Southampton Girls Track Is Off to Best Start in Nearly a Decade

Eddie Arnold called it one of his biggest dual meet victories in his 20 years as head coach of the Southampton girls track team when it narrowly defeated visiting Mattituck, 76-73, on April 19.

Trailing the Tuckers going into the relays, the Mariners needed to sweep all three relays at the end of the meet in order to come back and win, and they did so, winning the 4x100-, 4x400- and 4x800-meter relays. Emma Suhr, Hayden Gilmartin, Lili Tevli and Jeorgiana Gavalas won the final event, the 4x8, to clinch the victory, with Gavalas holding on to the lead in the final laps.

An eruption of a celebration was so loud, Arnold said, that some security came running out of the school to see what had happened. All it was was Southampton handing the Mattituck girls their first league dual meet loss in 12 years, Arnold said. The longtime head coach compared the win to his county-title victory with the Center Moriches boys team just prior to coming to Southampton in 2002, and of course the undefeated league season with the Southampton girls more recently in 2014.

Having also defeated Shelter Island, 90-60, in the same meet last week, and in addition to their season-opening 90-55 victory at Center Moriches on March 28 and their latest victory, 81-60, over Babylon at home on Monday, the Mariners are 4-0 to start the season, their best start since that 2014 season.

“I got a little choked up — tears of joy — because here it is, finally, the girls had an opportunity to experience a victory like this,” Arnold said. “Total, total, team win, from the beginning of the meet with the triple jump to the 4x8, everybody had a part in this one. Even the nonscorers because someone had to beat you to get those points. It was a big win for us.

“All the pressure was on Jeorgie,” he continued. “She knew she had to hold on in the 4x8 and she came through for us. If she doesn’t win that race for us we lose, 71-78. But it didn’t just come down to the 4x8.”

Arnold said the team’s success so far this season has been due to the team’s significant improvement and now depth in the field events. The team, historically, has always had runners, both sprinters and distance runners, which has led to strong relay teams. But with the addition of girls who can now jump, pole vault, throw disc and shot, the Mariners have become a formidable team in League VIII.

Sloane Edson got things off to a good start last week against Mattituck by winning the triple jump with a leap of 31 feet 7 ¼ inches. Then Jess Rojas won both the shot put and discus. Harper Souhrada won the pole vault at 6 feet 6 inches, Xanthi Lazarakis won the 1,500-meter race walk and Olivia Lombardi won the high jump. All in all, Southampton took first place in eight different events.

The victory over Babylon was slightly different in the fact that Southampton won the meet based off of how many second-place finishes it had. The 12 second-place finishes it accrued gave it 36 points, and in addition to the six events that it did win, it was more than enough for the win.

“Everyone talks getting first place, Babylon won nine events to our six and outscored us, 45-30, in first place finishes,” Arnold explained. “But we outscored them, 36-6, in second place finishes and that’s where the meet was won, so it goes to show that just because you don’t win an event, you can still help your team out by finishing second, or third, and scoring points for your team.”

Missing top race walker in Lazarakis for the meet, Melany Lepiz stepped up and won the race walk for Southampton. Amanda Koszalka placed second in the event. Kyla Cerullo and Diamond Brown took first and second, respectively, in the 100-meter dash and Souhrada won the pole vault once again.

After competing in the Westhampton Beach Invitational on Saturday, the Mariners will have their biggest dual-meet of the season at Port Jefferson on Thursday, May 4, at 4:30 p.m.