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The Westhampton Beach boys cross country team, from left, Jake Cassidy, Sean Ryan, Trevor Hayes, David Alvarado, Cole Cammarata, Gavin Ehlers and Max Haynia. The Hurricanes finished their best season ever at the New York State Federation Championships on Saturday.
The Westhampton Beach boys cross country team has set the bar high for itself in every race it has run this season, and it wasn’t about to stop at the New York State Federation Championships at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls on Saturday.
At the New York State Championships a week prior, the Hurricanes were eyeing a state title, something that was well within reach, but placed second to Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. At the Federation meet, which encompasses any-sized school in the state, public, private, Catholic and New York City, the ’Canes were looking to finish in the top five as a team.
While they didn’t accomplish that feat, they came very close, finishing sixth out of the top 30 schools in the state — putting a final point on what had already been the best season in program history, since it was the first time the team had qualified and competed in the Federation meet. It’s arguably the best season any team has ever had by an East End program.
“Just to get here, you have to finish in the top nine within public schools at the state meet after the merge, then the state gives seven at-large bids to schools that petition to get in, and that typically goes to larger Class A schools where there is a lot of competition,” Westhampton Beach head coach Jack Ryan explained. “So as a public school, in my opinion, to place sixth out of 30 teams, it’s pretty outstanding.
“And while it wasn’t the exact finish we were hoping for, we did not do poorly by any means,” he added. “You’re running against 30 teams that deserved to be there, teams that have to qualify or petition to get in, so when you get into a meet of that caliber and that type of competition, it’s very easy for the team scoring to shift, especially on the back pack of your runners.”
The ’Canes finished individually as they typically have done throughout the season. Senior Gavin Ehlers finished fourth out of 281 runners in 15:58.20, junior Max Haynia finished 30th in 16:45.30 and sophomore Trevor Hayes finished 36th in 16:48.40. All three earned medals for finishing in the top 40.
David Alvarado finished 112th in 17:46.20, Cole Cammarata finished 204th in 18:39.50, sophomore Jake Cassidy finished 252nd in 19:15.80 and sophomore Sean Ryan finished 266th in 19:52.30.
Westhampton Beach also beat Northport to lay claim to being the best team on Long Island. They had finished behind the Tigers at both divisions and the state qualifier, but were able to turn the tables in the final meet for both teams. Northport finished seventh overall, 18 points behind Westhampton Beach. Burnt Hills, which beat out the ’Canes for the Class B state title a week prior, won the overall Federation title with 101 points, 47 ahead of Fayetteville-Manlius.
“Northport coach Jason Strom, in my opinion, is one of, if not the, best coach in New York,” Ryan said. “He runs an incredible program and it’s really just an honor to be in the same conversation as them, so to give them a run for their money speaks volumes of the amount of progress that we’ve made.”
Ryan said there was a bit of a scare at about the quarter-mile mark. He said at that point of the course there is a tree that creates a bit of a tight squeeze for all of the runners, one of whom went down and eventually caused 40 or so other runners to either go down to or take evasive action. The logjam disrupted the race, specifically for Haynia and Hayes, but luckily no one was seriously injured, Ryan said.
“I immediately thought because there was such a clog up that someone was seriously hurt. Thank god no one was, but it definitely threw a bit of a wrench for us, but everybody had to deal with that,” he explained. “It’s been a long season for us. We’ve had some hard races week after week with divisions, then state quals, states and then Federations. You can’t expect them to run a PR every race. They did show up and run a great race team wise.”
Ryan pointed out that while his team boasted three seniors, it also had three sophomores, a few of which had never really run, or had very little experience, in varsity cross country meets before this season.
“To throw them on the team this year and expect them to run a state championship race and then Federations, that’s a tough ask,” he said. “But they all handled it incredibly well. All three of my sophomores rolled with the punches this year in ever-changing situations where they’re facing constant improving competition. I think they will succeed within the coming year at Westhampton.”
As he prepares to embark on a different path for himself personally, stepping away from the team to pursue a military career, Ryan said this season was one he’ll never forget.
“All of my guys had one heck of a year. I couldn’t be prouder. This is a special group and will always be a special group,” he said. “For me, it was an absolute honor and privilege to work with them. To see all of them grow from young teenage kids to young men, watch as they mature both mentally and physically, but really mentally, watch the way they carried themselves and conducted themselves, really was an honor and not something you get to see every day.”
