Hurricanes Sweep First Three Placements To Win Boys 'B' Cross Country Title; Amato Wins Girls County Title

The Westhampton Beach cross country team displayed all season long that it was one of the top teams in all of Suffolk County. And while it was expected to win the Class B race at the Section XI Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park on April 21, it still had to show up and make good on those expectations.

The Hurricanes not only met those high expectations, but exceeded them with their top three runners — Gavin Ehlers, Max Haynia and Trevor Hayes — sweeping the top three placements of the ‘B’ race, essentially clinching the team’s third consecutive title with ease. Westhampton Beach finished with 24 points, 37 points ahead of second place Bayport-Blue Point. Westhampton Beach head coach Jack Ryan said it was the first time since Northport’s 2013 squad for a team to go one, two, three in a county championship race.

Ehlers finished the 2.5-mile race in 12:48.97 to become the program’s first individual county champion since his head coach did it in 2016. He was also crowned overall county champion, after all the times from the four separate classes were combined, finishing 12 seconds ahead of Northport’s Wyeth Semo. Ryan said Kevin Hogan was the last Westhampton Beach runner to finish as overall county champion back in the 1980s.

Ehlers was the only runner in Suffolk to break the 13:00 minute mark, and he gave credit to his teammate in Haynia for being able to push him throughout the race. Haynia, who missed the Division III race two weeks ago after having to quarantine due to COVID-19 contact tracing, had a great race himself, finishing in 13:05.76, which placed him third in the overall county merged results. Hayes finished in 13:37.50, which placed him 13th overall in the county.

Ehlers said after coming close last season to winning a county title, finishing second to Miller Place’s Tom Cirrito by about eight seconds, it was “pretty nice” to come through for his first ever county title.

“I went out with Max and Trevor. For Max, I think this was his second time running the course at Sunken Meadow, and I didn’t think he was going to take it out as fast as he did,” he explained. “But it was good that he did. I don’t think I was pushed at divisions. Having Trevor with me then helped, but I think there was still a 40-second gap between us there. I think having Max near me, having him go up Cardiac [Hill] with me … I was glad to have him back. All the guys ran really well, and I was really happy with that.”

Haynia said it was great being back with his teammates, and that he and Ehlers like to push each other.

“It felt pretty good being out on the course after having to quarantine,” he said. “It was really hard after not having any big invitationals at Sunken Meadow since basically pre-COVID, but it felt good to be out there racing.”

Ryan said he basically expected Ehlers, Haynia and Hayes to take the top three placements. What he was hoping for were improvements from both David Alvarado and Rudy Scala, which he got. In Alvarado’s case, he improved his time by 40 seconds from the week prior at the division meet. Alvarado finished in 14:15.59, which placed him ninth overall. Scala finished in 14:53.35, which placed him 18th. Jake Cassidy (15:25.31) and Sean Ryan (15:54.97) both followed.

Since all state meets were canceled earlier this school year due to the pandemic, the Hurricanes won’t be able to see how they stack up against some of the top upstate teams. Both Coach Ryan and Ehlers think they could have competed for a state title.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the opportunity to go up and compete for a state title, or even get a chance to showcase our guys against some state talent on the invitational level, but the bright side of things is that we’re bringing everyone back except one [Scala] next year,” Coach Ryan said.

There were no ifs, ands or buts when it came to who the top Class B girls runner was in Suffolk this season — it was Jackie Amato — but with nerves, emotions and the like coming into account, anything can happen on race day. Even as the Westhampton Beach senior admitted she was feeling all of those things when the race began on Thursday, April 22, she pushed through to win her first ever county title, finishing the 2.5-mile race in 15:20.97, nearly 25 seconds ahead of Sierra Gray of Miller Place.

Other than a pretty strong headwind going straight into the runners as they came down the final 150 meters toward the finish line, Amato said she didn’t find any obstacles out on the course.

“Going into the race, I was scared because it’s my last race after being on the cross country team for five years, and I knew I was the favorite to win, so with the two combined, I was so nervous. But now it just feels nice to win,” she explained after the race. “I’ve been running behind [Mount Sinai’s] Sarah Connelly basically my whole career, so with her graduating it kind of created an opening for me. I got fourth my sophomore year, second last year, so to finish off my career with getting first it’s kind of nice.”

Westhampton Beach didn’t have enough girls run in the race to compete for a county team title. Keira Falvey placed 16th overall in 17:08.45 and Oona Murphy finished 21st in 17:35.08.

Amato now turns her attention to the girls lacrosse season. As of last week, Amato was deciding between two colleges, and also deciding on whether she’ll play lacrosse or run cross country at whichever school she chooses. She wasn’t ready to decide, but she did say that regardless of what she chooses, “running will always be in my life.”