Hurricane Girls Indoor Track Finally Has Its Small Schools Title; Haynia, Hayes Win Titles for Boys, While Amos Leads Baymen

For the first time in program history, the Westhampton Beach girls indoor track team finally earned a Small Schools Suffolk County Championship.

Since the program began in 1989, the Hurricanes have come close to winning a Small Schools title, placing second in 2020, 2017 and 2015 and third in 2019, 2014, 1998 and 1995. Head coach John Broich has been at the helm of the team all of those years and on Saturday, at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, he and his team finally got that elusive Small Schools title.

The buildup to the meet was that it was going to be a close one, but Westhampton Beach accrued 66 points on the day, 12 more than second place Bayport-Blue Point. In fact, the ’Canes had the meet in hand prior to the relays, making the win all the more impressive.

Port Jefferson finished third with 46 points, followed by East Islip (29) and East Hampton (29).

Broich applauded his team for coming back after placing second behind Sayville at the League IV Championships a few weeks ago. Sayville finished sixth on Saturday.

“The whole week before, starting that Monday when we came back from leagues, our whole theme was ‘erase doubt.’” Broich said. “I asked each kid what they thought they needed to do to get better and each one of them said, ‘work harder in practice,’ so that’s what we did. And I mean we worked really hard in practice.”

Sophomore Lily Strebel was a double champion for Westhampton Beach in both the 1,000- and 1,500-meter races, picking up 20 points total. After winning the 1,000 in 2:56.37, Strebel returned not long after to win the 1,500 in a new meet record of 4:41.57, surpassing the previous record of 4:45.1 set by a pair of Rocky Point runners, Allison Hofmann and Mellissa Salerno, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.

Strebel also helped the 4x800-meter relay team place second in 10:05.60. She was joined by Oona Murphy, Jamie Kelly and Sophia Di Pierro.

Broich said Strebel’s “tenacity is unparalleled,” and she’s always looking to improve. Strebel herself said that what motivates her is that she constantly wants to improve her times every meet.

“I like to say it’s me against me,” she said. “I like to see improvement. Coach always helps me with any mental blocks.

“I’m really excited and proud to say that we won,” Strebel said of the Small Schools title. “My team really pushed themselves hard. I’m really happy about it.”

Westhampton Beach senior Anabel Velloso contributed in the win with a fourth-place finish in the 300-meter dash (45.14 seconds), a fifth-place finish in the triple jump (33 feet 5 ¼ inches) and helped the 4x200-meter relay team place second (1:52.98), along with Annabelle Wasser, Halle Geller and Hollie McAllister.

Velloso’s performance in the triple jump was a bit of a surprise being that she had just taken it up about three weeks ago, but her points in the event certainly helped the team. And even after splitting her fingernail in one of her final jumps that led to blood running down her hand, Velloso still reached the finals of the 300.

“Our loss at leagues really hit me hard,” she said. “We had basically won it every year I’ve been on the team, so I used that rage from the prior meet to focus on this meet. The relay team got together and did handoffs every day, like, religiously.”

Madison Phillips, a junior, competed in three separate events and placed in two of them. She finished third in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.15 seconds, fifth in the high jump reaching 4 feet 10 inches, and although she didn’t place in the shot put, she threw 27 feet 4 inches, good enough for 10th.

Sydney Beardslee, a sophomore, placed fourth in the 1,500-meter race walk in 8:35.85 and Oona Murphy placed fifth in the 1,000-meter race in 3:12.82.

Many of the girls who scored for the ’Canes will have a good shot at competing at the Section XI Championships, otherwise known as the state qualifier, which is this Monday, February 13, back at Suffolk-Brentwood.

Max Haynia and Trevor Hayes led the Westhampton Beach boys at their Small Schools Championships on Sunday at Suffolk-Brentwood.

Haynia won the 3,200-meter race in 9:30.82, nearly 25 seconds ahead of the next runner. His younger brother Marcus, a sophomore, finished eighth in 10:29.29.

Hayes won the 1,600-meter race in 4:32.68. The 4x800-meter relay team of Hayes, Haynia, Adrian Caumartin and Ezekiel McCrary also won in 8:32.59.

Nicholas Simonetta placed fourth in the 300-meter dash in 41.65 seconds. He had qualified for finals by finishing sixth in the preliminary race in 37.79 seconds.

Jack Hendrickson placed sixth in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet 9 inches.

The Hampton Bays boys and girls indoor track teams had a few highlight performances at the Small Schools Championships.

Eli Amos placed second in the 55-meter dash in 6.62 seconds. His teammate, Charlie Garcia, placed sixth in the same race in 6.77 seconds.

Matthew Papajohn placed third in the 300-meter dash in 36.92 seconds and the 4x200-meter relay team placed in 1:36.22.

Emma Halsey led the Hampton Bays girls. She just missed on qualifying for the finals of the 55-meter hurdles, placing seventh in 9.33 seconds. Halsey also finished ninth in the triple jump with a leap of 32 feet 4 ¼ inches. Sofia Galvan finished the 1,000-meter race in 3:29.30, which placed her 17th.