Southampton Boys, Girls Still Have a Shot at Undefeated League Titles

Both the Southampton boys and girls track teams will have to wait just a little bit longer to find out whether they will be undefeated League VIII Champions.

Both squads were scheduled to compete against the only other undefeated team in the league in Port Jefferson on Monday — the boys home in Southampton, the girls in Port Jeff. But both meets were postponed because of rain. The girls, barring another postponement, were expected to compete on Tuesday, while the boys meet was pushed back to Thursday, May 8, in Southampton at 4:30 p.m.

The Southampton boys and girls each kept their undefeated records intact last week with victories over Southold/Greenport on Thursday, April 29. The boys won, 86-57, in Southold, while the girls meet was a little close for comfort for head coach Eddie Arnold, but as they’ve done throughout the season, their relays pulled through and led the team to a 78-61 win.

On top of the relays coming through in the end, for the girls, it was also a senior-driven victory, fittingly enough on Senior Day, the last home meet of the season. Each one of the Mariners’ seven seniors — Kaelyn Hite, Amanda Koszalka, Aubrey MacDonald, Seraphia May, Daelyn Palmore, Emma Suhr and Lili Telvi — played a role in the win.

Palmore, as she’s done all season, led the sprints, winning both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. She also helped lead the 4x100-meter relay team, along with Suhr, Zoey Sulph and Keira Squires, to victory. That 4x1 squad is currently tied with Elwood-John Glenn for the top time in County 4B.

Telvi won the 1,500-meter race, Suhr won the 800-meter race, May helped the Mariners sweep the high jump and Koszalka put it in a gutsy performance in the 1,500-meter race walk, coming from behind to place second and score some vital points. Suhr also helped the 4x400-meter relay team win in 4:34, a season’s best by 10 seconds. Sara Calderon-Buitrago, Cameron Kieffer and Yessenia Flores were also on that team.

“The seniors stepped up,” Arnold said. “They’ve been doing it long enough now where they understand what’s at stake. Southold is not a bad team. We have more depth than they do but they gave us a run for our money. Our seniors stepped up at their senior meet and they really set the tone for rest of the team to win the meet. It was exciting to see the performances.”

Outside of those seven seniors and Riley Moredock, who is the team’s only junior, the team, for the most part, is very young. Hailey Sulph, a freshman, has been practicing with Southampton alumnus Charlie Smith who still holds the boys pole vault record. Arnold said Sulph has been improving every day in the event, and it’s huge that she scores five points in most dual meets because most teams don’t have pole vaulters.

“I’m very thankful for Charlie to come out and volunteer his time because that’s five points right there for us,” he said. “And Hailey’s picked it up right away. She’s at 6 feet 6 inches, and it’s another weapon for us and our program.”

Cameron Kieffer, a sophomore, won the triple jump on her very last jump.