A showdown between East Hampton and Westhampton Beach High Schools' second doubles teams with a league tennis championship hanging in the balance was played before a rapt crowd at Westhampton Monday afternoon, with the East Hampton team of Alex Weseley and Hunter Medler easily besting the Hurricanes' Brennan Tomlinson and Santo Benenati 6-1, 6-2.

Thus, provided all goes according to form, East Hampton and Westhampton Beach, who were each 7-1 as of Tuesday, will share the title. Westhampton's coach, John Czartosieski, had initially claimed a 4-3 win by forfeit when the two teams met on April 13, saying that Weseley, who had removed his sweatshirt during a changeover following the 11th game of the first set, was violating a Section XI rule by not wearing a team jersey.

Kevin McConville, East Hampton's first-year coach, who is the Hampton Racquet Club's head pro, subsequently protested to Section XI, the governing body for public high school sports in Suffolk County, a protest that was upheld.

The rules, McConville said, stipulated only that appropriate attire be worn. "Alex was wearing a tennis jersey with our colors, maroon and gray," he said at the time. As McConville was running around trying to get a uniform jersey from the bus or from off the back of an East Hampton player who had finished playing his match, he said, Czartosieski called a halt, with the Bonac team leading 6-5 and with Tomlinson about to serve, claimed a forfeit, and told Tomlinson and Benenati, who wanted to continue, that they had no choice in the matter.

In its ruling, Section XI, rather than order that the match be resumed at the point at which it was halted, said, instead, that it should begin at the beginning. "Those 11 games they'd played were deemed invalid because it was an invalid forfeit," McConville reported Section XI as saying.

To prepare his team, McConville worked with Medler and Weseley "for five hours at the Racquet Club on Saturday." His influence was evident during the course of the match. Medler, who admittedly had "not played well the last time," was steady, and Weseley, who had the best serve of the four, was alert at the net, winning numerous points there.

As aforesaid, Bonac's duo won with ease, with only one minor hiccup in the sixth and seventh games of the second set during which the Hurricane pair won six straight points thanks to two blown volleys by Medler, a long return of a lob by Weseley, and a double fault by him that left them up 4-2, after which, with Tomlinson serving, the Westhampton team won the first two points of the seventh game before the Bonackers came back to break Tomlinson at 4-3 to take a 5-2 lead. Medley, as he had in the first set, served it out, a service winner to Benenati capping the victory, which Medler was to describe a few moments afterward as "sweet."

As of Monday, East Hampton and Westhampton each had two matches remaining — East Hampton with Southold-Greenport and Rocky Point, and Westhampton with Shoreham-Wading River and the Ross School. 

Thursday, April 26

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Bayport, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, April 27

BOYS TENNIS, Rocky Point at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

SOFTBALL, Kings Park at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS LACROSSE, Elwood-John Glenn vs. Islanders, Southampton High School, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 28

SOFTBALL, Islip at East Hampton, 10 a.m.

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Hauppauge, 11 a.m.

Sunday, April 29

MEN’S SOCCER, over-30 league, Hampton United at Manorville, 5 p.m.

Monday, April 30

BOYS TRACK, Amityville at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALL, Shoreham-Wading River at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS LACROSSE, Deer Park vs. Islanders, Southampton High School, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS TRACK, East Hampton at Amityville, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 1

SOFTBALL, East Hampton vs. McGann-Mercy, Riverhead, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE, East Hampton at Hampton Bays, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 2

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Shoreham-Wading River, 4:30 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 league, F.C. Tuxpan vs. Sag Harbor United, 6:30 p.m.; Bonac F.C. vs. Tortorella Pools, 7:25, and Maidstone Market vs. Hampton F.C.-Shark Pools, 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton. 

The weather was, at long last, spring-like when more than 600 runners set forth from Sag Harbor’s West Water Street in the eighth running of the Katy’s Courage 5K Saturday morning. It was the first road race here of the season.

Ryan Fowkes, 17, an East Hampton High School junior and the school’s best distance runner, was to win it, in 16 minutes and 48.37 seconds, unheaded throughout the pleasant 3.1-mile loop through the village.

Fowkes was third in this race last year, though under the weather, he said, finishing in 17:12.22. He would like, he added, to shave about 10 seconds from his 4:30 mile time this season.

Brian Marciniak, 31, who is better known as a basketball player, was the runner-up, in 17:35.23, with Omar Leon, a teammate of Fowkes’s, third, in 17:37.93.

The women’s winner, and 13th over all, was Tara Farrell, 39, of East Quogue, a frequent winner in South Fork road races, in 19:24.46.

The foundation named in memory of Jim and Brigid Collins Stewart’s daughter, Katy, who died of a rare form of liver cancer at the age of 12 seven years ago, underwrites scholarships at Pierson and East Hampton High Schools, as well as funds free Katy’s Kids sessions for grieving children at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton.

The scholarships, the Stewarts have said, go “to students who exemplify remarkable courage, kindness, and empathy, as did Katy during her all too brief but exceptional lifetime.”

A committee chooses the male and female winners at Pierson; at East Hampton, the recipients are chosen by the student council. The Pierson scholarships, said Katy’s mother, who walked that day with her 90-year-old mother, Mary Collins of Longmeadow, Mass., are $10,000 ones ($2,500 a year). As for the East Hampton scholarships, she said, “Whatever they raise we match.”

Mary Rocker of Twin Forks Accounting in East Hampton, who tallies the Katy’s Courage numbers, said Monday that while it was too soon to report the 5K’s net proceeds, “$16,020 was raised prior to the race through sponsorships.”

Jen Dagan, the race’s official timer, said there were 727 entries and 648 finishers, the eldest, at 93, being Jim Stewart’s father, Walt, a member of the Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Bill O’Donnell, who was to die unexpectedly two days later, was particularly happy to tell this writer not to forget to say that his wife, Diane, 67, and their daughter, Caitlin, 30, had each won their age groups — Caitlin O’Donnell in 22:18.14, and Diane O’Donnell in 29:25.75. An inveterate runner, swimmer, and triathlete, he had come that morning to cheer them on.

East Hampton’s boys and girls track teams had good turnouts — 15 or so in the girls’ case and 20 or so in the boys’. Coaches — Yani Cuesta, Diane O’Donnell, Mike Buquicchio, and Kevin Barry among them — ran too. 

Ava Engstrom, one of Cuesta’s top performers, topped the 14-and-under female division — a group that numbered 104 participants — in 20:35.60. Right behind her, in 20:35.68, was her teammate Isabella Tarbet, who was the 15-19 division’s female winner. They were 27th and 28th over all.

Robert Weiss, an East Hampton sprinter, was 10th, in 19:03.15. James Consiglio, a 57-year-old East Hamptoner, was 15th — and second in the 50-59 age group — in 19:25.18. Right behind him was Mike Bahel, in 19:37.39.

Bahel’s Hither Hills half-marathon, by the way, is to be contested at the Ed Ecker County Park in Montauk on May 19, at 8 a.m.

Asked how the East Hampton boys team had been doing, Buquicchio said he hoped that, like the weather, the team would warm up. He and Ben Turnbull, the head coach, who was not there that day, have been getting good performances from Fowkes, Weiss, Leon, Matt Maya, and from Ruben Santana, among others.

Cuesta’s team also has been taking its lumps lately. Last week, the girls lost 98-43 to Miller Place — a meet in which Tarbet won the 3,000, and in which she, Ellie Borzilleri, Bella Espinoza, and Engstrom won the 4-by-400 relay. Helen Barranco won the discus and the shot-put, with Michelle Barranco taking third in each of these events.

Runners-up included the 4-by-100 relay team of Ashley Peters, Jen Ortiz, Shania Gordon, and Lillie Minskoff; Peters in the pole vault, Borzilleri in the long jump, and Minskoff in the 200.

Third-place finishers were Ortiz, in the triple jump; Engstrom, in the 1,500; JiJi Kramer, in the 1,500-meter racewalk; Penelope Greene, in the 800; Peters, in the 200; Molly Mamay, in the 400 intermediate hurdles, and Zoe Leach, in the high jump.

The East Hampton High School softball team headed into the second half of the season on a warm — if not a hot — streak, having belayed Pierson 22-1 and pulled the rug out from Southold-Greenport 3-2 this past week, on the way to a third-straight win at Amityville on Friday.

“When everyone’s here they play well,” Chris Schenck, whose daughter, Maddie, is Bonac’s catcher, said during a nail-biter here with Southold-Greenport on April 17.

Everyone wasn’t there that day, at least when the game began. Bella Swanson, the starting shortstop, was on her way back from a field trip in New York City, which caused Kathy Amicucci, East Hampton’s coach, to pull Rebecca Kuperschmid in from center field to play short and to put Katrina Osterberg, her regular third baseman, in center. Mary McDonald started at third.

East Hampton got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the first inning, Bella’s sister, Sophia (about whom more later), crossing the plate as the result of a hit by Kuperschmid.

But, with both pitchers throwing well, and with a cold — some would say freezing — wind blowing in, the game became a nail-biter.

The visitors tied it up in the third and took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, thanks largely to a couple of walks issued by Sam Merritt, East Hampton’s pitcher, who was otherwise very sharp that day, mixing fastballs with curves and risers and changeups, one of which, a strikeout pitch, took an agonizingly long time to get to the plate as the batter, and everyone else, looked on, mesmerized. 

It all came down to the bottom of the seventh, and, after McDonald and Raven Biondo, the right fielder, had popped out, it didn’t look good.

But then enter Bella Swanson, who had arrived “ready to play,” in her coach’s words, in the top of the sixth. Swanson, hitting in the ninth spot, also popped up, and Bonac fans were just about ready to head in resigned fashion toward their cars when, with a groan, the second baseman dropped it. A fatal mistake for Southold-Greenport, a giant opportunity for the Bonackers.

What happened after that was “pretty much of a blur,” Amicucci said, though, with some help, she was able to piece it together.

“That error,” she said, before beginning, “was their first of the game.”

Sophia Swanson, the second baseman, who leads off, then roped the first pitch she saw to the center field fence. The throw came in to second, though the ball got by the fielder as Bella Swanson kept going on her way to the plate with the game-tying run. 

Bella Swanson’s dash for home drew a throw, also errant, which enabled Sophia Swanson to round second and to slide in safely at third.

“Speed kills,” their proud father, Rich, was to say afterward.

With the score tied at 2-2, Ella Gurney, the first baseman, who had earlier practically taken the pitcher’s head off with a line drive up the middle, a rocket that somehow was caught, stepped in with the potential winning run on third. 

And the pitch. . . . Gurney hit a hard ground ball toward the shortstop, who, as Bella Swanson was streaking for home, bobbled before getting off a throw. It was a bang-bang play. Everyone froze for a moment, awaiting the ump’s call. 

“Safe.”

“Well, that’s it then,” Southold-Greenport’s coach was heard to say, nonplused, before kicking a bucket and lining his players up for the postgame high-fives.

“We’re doing well; we’re more aggressive and we want to keep it going,” Amicucci said.

The team, whose record improved to 4-5 as a result of the come-from-behind win, followed up a 19-0 win over Amityville Friday with a 4-2 loss at Center Moriches Saturday. Bonac beat 1-5 Harborfields here on Monday by a score of 16 to 7.

Rob Kresberg, who grew up playing tennis in the summers at the Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club, recently leased the Mashashimuet Park courts in Sag Harbor, and intends to create there “more of a club and community feel” than in the past.

“People used to play and then drive away, but we’d like them to hang around, with their friends and with their families,” he said during a conversation on Monday. To that end, he’s going to put up benches and tables with awnings to foster socializing. There will be plenty of round robins and tennis-themed events too, he added. 

Kresberg, whose older brother, Rich, owns Provisions in the Harbor, has taught tennis for the better part of the past 30 years, after having played a few years professionally and after having graduated from Columbia University, where he was the number-one singles player in his junior and senior years, and from the Lawrenceville preparatory school in Lawrenceville, N.J. He has been the tennis director at the Century Club in Purchase, N.Y., for the past 15 years.

His late father, Harold, was one of the Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club’s eight owners. Asked if he’d played with Paul Annacone as a kid, Kresberg, who’s 51 now, said, “Paul and I played in a club doubles tournament when I was 11 and he was 15. We got to the semifinals.”

Did he remember whom they’d lost to? “I’ll never forget, because it was my older brother and Chris Brody who beat us . . . in straight sets. Paul wasn’t used to losing. My brother reminds me of it every now and then.”

Kresberg went on to coach Columbia’s women’s tennis team for 13 years. Two of his classmates, Sue De Lara, at Sportime in Amagansett, and Holly Li, at the Ross School, are active in the tennis world here.

“I decided to do this for three reasons,” he said in reply to a question. “Number one, I have roots here; I have great memories from when I spent summers in Bridgehampton. Number two, I thought it was time in my career to own and run my own concession, and it’s a good excuse to get out of Manhattan with my wife [Dana] and 8-month-old daughter [Riley]. We’ve rented a house in Sagaponack.”

It would be “a professional operation,” Kresberg said in answer to another question. He and his assistants, Brandon Blankenbaker, the country’s top-ranked doubles player in men’s 35s, who teaches on Kiawah Island in South Carolina in the winter, and Vishu Prasad, the number-one singles player on Jackson State University’s Division-1 team in Mississippi, will be at the park’s courts day in and day out, giving lessons, clinics, and overseeing events. 

Although the courts — there are eight Har-Tru ones and two hard-surface — are in Sag Harbor, one needn’t be a Sag Harbor resident to play on them, as this writer used to think. 

“They’re open to anyone,” Kresberg said, “though Sag Harbor residents will have some discounted camp, clinic, and court time rates . . . lessons and clinics will be discounted for members.”

The details concerning memberships, fees, lessons, clinics, events, and a junior tennis camp are on the sagharbortennis.org website.

Weather permitting, the Mashashi-muet courts and the aforementioned pros will be up and running on May 1. A member welcome round robin, for which there will be no charge, is scheduled for May 26.

“As I said, we’d like to have a club-like feel within a park setting,” said the new lessee, who added, “I’ll meet the members’ needs [from May through October] to the best of my ability. I’m very excited about this — it’s a good challenge for me. I’ll be very accessible.”

As for tennis’s popularity, it, like golf in the past 15 or so years, has experienced cyclic ups and downs, he said, “though in the past three or four years there’s been a resurgence . . . when it comes to all ages.” 

“It’s one of the few sports you can play into your 90s. And you can always improve. There’s no one way to hit a ball, there are many ways to learn, many ways to teach. Plus, it’s a great social sport. I want to create a culture of inclusiveness, community, and warmth here. Although some will want to get their tennis out of the way and move on to other activities, I want people to feel that they can stick around and enjoy the park, the beautiful landscape, and each other’s company.”

Ari Weller’s Philosofit studio in East Hampton, which for the past five years has been strengthening and lengthening the muscles of its clients through stability stretching and Gyrotonic exercises, recently leased a well-lit upstairs studio on Lumber Lane in which Susan Moran Sheehy, who has overseen the certification of 12,000 Pilates teachers worldwide, has been giving classes for the past month.

During a conversation the other day, the two agreed that combining Gyrotonic (which Weller and others of his instructors have been teaching) with Pilates was serendipitous.

“It’s always been my vision to join the two methods of movement,” he said, “and when it came to Pilates I wanted the best of the best, which Susan is. I studied Pilates with her 20 years ago, in the city. She used to own Power Pilates in Chelsea and was Pilates’s largest global educator. So, when I saw on Facebook a few months ago that she’d moved to Long Island [Smithtown], I jumped at the chance.”

Sheehy, who was a dancer — she still is, though no longer a professional — first encountered Joseph Pilates’s exercises when she was a student at the State University at Purchase. 

“That’s where I met Romana Kryza-nowska, who was a protégée of his. I started with her when I was 18 and I’ve never stopped. Pilates changed my body from the inside out. I became a happier person with a stronger body. I was able to dance at a much higher level . . . ballet, modern, you name it.” 

For a decade she toured the world with the Doug Elkins Dance Company, teaching Pilates, “a universal language,” wherever the company went. 

“Everyone who does it becomes happier, stronger, and more flexible,” said Sheehy, a professed “lover of movement,” whether it be dance, swimming, yoga, skiing, or walking. “I believe movement is medicine, that energy creates energy. For instance, you may be having a rough day, but you can be energized by the person next to you in a mat class.”

There are a number of apparatuses in Philosofit’s upstairs studio, including the disciplines’ hallmarks, the Pilates “reformer,” a sliding, spring-loaded mat that can, according to Sheehy, be “supportive or challenging depending on how many springs you use,” and Gyrotonic’s crab-like tower-pulley assembly that enables one, in Weller’s words, to “work the body in multiple planes of motion . . . in circles, and undulations.”

“You could say Gyrotonic, which Julio Horvath, a dancer and yogi, who was also influenced by yoga, swimming, dance, and tai chi, invented, is yoga on a machine. It may sound silly, but that’s what it is. Just as Pilates, as Susan said, works from the abdominals out, Gyrotonic works from the spine out.”

“You not only need to be flexible and strong,” Weller continued, “but you need to be flexible and strong equally. Over the years Horvath has developed these machines to help with the movements, providing more range of motion, more resistance, and more mobility.”

“The layman’s definition for Pilates is ‘abdominals and . . .’ ” Sheehy said. “Because you work your whole body starting from your abdominals. The abdominals first, then the abdominals and the legs, the abdominals and the hands, the abdominals and the arms, and the abdominals and the back. You work from your core out . . . it’s a whole body workout.”

“We’ll be getting more machines,” said Weller. “By next week we should be the largest Gyrotonic studio, as far as I know.”

For the curious, Philosofit is offering introductory packages that can be put toward group classes in Pilates, Gyrotonic, and Gyrokinesis (the mat version of Gyrotonic). 

While the aims of Pilates and Gyrotonic were essentially the same, resulting in a more balanced body (and mind), it came down to which method one preferred, said Weller. “You feel different after running or cycling or swimming. You feel it in your legs after cycling, more or less all over after running, and in your upper body after swimming. But they’re all cardiovascular workouts.”

East Hampton High's boys tennis coach, Kevin McConville, said following a 4-3 loss at Westhampton Beach Friday, a loss which, if it stands, would effectively guarantee the Hurricanes the League VII championship, that he'll protest to Section XI, the county's governing body for high school sports, on Monday. 

It was thought that East Hampton, with Luke Louchheim again in the lineup, would have a good chance Friday to avenge a previous 4-3 loss, and thus share with Westhampton the League VII title. 

Second doubles was the sticking point. McConville said a dispute involving himself and Westhampton's coach, John Czartosieski, began "when one of their kids called Alex [Weseley, playing with Hunter Medler that day] for foot-faulting twice, points that Alex conceded because he didn't know the rules. Even Djokovic foot-faults sometimes. Your opponents can't summarily take points from you, whether foot faults or line calls are at issue, though a coach can be summoned to act as an umpire after two warnings." 

"We were down 3-4 at that point. Westhampton's team had won four in a row after going down 0-3. Then we went up 5-4, and they tied it at 5-5. We were up 6-5, and they were about to serve, when their coach, after seeing that Alex was not wearing a uniform shirt when he removed his sweatshirt during the changeover, stopped the match, saying he was violating a Section XI rule. He had a tennis shirt on, but it wasn't a uniform shirt. I was running around looking for a jersey to put on him, from the bus or from a player whose match was finished, when their coach pulled his players and claimed a forfeit."

"His players wanted to play it out, but their coach said they had no choice. . . . All the Westhampton kids were great, by the way."

Later, McConville, the head pro at the Hampton Racquet Club, who is in his first year coaching East Hampton High's team, said he checked the Section XI rules, only to find a requirement that a player "must have appropriate attire." 

Consequently, he would ask Monday that Section XI allay the claimed forfeit and play the second doubles match out from the point where it was stopped.  

Thursday, April 19

BOYS LACROSSE, McGann-Mercy vs. Islanders, East Hampton High School, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALL, Sayville at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, April 20

BOYS TENNIS, Ross School at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE, Port Jefferson at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

SOFTBALL, East Hampton at Amityville, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 21

RUNNING, Katy’s Courage 5K, 21 West Water Street, Sag Harbor, 8:30 a.m., registration and check-in, 7-8:15.

SOFTBALL, East Hampton at Center Moriches, 10 a.m.

BASEBALL, Sayville at East Hampton, 11 a.m.

Sunday, April 22

MEN’S SOCCER, Stony Brook vs. Hampton United, Water Mill Community Club, 5 p.m.

Monday, April 23

BOYS TENNIS, resumption of protested match, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4:30 p.m.

BASEBALL, East Hampton at Bayport, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 24

SOFTBALL, Harborfields at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS LACROSSE, Islanders at Eastport-South Manor, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 25

BASEBALL, Bayport at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE, Deer Park at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS TENNIS, East Hampton at Southold-Greenport, 4:30 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 league opening night, Maidstone Market vs. Bonac F.C., 6:30 p.m.; Hampton F.C. vs. Sag Harbor United, 7:25, and F.C. Tuxpan vs. Tortorella Pools, 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton.

April 1, 1993

Today, rain or shine, Jim Nicoletti, East Hampton High School’s baseball coach, plans to hold “Opening Day” ceremonies at the Long Lane field to celebrate the completion of home and away-team dugouts, built with volunteer help over the winter. The coach has said he has not seen any college dugouts as commodious and as well built.

The ceremony will begin at 3:40 p.m. It will include a presentation of colors by Cub Scout Pack 426, the singing of the national anthem by the Hampton Jazz, a High School a cappella singing group, a throwing-out of the first ball by the retiring high school principal, Christopher Sarlo, and the presentation of a plaque engraved with the names of those connected with the project. 

Three South Fork hoopsters were named to the Suffolk small schools all-county team Sunday, testimony to the quality of play exhibited during the past season on the East End.

On more than a few occasions in the past, locals were bypassed on the 10-man squad as coaches, who decide the honor, stuck with the more familiar UpIsland stars. Not this time.

Scott Smith, East Hampton High’s all-everything performer, who turned in a spectacular season-long effort despite being double and triple-teamed throughout, finished as the sixth highest scorer in the county.

He was joined on the squad by two juniors — Tyler Ratcliffe of Pierson and Terrell Turner of the Bridgehampton Killer Bees. 

Tuesday was a typical Bonac spring day, dank and raw under leaden skies, but what the East Hampton High School girls track coach saw in a scrimmage with Shoreham-Wading River warmed the cockles of his heart.

. . . You want sprinters? Mark Sucsy, the coach, had enough Tuesday “to run six heats of three if I wanted.” You want relay teams? He’s got them too. Tuesday’s 4-by-100 entry (Patricia Peters, Sharon Prudhomme, Mona Baker, and Sarah McDermott) turned in a 58.7, just seven seconds off the school record, “even though they hadn’t practiced handoffs.”

Likewise, the 4-by-400 team of Yani Cuesta, Sol Cuesta, Disa Kelley, and Heather Caputo ran a 4:59, fewer than 30 seconds off the school mark. “Considering that it was a cold day, and that it was their first effort, it was an amazing time,” the coach said.

April 8, 1993

Led by Larry Keller, a 6-foot-4-inch, 235-pound junior discus thrower, the East Hampton High School boys track team did itself proud in the Middle County relays at Centereach Saturday, finishing ninth among 18 teams.

Keller was named the countywide meet’s “outstanding field event performer” after throwing the discus 144 feet and 11 inches, bettering the next best throw by 27 feet, and coming within 5 feet of the school record he set last year.

Keller, John Hayes, also a junior, and Gavin Menu, a senior, combined to place second among the shot-put teams with puts of 41-7, 39-8, and 37-10. 

“Larry and John are two of the greatest kids I’ve got — great on and off the field,” said Mike Burns, in his 19th year as the East Hampton boys track coach. He added that “this is the best performance any East Hampton team I’ve coached has turned in at this meet.”

Burns got good performances Saturday not only from the weight men, but also from the team’s three pole-vaulters — Ron Gatlin, Chris Minardi, and Rob Balnis — and its three hurdlers, Alex Ruano, Danny Mercado, and Bobby Gabitto.

It’s hard to believe, but the 118th U.S. Open golf championship, to be held at the iconic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, is less than two months away.

Despite the cold weather this spring, the United States Golf Association is ready to handle the event, which takes place from June 11 through 17. A number of hospitality and concession tents are already up on the historic grounds along Montauk Highway.

“We are incredibly pleased to return once again to Shinnecock,” Mike Davis, the U.S.G.A.’s chief executive officer, said at a press conference in Manhattan on April 11. “Shinnecock is one of the world’s finest courses and has such a rich tradition. It will again be a great event.”

The U.S.G.A. announced that day the introduction of a Celebration of Champions at Shinnecock — a four-hole public exhibition honoring the winners of all 2017 U.S.G.A. championships and celebrating their distinguished achievements in the sport.

The exhibition, to be played on June 12, two days before the start of the first round, is to honor all the U.S.G.A. winners of the year past, be they professionals, amateurs, men, women, juniors, or seniors. 

“Our championships are open to all players who have the dream and desire to compete at the highest level,” said Davis. “We believe hosting the inaugural Celebration of Champions at the 118th U.S. Open is a fitting way to celebrate each champion’s incredible achievement and acknowledge their place in golf history.” 

Eight-time U.S.G.A. champion Jack Nicklaus, as the official starter, will help launch the inaugural festivities in what will become an annual tradition.

“I’ve always loved U.S.G.A. championships,” Nicklaus, who has won them in five different decades, said in a statement. “Since I was a junior they have always been the ultimate examinations of a golfer. I always felt that the U.S.G.A. did the best job of preparing a golf course that will completely test you and every part of your game. And for me personally, to be able to compete for a championship of the country I live in made a victory that much more meaningful.”

The 2018 championship will be the fifth U.S. Open the club has held. It’s the only venue to play host to the championship in three centuries. The second U.S. Open was played at Shinnecock in 1896. James Foulis won it by three strokes that year over Horace Rawlins.

In 1986, Raymond Floyd, who was later to buy a house in Southampton and become a member of Shinnecock Hills, shot a final-round 66 to win by two strokes over Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins. In 1995, Corey Pavin clinched a two-stroke victory over Greg Norman with a memorable 4-wood approach to the final green. And in 2004, Retief Goosen outlasted Phil Mickelson by two strokes to claim his second U.S. Open title.

Shinnecock Hills opened in 1891, and the present course, opened in 1931, was designed by William Flynn. The 2018 championship will mark the 19th time the U.S. Open will have been played in the State of New York and the 10th time on Long Island. As of the 2011 season, New York had played host to 66 U.S.G.A. championships, ranking it third among all states.

Along with the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, the Chicago Golf Club, and Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Shinnecock Hills was one of the founding clubs of the United States Golf Association in 1894. Shinnecock Hills had America’s first golf clubhouse (complete with locker room, showers, and grill room), which was designed by the noted architect Stanford White. It was also the first 18-hole golf course on the East Coast.

“I was born and raised on Long Island, and Shinnecock is very special to me,” said Boomer Esiason, the radio host, N.F.L. analyst, and former quarterback, who was among a number of former professional athletes attending the press conference. “I’ve probably played Shinnecock 20 times and it’s my favorite course. It’s a great challenge to play and it’s a perfect setting.”

Tickets for the U.S. Open can be purchased online at usopen.com.