Westhampton Beach's Madison Phillips Earns Silver Medal in Heptathlon at New York Relays

Although she had been practicing for weeks, Madison Phillips said things didn’t “click” in regards to throwing the javelin, a new event for her, until this past Thursday, April 20, just a day before she was set to compete in her very first heptathlon at the prestigious New York Relays at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island in New York City.

On her very first throw on Saturday, Phillips threw the javelin — which is not thrown during regular competition — 71 feet, which allowed her to place fourth in the event, ultimately leading to a second place overall finish in the heptathlon for the Westhampton Beach junior.

“Since we’re not really allowed to throw the javelin due to safety issues, I would always have to wait until after practice and everyone was gone to make sure the area was safe,” she explained. “When we started off with drills, I had to work on my form with my coach just to get the javelin to stick in the ground. So once I got my form down, we worked on my approach, and I ended up having a shorter approach. But it all didn’t click until Thursday, the day before the meet, so everything worked out perfectly. On Saturday I shocked myself with a throw of 71 feet in my first throw. I had so much fun doing it and enjoyed it so much.”

Phillips started competing in the pentathlon — which is the 100-meter hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump and 800-meter run — for Westhampton Beach when she was a freshman, but the heptathlon adds two more events, the javelin throw and 200-meter dash. On the first day on Friday, Phillips placed third in the 100-meter dash (17.05 seconds), tied for third in the high jump (1.50 meters), placed fifth in the shot put (8.21 meters) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (28.09 seconds), something she had never run in competition. She returned to the meet on Saturday where she finished third in the long jump (4.21 meters), then completed her javelin throw before concluding the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 800 (2:45.62).

When all of the points were tallied, Phillips had accrued 3,437 points, which placed her second overall behind Springfield Gardens senior Tesaira Williams, who finished with 3,999 points.

“I really just didn’t know where I would finish going into the meet since I had never competed in it before. Fourth, maybe? If that? But I just maintained second the whole time,” she said. “It’s an honor to be able to place that high in a meet like that. I put in so much work and effort every day during summer, I would practice in the fall when the cross country team was practicing. Having all that practice really did pay off so to come to this and being able to get second place was a huge accomplishment.”

Westhampton Beach girls track head coach John Broich was proud of the way Phillips handled herself in her first heptathlon.

“Seven different events bring seven different sets of circumstances,” he said. “She did very well. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

The heptathlon is not something that is competed in at regular dual meets or invitationals, nor are pentathlons for that matter. The pentathlon is competed at postseason meets, like counties, the state qualifier and states, so Phillips will be looking forward to those meets later on this season, she said.

Westhampton Beach actually had a good presence overall at the New York Relays with a number of both boys and girls competing. Lily Strebel, a sophomore, competed in the girls invitational mile and placed second overall in 4:58.59, just behind Friends Academy sophomore Aislinn Frazer who won in 4:58.13. Broich said Strebel had been battling an illness for about a week or so prior to the race so considering that she ran very well.

Those who did not compete at the New York Relays competed at the Joe Brandi Relays at Connetquot High School on Friday and Saturday. Halle Geller placed third in the 100-meter dash in 12.77 seconds and Kylah Avery placed fifth overall in the pentathlon with 2,326 points. She placed second in the 100-meter hurdles (16.99 seconds), seventh in the long jump (4.58 meters), tied for 10th in the high jump (1.27 meters), third in the shot put (8.22 meters) and seventh in the 800-meter run (2:47.73).

Westhampton Beach is set to host its invitational this Saturday, April 29, at the high school. Nearly 50 teams from throughout Suffolk County will be competing against one another in what has become one of the bigger invitationals in the spring.