Section XI, College Reach Insurance Deal Allowing Track Athletes To Return Indoors

After nearly two years, winter track athletes returned to Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood this weekend after Section XI finally secured the requisite insurance policy with the college last week.

The first two weeks of the season were in limbo after Section XI, the governing body of Suffolk County high school athletics, was contacted via email from an attorney for the community college on November 30 — five days before the season was expected to begin — stating that the current insurance policy was insufficient. That forced Section XI to scramble last minute to try to acquire the correct amount of insurance needed, and it took a few weeks to do so.

With the indoor track at Suffolk — which Section XI has been using since the college opened in 2000 — unavailable, the first weekend of meets were postponed, then the athletes went outdoors for the second weekend of the season, just as they did for the pandemic-shortened season back in February. But Section XI and the college finally struck a deal on December 15, allowing the athletes back indoors. The boys competed Saturday while the girls competed on Sunday.

“As far as I know we’re good to go,” for the season, Section XI Executive Director Tom Combs said on Sunday. “We got the additional insurance that [the college] was requiring, even though we signed a contract with them in October and everything was good until just days before the first meet. That kind of blindsided us, but the bottom line was that it took us a couple days to get the required insurance, which is not an easy thing to get.

“I’m just happy for the kids, the coaches and the parents that they get to go back inside,” he added.

Drew Biondo, the college’s director of communications, contradicted Combs a bit on Monday, stating that the insurance policy itself never changed, even though Combs had stated in previous weeks that it went up a million dollars. Biondo explained that after reviewing the underlying policy, the college felt as if there were “all kinds of exclusions” and therefore needed an updated policy.

“It had to be changed to reflect the proper coverages,” he said.

Biondo also said that discussions began in early November, therefore the discussion to require additional insurance was not sprung on the section last minute. Combs disputes that statement and says he has the email from the college’s attorney to back that up.

Regardless of the ongoing differences, both entities are happy the issue was resolved.

“We’re happy this was resolved and we’re looking forward to working with them in the future,” Biondo said. “We have held the dates open for them to make up the meets that were lost, and I should also add that, even though we were under no obligation to do so, we did work with them to help them find the additional insurance. We used our contacts through the college to come up with a policy that got the athletes in the college last weekend.”

Over 50 schools across Suffolk and nearly 4,500 student-athletes compete in winter track. Combs, a former track coach himself, having coached at both Patchogue-Medford and Harborfields before becoming the athletic director at Pat-Med and then executive director at Section XI, said he was a bit surprised when people called him out publicly about not caring enough about the sport. He was surprised to hear and read some of the things that were said by coaches he’s known for decades now.

“I know the value of the sport having coached it,” he said. “Everyone has to understand that we had nothing to do with this. We simply didn’t know about the additional insurance requirement. It was not our fault by any means. We’ve had the same insurance for seven years.

“But, as far as the coaches go, I have to respect them because what they care about at the end of the day are their athletes. They just want them to go out and excel, which is exactly what I want them to do as well,” Combs continued. “I understand it was disappointing, but to hear some people who I’ve known for years say things like I don’t care, it’s not even close to being accurate. I care about all 34 of our sports. Every one of them are very important to me as is every AD in the section. I value them all the same.”

While the insurance issue has been resolved, a new wrinkle popped up on Monday when Suffolk County Track and Field Officials sent an email to Section XI recommending that all meets be moved back outdoors due to poor mask compliance by student-athletes this weekend. Whether that was going to happen was not known as of Monday, but local area coaches were gearing up for their next meets, some of which were as early as this past Tuesday.

East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton girls track head coach Yani Cuesta said her team was excited about competing indoors once again.

“I think the girls were able to realize some of the things we’ve been telling them about, like the difficulty they might have breathing inside the facility because of the dry, sandy air, not even thinking about the mask, or the having to pay attention to the order of events because hearing the announcements is sometimes difficult,” she explained. “We’re totally grateful to have been competing indoors and can’t wait for the rest of the season and watch our girls grow with each meet.”

Cuesta added that the team is also excited about a new addition to the coaching staff. Nick DeLuca, a new math teacher at East Hampton High School, has joined the staff and Cuesta said he’s already paying dividends, simply by having a presence in the high school.

“It’s great to have someone in the building the kids can get in touch with,” she said. “And he’s young and enthusiastic, saying he’s already begun to recruit other girls for future seasons. It’s refreshing.”

Dylan Cashin was one of two Bonac girls who won their respective meets on Sunday. She won the 3,000-meter race in a personal best 11:08.96. Her teammate, Briana Chavez, placed third in the same race in a personal best 12:39.35. Ryleigh O’Donnell won the 1,600-meter race in 5:13.88. Cashin, Chavez and O’Donnell teamed up with Emma Tepan to win the 4x800-meter relay in an improved time of 10:56.44. Melina Sarlo competed in the 600-meter race for the first time and placed fifth in 1:58.08.

The East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton boys track team competed on Saturday. East Hampton’s Diego Rojas placed second in the 1,600-meter race in 5:14.71. Pierson’s P.J. Ramundo placed third in the 3,200-meter race in 10:34.66 with East Hampton’s Brayan Rivera finishing right behind him in 10:43.01.

In her first indoor meet of the season, Bridget Ferguson reached 5 feet 1 inch in the high jump, breaking Angelique Diamond’s previous school record of 5 feet set back in the 2002-2003 season. Southampton girls track head coach Eddie Arnold said what impressed him the most about Ferguson’s performance was that it was like she continued jumping the way she did from this past June, when she was the Small Schools Champion and was All-County by placing second in Suffolk.

“All we’ve been doing is working out in the weight room and jumping outside,” Arnold explained. “Her steps were right, her whole approach toward the bar was right, and she has a lot of confidence, too. It was a very impressive day for her.”

Jeorgiana Gavalas placed second in the 3,000-meter race in 11:44.85. Katie Terry (29 feet 9 inches), Kyla Cerullo (29 feet 5 ½ inches) and Sloane Edson (28 feet 10 ½ inches), placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the triple jump.

Harrison Gavalas led the boys on Saturday. He won the 300-meter dash in 38.20 seconds and placed fourth in the 55-meter dash in 7.07 seconds. William Ouzounian placed third in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet 4 inches.

For many Hampton Bays athletes, both boys and girls, this weekend was the first time they competed indoors at Suffolk County Community College.

“Overall, the race experience was great for many of our runners, both in the sprints and distance events, and it was nice to be back and feeling like we have a somewhat normal season again,” girls head coach Kevin O’Toole said. “Across the board, I’m proud of them for how they handled the atmosphere and I am looking forward to getting back again soon.”

Bryona Hayes, one of the few upperclassmen for the girls, placed third in the 300-meter dash in 45.59 seconds. Emma Halsey, a sophomore, placed eighth in the 55-meter hurdles in 10.6 seconds. Junior Izzi Caine placed ninth in the 600-meter run in 2:01.6, a personal best by nearly 10 seconds. Eighth-grader Sumeja Bytyqi ran the 1,500-meter race in 6:03.

Freshman Sofia Galvan led the Baymen girls in the 1,000-meter race, finishing in 3:48, a two-second personal best. Eighth-grader Adriana Tapfer tied her personal best of 3:53 and sophomore Mia Shoerlin finished in 4:01, improving her previous best by three seconds. The 4x200-meter relay team of Hayes, Halsey, junior Lilly Patek and sophomore Leah Fassino placed fourth in 2:03.38.

The Hampton Bays boys track team has a new head coach in Vincent Battaglia, a first-year elementary school teacher in the district. Battaglia, who coached at Hauppauge last season, graduated from Ward Melville High School in 2012 where he ran track and continued to do so at Stony Brook University.

Battaglia said his small group did well with seven top-10 finishes on Saturday. Leading that group was Timothy Kraycar who won the shot put with a throw of 42 feet 5 inches. Charlie Garcia placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 35 feet ½ inch and eighth in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 2 inches. His brother, Maxwell Garcia, placed eighth in the 600-meter run in 1:32.98 and 10th in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet 11 ¼ inches. Arents Hansen placed 10th in the 1,000-meter race in 3:03.54.

Westhampton Beach, between both the boys and girls, won nine different events this weekend, with an additional number of athletes finishing in the top 10 of their respective events.

The girls won five events. Rose Hayes won the 1,500-meter race in 5:13.79, Keira Falvey won the 3,000-meter race in 11:31.24 and Valerie Finke won the 600-meter run in 1:45.45. The 4x200-meter relay team of Sara Dunathan, Leila Reeves, Halle Geller and Sintia Gregerio won in 1:56.97, the fastest time of all four relays ran on Sunday. The 4x400-meter relay team of Finke, Lily Strebel, Jessica Dunn and McKenzie Schindler won in 4:38.56.

Finke also placed second in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.53 seconds. Dunathan placed second in the 55-meter dash in 7.97 seconds and was followed by Geller in 8.01 seconds. Jamie Kelly placed third in the 1,000-meter race in 3:29.52.

The Westhampton Beach boys indoor track team is now led by Joe Mensch after Jack Ryan stepped down this fall to pursue a military career. Mensch has coached a few different sports within the district but this winter marks the first time leading a varsity team.

Mensch takes over a squad that is loaded with a number of distance runners coming over from the cross country team that placed second in the state, and many of those runners were in obvious mid-season form on Saturday. Max Haynia won the 3,200-meter race in 9:53.41, which was well over 30 seconds faster than the next finisher. Trevor Hayes won the 1,600-meter race in 4:38.09 and Gavin Ehlers won the 1,000-meter race in 2:37.33, over 20 seconds faster than the next finisher. Haynia, Hayes, Ehlers and Cole Cammarata teamed up to win the 4x800-meter relay in 9:04.33.

Will Barry placed second in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet 8 ¾ inches. Cody Rogers placed second in the 55-meter dash in 7.68 seconds and Adrian Caumartin placed second in the 600-meter run in 1:40.10.

“It was definitely a cool experience,” Mensch said of his first meet with the team, “just how smooth everything was once you get in there. There were about eight to nine schools all competing at once and it’s a competitive and really cool environment, for the kids’ sake really. I’m so happy they’re back inside. We were in limbo there for a little bit, didn’t have too much info to go on, but having them back inside really gives them something to set a goal toward.”