Liam Sutton Medals, Leads Baymen at New York State Track and Field Championships

One of the best seasons, possibly the best ever, for the Hampton Bays boys and girls track teams came to a close this weekend at the New York State Track and Field Championships at Middletown High School.

The Baymen qualified nine athletes — six boys, three girls — and while most of them were unable to reach the finals of their respected events, some posted personal bests, and some even broke more school records. All in all, it was a successful weekend in many different aspects.

“It was definitely an incredible season, one that put Hampton Bays track back on the map,” Hampton Bays boys track head coach Vincenzo Battaglia said. “A lot of the kids are juniors, so many of them will be returning and we’re excited to see what they’ll do as seniors. A lot of them got some really good experience at big meets and were able to carry over their success from those meets to postseason meets, so they all have a lot of talent and I’m very appreciative of their effort throughout this whole year. Many of them, if not all of them, came to my preseason workouts even before this spring season started, so they worked very hard this season.”

Liam Sutton, a senior, was the lone Bayman to earn a medal, doing so in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, in which he placed second in his heat, fifth overall among public schools and seventh overall in Division II — in a new school record of 56.80 seconds, surpassing Thomas O’Connell’s 2019 record of 57.04 seconds. Sutton’s previous best was 57.45 seconds and Battaglia said it was a long time coming for the senior, who has been trying to break the school record all season.

Sutton also ran on the boys 4x400-meter relay team that placed second in its heat, 11th overall in Division II, resetting their own school record to 3:30.13, which is an improvement by 2.5 seconds. Charlie Garcia, Eddy Benenaula and Matthew Papajohn ran with Sutton on that team.

Papajohn competed individually in the 400-meter dash, in which he finished eighth among public schools, 10th overall, in 50.35 seconds. Garcia competed individually in the 200-meter dash and placed 15th overall in 22.85 seconds. Eli Amos, the only other senior of the group that competed upstate, was a late addition to the 100-meter dash when the Suffolk County Division II champion from Elwood-John Glenn did not make the trip. Amos finished 26th overall in the state in the highly competitive 100-meter dash in 11.56 seconds.

Last but not least for the boys was pole vaulter Joffre Proano. Coming off of a personal best of 13 feet 6 inches at the state qualifier a week prior, Proano cleared 11 feet 6 inches and finished 25th overall. The junior said there were many factors to his performance at states, one of them being dealing with a hip flexor injury, the other simply being the very first event of the entire meet Friday morning. But overall it was a good experience for him.

“My first time out here, a really nice environment. Everyone is nice to each other, at least all the pole vaulters are really nice,” he said. “It just was not the right day for me. I was not feeling hot during warmups. Nervousness, still coming off of a hip flexor injury, so I was a little hurt as well. But, yeah, overall a good season. I PRed by 2 feet 3 inches. Hopefully I go to 15 feet next year.”

Asha Pensa-Johnson had the highest placement of the three Baymen girls this past weekend. The new school record holder in the discus, having thrown 122 feet 2 inches earlier this season, the sophomore threw a best 119 feet 1 inch at states, placing her fourth in Division II, 10th overall, and missed out on qualifying for finals by only two placements and just under 3 feet.

It was the second time at states for Pensa-Johnson, who felt like this time around was a much better performance.

“I think I was really, really nervous last year because I ended up throwing 20 feet under my PR because I was so scared,” she said. “This year, I was still nervous, but I felt like last year motivated me more this year.”

Hampton Bays girls track head coach Kevin O’Toole said that it is outstanding how Pensa-Johnson fared being only a sophomore. She did have the best mark out of the half-dozen sophomore throwers who competed.

“That is outstanding to be able to perform at that high of a level at the state meet, when the intensity and pressure feels much higher than usual,” he said. “Asha threw incredibly well and the potential for her is endless right now. She’s going to continue to thrive in this event and as long as she keeps doing what she is doing, we will see some outstanding performances in the years to come.”

Emma Halsey, a junior, finished 14th overall in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.83 seconds. O’Toole said it’s been an overall great year for Halsey in the hurdles, having broken the 55-meter hurdles school record in the winter, and then following suit in the 100-meter hurdles this spring.

“Everything started to click for her and she had, by far, the best season of her career,” he said. “We have so much to look forward to for her as she continues into her senior year and I’m so proud of her for what she’s done all year long.”

Maizie Poulakis, a senior, reached the state championships for the second straight season, but she had a tall task of clearing a tough opening height of 9 feet. With a personal best of 9 feet 6 inches, Poulakis was one of five girls who failed to clear the opening height. It was not the way she wanted to finish up her high school career, but she’ll be continuing her track career at Utica University.

“She started pole vaulting in her sophomore year and has been one of the best in the county since she started to take off that season,” O’Toole explained. “Although she didn’t have the performance she was hoping for this past weekend, she will be right back at it again next year at Utica. I’m confident that she’s going to continue to get better and be an outstanding vaulter at the college level.”