Spolarich Places Second in County in Pentathlon, as Season Ends at State Qualifier for Bonac Track

The state qualifier wound up being the end of the line for this season for the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton boys and girls track teams last week, although it was far from a lack of trying to extend the season to the state championships.

Pierson senior Meredith Spolarich just missed out on qualifying for states after placing second in all of Suffolk County in the pentathlon, which was run across two days, Thursday, June 1, and Friday, June 2, at Comsewogue High School. She accrued 2,699 points, only 128 points from overall champion Westhampton Beach junior Madison Phillips.

The pentathlon is a tough event in more ways than one. In terms of qualifying for states, only the two county champions, from Division I and Division II, can qualify. In many events, nearly all, placing second, as long as the athlete hits some sort of standard, will get them to the state championship. But that’s not the case in the pentathlon.

Both East Hampton girls track head coach Yani Cuesta and her assistant coach Eric Malecki said it’s been astonishing to see how far Spolarich has come in each event of the pentathlon in really just a month’s span. Phillips, a favorite of winning the event coming into the meet, has been competing in the event since her freshman year and has even competed regionally in heptathlons and done well in them.

Spolarich finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles (18.49 seconds), second in the high jump (1.47 meters), won the shot put (personal best 29 feet 11 ½ inches), placed second in the long jump (personal best 16 feet 1 ¾ inches), and placed fourth in the 800-meter run (personal best 2:32.60).

“She truly is an incredibly strong athlete who is a student of the sport,” Cuesta said of Spolarich. “She’s learned and accomplished a lot in the short four weeks we’ve been able to focus her training on these five events.”

Bridgehampton senior Leslie Samuel placed fifth in the long jump, improving upon her already school record at 17 feet 8 ½ inches. Samuel had reset the school record at 17 feet 8 inches at a home dual meet against East Islip on May 3. The previous record was 17 feet 4 ¼ inches set by Gabby McKay on May 30, 2016. Samuel also ran in the 200-meter dash and placed fifth in the preliminary race in 26.40 seconds on Thursday and was one of eight to qualify for the finals on Friday when she once again placed fifth in 26.31 seconds.

East Hampton junior Ryleigh O’Donnell finished ninth in the 400-meter dash in 61.32 seconds and 11th in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 69.67 seconds. Fellow junior Dylan Cashin won the unseeded 2,000-meter steeplechase and wound up placing 11th in the county, crossing the finish line in 7:47.37.

Brayan Rivera was the lone boys representative for East Hampton. The junior finished 22nd in the county in the 800-meter run in 2:09.08.