampton Bays head coach Vincenzo Battaglia found out that Elwood-John Glenn senior Anthony Coglianese had pulled out of the 100-meter dash, therefore allowing senior Eli Amos to make the trip to states; he had finished ninth in the county in 11.29 seconds but was the next Division II finisher behind Coglianese.

“Our Hampton Bays athletes did a tremendous job at the Suffolk County state qualifiers,” Battaglia said. “The boys team brought six athletes to compete and all six of them will be competing at the New York State Championships in six different events. I’m so proud of the hard work these boys have put in all season and they deserved all the accolades they received. I’m looking forward to how they compete at the state championships this weekend and finish out this amazing season.”

The Hampton Bays girls will certainly have their fair share of representation upstate as well. Senior Maizie Poulakis tied a personal best 9 feet 6 inches in the pole vault to place fifth overall in the county but repeated as Small Schools Champion. Sophomore Asha Pensa-Johnson threw the discus 109 feet 8 inches to place fifth overall in the county and second among fellow Division II throwers, but because she threw the super standard earlier this season at the St. Anthony’s Invitational, she qualified for states. Junior Emma Halsey finished seventh overall in 16.29 seconds in the prelim race of the 100-meter hurdles and was the only Division II runner to qualify for the finals, therefore earning her spot at states. She wound up finishing sixth in the county in 16.50 seconds.

“Overall, it was a great couple of days of competition for the HB girls team!” O’Toole said. “We are proud of everything they’ve done this year. They worked hard day in and day out to earn their spots at the state qualifier meet and I can’t wait to see what’s in store next week in Middletown and next year for our returning athletes.”

Sofia Galvan, a sophomore, finished 20th in the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 8:24.72. Allie O’Brien, a junior, finished 11th overall in the county in the pentathlon with 1, 958 points.