Southampton's Tyrese Reddick Wins First-Ever County Title; Emma Suhr Earns All-County Honors

At last year’s Section XI 4B Championships, Southampton senior Tyrese Reddick committed a cardinal sin in track, a false start, resulting in an immediate disqualification in the 400-meter run, an event he was expected to do well in.

“That was so demoralizing,” he said last week. “So I’ve just been thinking about this for a whole year, really.”

Reddick was back at the county championships on Thursday, May 29, at Mount Sinai High School, this time in the 800-meter race, which he was not seeded all that high in. But it didn’t matter. He upset the field, winning the county title in a personal best 1:57.78, two seconds ahead of Shoreham-Wading River senior Patrick Shea.

It was not only Reddick’s first-ever county championship, but also the first time he’s earned All-County honors in his four years of running track.

“There’s a wall at Southampton of All-County athletes. My one goal was to get on the wall at some point. And I finally did it, so it feels amazing,” he said after the race.

Reddick had been running the 400-meter run and 400-meter hurdles for most of the season, but decided to enter the 800 at counties. His top time coming into the race was a 2:06 handheld time, which he thought he could improve on.

Reddick more or less led the race wire to wire.

“My plan was originally to stay around the front and kick when it was time, but I could hear my coaches say, ‘Get in front! Get in front!’” he said. “But I didn’t want to get in front.

“I felt good coming around the 200 mark, and I could see the time board coming through on the first lap and I was right around 57 seconds, which is exactly the pace I wanted to be,” Reddick continued. “The second lap, I just kept doing what I was doing. Final curve, I tried to kick to stay in front and it worked out for me.”

Reddick’s day was one of the highlights of what was a solid overall day for the Southampton boys track team, which had a half dozen or so of its athletes “get on the wall” as All-County athletes. Senior Davon Palmore placed second in the 100-meter dash, just missing out on first place by five-tenths of a second, crossing the finish line in 10.85 seconds, just behind Elwood-John Glenn senior Davin Li.

Palmore took second to Li again in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 22.52 seconds, nearly a second behind Li. Hudson Fox, another senior, placed third in the 200 right behind Palmore in 22.84 seconds to nab All-County honors for himself. He had just missed it in the 100, placing fourth in 11.03 seconds.

Senior Christian Duggal finished third for the final All-County placement in the 1,600-meter race in 4:35.12. Duggal also led off the boys 4x400-meter relay team that placed third in 3:32.95. Reddick, Fox and Gael Rojas also ran on that team.

And Jackson Garcia placed second in shot put and third in the discus. The senior tossed the shot put 48 feet 9 ½ inches and the discus 141 feet 4 inches.

Many, if not most, of the boys who earned All-County honors should have moved on to the state qualifier, which will be this Thursday and Friday at Comsewogue High School. The meet is expected to begin at 3 p.m. both days.

Suhr Earns
All-County Honors

Due to a multitude of reasons, Southampton senior Emma Suhr hadn’t really practiced leading up to last week’s county meet. Between being sick with bronchitis, auditions for theater, school work and various other activities, Suhr simply couldn’t fit it in.

Despite that, Suhr opted to give herself a shot in the 800-meter race, and it paid off. She finished the race in third place in a season’s best 2:24.99 to earn All-County honors.

Southampton girls head coach Eddie Arnold is always quick to quote fellow Southampton coach and mentor Richard “Juni” Wingfield, who always talks about “can you versus will you.”

“You could tell once she got on the track she was going, she was in it,” he said. “Her first split was 68 and she was in the race with the girl from Bayport [Sophia McInnes]. I told her to just keep doing what you’re doing and she did it.”

Arnold admitted, with Suhr barely practicing, he had to scratch his head and wonder how she pulled it off. But it was more than likely that time off helped her reset both mentally and physically, he said.

“Maybe this was the right thing for her,” he said. “She’s naturally raw, she’s gifted. I’m still a firm believer in that you need to practice, but maybe things need to align in life and that’s what helped her make All-County.”

The girls 4x100-meter relay team, which had won a county title three years in a row, placed second in a season’s best 51.71 seconds. Suhr led that race off for the Mariners followed by sophomore Zoey Sulph, freshman Keira Squires and senior Daelyn Palmore. Elwood-John Glenn won the race in 51.50 seconds.

“We really had great handoffs,” Arnold said. “You can’t ask for a better showing. I was happy with the girl’s performance. Glenn was the better team that day.”

Palmore finished fifth in the 100-meter dash in 12.88 seconds. Arnold said that if she wanted to, Palmore could have competed in this week’s state qualifier, but with a stacked field against competitors from all over the county, large schools included, she’s opted to call it a season. Suhr, for that matter, also decided to do the same. There is an outside chance, Arnold said, that the team’s 4x1 could move on.

Southampton’s 4x400-meter relay team of freshman Yessenia Flores, sophomore Cameron Kieffer, senior Lili Telvi and sophomore Sara Calderon-Buitrago placed fourth in 4:34.18. Telvi had a personal best in the 1,500-meter race in 5:26.36 and sophomore Ahmyri Ray had a personal best in the discus with a throw of 53 feet 6 inches.

“I was really, really pleased with all of the performances,” Arnold said. “There was nothing to be upset about. You bring the kids to the county meet to perform their best, and they did that.”