4 Photos
ESM's Brandon Turbush running in the 3
200-meter race. RICCI PARADISO
ESM's Aleks Cusumano in the long jump. RICCI PARADISO
Grace Gilbakian of Westhampton Beach running the final stretch of the 4x400-meter relay. The Lady Canes settled for second place. RICCI PARADISO
For the first time since the 1996 and 1998 seasons, the Westhampton Beach girls indoor track team placed second at the Suffolk County Small Schools Championships, which were held Saturday at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood. The Lady Hurricanes tied Shoreham/Wading River with 45 points, 29 points behind overall winner Huntington.
Westhampton Beach head coach John Broich was very pleased with how well his team did, noting that it was able to surpass Miller Place and Bayport/Blue Point, squads his team typically has a hard time with.
“We beat a lot of teams that usually finish above us,” he said. “We’ve seen a steady improvement over the past few years. Last year we placed third.
“The kids are doing very, very well and they’re motivated, they’re working hard,” Broich added. “We practiced [Sunday]. We even practiced Saturday night after the meet for a half hour to work on a few things. And these are things that they want to do.”
Lauren Lorefice was the only Lady Hurricane to win an event. She took the top placement in the 300-meter dash, finishing in 42.81 seconds, just 0.89 of a second ahead of West Babylon’s Brittany Korsah.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Lorefice, Jenny Jordan, Nora Murphy and Grace Gilbakian had first place in their sights, but Hauppauge’s Jasmine Davis, as she did earlier this season at the Millrose Trials, finished strong and won the race for the Lady Eagles in 4:06.77, just .002 of a second ahead of the Lady Canes. Although she narrowly lost the lead, Gilbakian brought the Lady Canes back; they were in third place at one point.
Keira Kelly placed second in the high jump after reaching 5 feet 3 inches. She was just an inch under East Islip’s Faith Penny, who placed fourth at states last season. Kelly will need to finish at least third at Saturday’s state qualifier back at Suffolk-Brentwood in order to make it upstate.
Kelsey Jordan placed third in the 1,500-meter race walk in 7:47. Lucy DiBenedetto finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 32 feet 6 inches. Serena Choi placed fourth in the 55-meter hurdles in 7.61 seconds while Lorefice finished sixth in 7.68 seconds. Choi also placed sixth in the triple jump with a 34-foot-7-inch leap. Gilbakian finished the 600-meter run in 1:40.5, good enough for fifth place, and Jenny Jordan placed sixth in the 1,000-meter race in 3:08.25.
The Westhampton Beach boys 4x400-meter relay team of Mike Gattuso, Khai Henderson, Roger Llivasaca and Chris Razzano placed third in 3:40.21. They were the only scorers for the Hurricanes at their Small Schools Championships, which were also Saturday at Suffolk-Brentwood. Westhampton Beach tied with Mercy and Southampton for 16th place out of 23 teams.
Sharks Have Historic Meet
The Eastport South Manor boys indoor track team had its best ever Small Schools Championships at Suffolk-Brentwood on Saturday. The Sharks finished third among 23 teams, besting last year’s performance of sixth place, the program’s previous best. They also scored the most points in program history with 43. Huntington won the meet with 96 points, followed by Amityville with 53.
ESM head coach Brian Methven said the goal was to finish in the top three. “We have a lot of kids that are good at what they do,” he said. “They work hard at their specific events, like Dom DeAngelis does distance, Luke Lafferty does well in the jumps, and we have kids that can sprint. We just do a bunch of things well.”
While the Sharks didn’t win any events, there were a number of second-place finishers. DeAngelis placed second in the 3,200-meter race in a personal best 9:52.27. He also ran in the 1,600-meter race and placed fourth in 4:42. Connor Langdon placed second in both the 55-meter hurdles and high jump. He finished the hurdles in 7.95 seconds and reached 6 feet in the high jump. Lafferty leaped 21 feet 5¾ inches to finish second in the long jump.
The 4x200-meter relay team of Lafferty, Langdon, Aleks Cusumano and Jake Hobbie finished in a new school record of 1:34.73. The previous school record of 1:35.46 was set earlier this season. Nick D’Amaro was in for Cusumano that day.
James Marone finished fifth in the triple jump with a personal best leap of 40 feet 3 inches. Brandon Turbush finished eighth in the 3,200-meter race in 10:18.99.
The ESM girls indoor track team tied for ninth place with Amityville in its Small Schools Championships, which were also Saturday at Suffolk-Brentwood. The Lady Sharks scored 19 points, the second most in program history.
Taylor McClay placed second in the 1,000-meter race in 3:00.25, improving upon her school record. Kaeli Huff also improved her school record in the 300-meter dash. She finished in 42.99 seconds, which placed her fourth.
Huff was also a part of the 4x400-meter relay team that placed third. She was joined by her sister, Kelsey, McClay and Cassandra Shore. They finished in 4:07.64 and were one of three teams (with Hauppauge and Westhampton Beach) to finish under the previous Small Schools Championships best of 4:08.
The 4x800-meter relay team of Ashlyn Dalton, Nicole Navan, Ashley Schafer and Dallas Cooley placed sixth in 10:16.2, a nine-second personal best.
