Skip to main content

3rd Title in 4 Years for Groundworks Landscaping

3rd Title in 4 Years for Groundworks Landscaping

A trio of Groundworks’ young players, Casey Brooks, Thea Grenci, and Erica Silich, celebrated last week following the team’s sweep of Schenck Fuels in the final.
A trio of Groundworks’ young players, Casey Brooks, Thea Grenci, and Erica Silich, celebrated last week following the team’s sweep of Schenck Fuels in the final.
Jack Graves
A defeat of Schenck Fuels by a 6-1 score
By
Jack Graves

Groundworks Landscaping resumed its place at the top of the East Hampton Town women’s slow-pitch softball league at the Terry King ball field in Amagansett on Aug. 15 by defeating Schenck Fuels 6-1 to win the playoff trophy.

Emma Beudert’s backspun high-arc pitches were largely the reason that Groundworks swept Schenck’s, which had in the semifinal round upset the defending champion, Bono Plumbing. 

As for that semifinal, Kathy Amicucci, Schenck’s player-manager (and coach of East Hampton High School’s varsity), said, “Our defense, anchored by Kathryn Mirras at short, was solid, we hit very well, and Shelley [Bobek, the pitcher] did a great job, as she has all season long.”

Groundworks, which has some good young players, Thea Grenci, Erica Silich, Casey Brooks, Meredith Janis, and Zoe Daunt among them, got off on the right foot in what was to prove the finale (had Schenck’s won the first game on the 15th, a decisive third game would have followed), scoring three runs in the top of the first inning, all with two outs. 

Kim Hren, the team’s player-manager and its senior member, drove in one with an opposite-field single to right field, Brooks followed with an r.b.i. pop over third, just beyond the third baseman Nicole Yeager’s grasp, and Daunt scored Erin Abran, who had come in to run for Hren, and who was on second, with a single of her own.

Beudert, who was to allow only three hits that night, all singles, set Schenck’s down one-two-three in the bottom half of the inning — Tara North on a popout to second, Robin Helgerson on a foulout to Janis, who was catching, and Amicucci on a pop to Brooks in shallow left field.

Groundworks turned a double play in the second, erasing Mirras, who had led off with a seeing-eye single, and the batter, Yeager, who had grounded to Grenci at short.

Schenck’s had runners at first and second with two outs in the bottom of the third, but Beudert got Helgerson to pop out to short.

Groundworks made it 4-1 in the top of the fourth. With two outs and runners at first and second, Abran drew a walk from Bobek to load the bases, and Hren too drew a walk, plating Beudert from third.

Schenck’s third, fourth, and fifth hitters — Amicucci, Mirras, and Yeager — faced Beudert in the bottom half, though they were retired in order, Amicucci on a groundout to first, Mirras on a fly to left, and Yeager on a nice catch by Grenci.

It was Schenck’s turn to turn a double play in the top of the sixth. After Helgerson dropped a throw from Mirras, allowing Grenci to reach first base safely, Abran hit into a force play at second, and Hren, the next batter, grounded to Mirras, who, after stepping on the bag, threw to Helgerson for the inning-ending out there.

Groundworks clinched the game — and the championship — with two more runs in the top of the seventh. Brooks’s hard single to the left side began it, Daunt followed with a walk, and Janis drove Brooks in from second with a drive up the middle. Michelle Grant, one of Groundworks’ veterans, then singled over third to score Daunt, upping the lead to 6-1. 

Beudert flied out to right-center for the first out, and Silich, with runners at first and second, grounded into a double play that Mirras began by tagging Janis, who was heading for third.

Amicucci singled to lead off Schenck’s last at-bat, but was forced at second by Yeager after Mirras had flied out. Beudert then retired her opposite number, Bobek, to put it in the book. 

It was the third playoff title for Groundworks, which, with Connie Mabry pitching, won championships in 2014 and 2015. Mabry retired last year, at the age of 60, but Beudert, who had been one of the outfielders, proved herself well up to the challenge.

Artists 6, Writers 9 in The Game's 69th Edition

Artists 6, Writers 9 in The Game's 69th Edition

Alec Sokolow, an Academy Award nominee for “Toy Story,” was the traditional turnip designee.
Alec Sokolow, an Academy Award nominee for “Toy Story,” was the traditional turnip designee.
Durell Godfrey
It was an agon again at Herrick Park.
By
Jack Graves

Brett Shevack’s fielding, Harry Javer’s pitching, and Brett Mauser’s hitting treated the Writers to a 9-6 win over the Artists here Saturday in what is said to be The Game’s 69th anniversary.

And Mike Lupica, the sports commentator and writer, a stalwart in the Writers’ lineup in the past 35 years, could claim some of the credit too inasmuch as his two-out single in the bottom of the third inning keyed a four-run rally that came within a run of erasing an early Artists’ lead.

Lupica pulled a quadriceps muscle in legging out the hit, but the victory his team gained that day allayed the pain. “I’m icing it all the way back to Connecticut,” he said, beaming, as he left the after-party at Dopo.

Interestingly, the 9-6 score was the same as last year — the first time in four encounters that the Writers had won — and Shevack, the Writers’ 67-year-old third baseman, made an eye-popping flat-out one-handed catch in this one too, robbing Geoff Prisco of a two-out double with a runner on first in the top of the eighth. That electrifying catch — one of several he made during the course of the game — went far toward earning him his third M.V.P. award, which he shared with Javer, who virtually shut the Artists down from the fifth inning on. Lupica, for the Writers, and Walter Bernard, for the Artists, were the starting pitchers.

The Writers broke the ice with a run in the bottom of the first, but the Artists came back with five in the top of the third. Billy Strong led it off with a single, after which he was forced at second, but Brian Pfund, a professional Independent league ballplayer — the winner of the home run derby with 14 — followed with a double up the middle, putting runners at second and third for Ed Hollander, who promptly singled both base runners in. Dennis Duswalt’s subsequent two-run inside-the-park homer painted an even prettier picture. 

The next batter, Jeff Meizlik, the recent recipient of two new knees, flied out to the short-fielder, but Bernard beat out a nubber hit toward the mound, after which Eric Ernst, the Artists’ perennial leadoff hitter, drove in the Artists’ fifth run — and extended his hitting streak to 47 games — with a single to right field. 

(Ernst’s streak apparently may end there given that he’s to move to Maui soon, Trump and ticks being among his reasons.) 

Leif Hope, the Artists’ longtime manager, subbed in an all-female team from the town’s slow-pitch softball league at that point — The Game was celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in New York State — a team gotten together by T. Schirrippa that also comprised Nicole Yeager, Elise Thorsen, Dawn Green, Rachel Haab, Catherine Curti, Marissa Friedes, Kathy Amicucci, Katie Osiecki, and Maddie Schenck. 

The Writers wrested the lead back, at 7-5, in the bottom of the sixth. Jordan Green, their young cleanup hitter, led it off with a double, Rick Leventhal drove him in with a single, tying the score at 5-5, and took second on the throw home. With two outs, Mauser, who recruits players for the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League and is a freelance writer and communications director for St. George’s University of Grenada as well, put the Writers ahead with a cue-shot triple to right, and Alec Sokolow, an Academy Award nominee for the “Toy Story” screenplay and creator of the Skylanders video game, put them ahead for good with a sac fly to left.

Some daring baserunning by Mike Dougherty, who slid in to second under the tag following a one-out hit to left and then came all the way around to score on a subsequent infield single, brought the Artists to within one, at 7-6, in the top of the eighth, but Shevack’s stab of Prisco’s smash ate the Artists’ dreams.

Plug Pulled on Football

Plug Pulled on Football

Craig Macnaughton
By
Jack Graves

Joe Vas, the East Hampton School District's athletic director, announced Thursday that the school will again field no varsity or junior varsity football teams this fall.

"The bottom line," he said, "was the lack of numbers — we only had 14 show up for practices on a regular basis. To field a team you need a minimum of 16."

Joe McKee, the varsity football coach, who has tried his best to boost the program from the early grades on up in the past few years, told the players of the administrative decision on Wednesday.

Dawn Tuthill, whose son would have been the Bonackers' quarterback, wrote in a Facebook post: "A sad day. As my son, Jacen, went up to have his picture taken for Newsday as one of the top 100 players on Long Island, it was announced that East Hampton's football program is no longer. . . . There are a few of them who are passionate about the sport and are so upset that it has ended for them, and in their senior year. . . . So sad."

This is the second time in the past four years that East Hampton, which began playing football in 1923, has had no varsity football team.

Vas, who said he had heard there would be no Police Athletic League teams this year, as well, said football will continue to be played at the middle school, with Nick Finazzo, Scott Abran, and Dave Fioriello as the coaches. "We're hoping to rebuild, but I can't give you any time frame. We used to have 48 to 50 on the middle school team — last year we had 20," the A.D. said.

Don Reese, who heads up the youth basketball and football teams here, said on Friday that "we do have a fifth-and-sixth-grade team, the same as last year. We're not folding up."

The decision to pull the plug this week was made, he said, so that the players who were turning out for football practices could switch to other fall sports if they wished.

Don McGovern, who assists Rich King with East Hampton's boys soccer program, said today that 84 are trying out for varsity and jayvee soccer.

--

Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakely reported that the status of Police Athletic teams this year. There will be no police athletic teams this year, according to Joe Vas, the East Hampton School District's athletic director.

The Serve and Volleying Life of Paul Annacone

The Serve and Volleying Life of Paul Annacone

Paul Annacone, left, said if Scott Rubenstein, E.H.I.T.’s managing partner, had availed himself 30 years ago of the advice in “Coaching for Life,” he would have defeated him in shuffleboard at Orange Lake.
Paul Annacone, left, said if Scott Rubenstein, E.H.I.T.’s managing partner, had availed himself 30 years ago of the advice in “Coaching for Life,” he would have defeated him in shuffleboard at Orange Lake.
Jack Graves
The East Hamptoner has written his first book, 'Coaching for Life'
By
Jon M. Diat

It took a long time to complete. Almost 15 years. But for the East Hamptoner Paul Annacone, finishing and publishing his first book was a lifelong accomplishment. 

Titled “Coaching for Life,” the book is an autobiographical look at his journey, starting on the tennis courts of Sag Harbor, where his parents taught him and his brother, Steve, to play, and exploring his life as a top-ranked tennis player and coach to some of the game’s best players, including Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. But it also goes beyond the tennis courts as an aid to those looking to perfect their own formulas for growth and success.

“I actually had the idea for the book starting back in 1995, when I first started working with Pete,” Annacone said Sunday morning at the tennis club in Sag Harbor’s Mashashimuet Park that his brother runs. “There would be stretches and years I would take time off from it, but I always kept notes when I was coaching, and I was finally able to find the time to get it finalized over the past year or two. The response has been great so far.”

After graduating from East Hampton High School in 1981, Annacone attended the University of Tennessee and was named all-S.E.C. and all-American all three years of his college career with the Volunteers, amassing a 115-22 career singles record. A serve-and-volleyer, Annacone played on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour until 1992, finishing with a career singles win-loss record of 157-131 in Grand Slam, Grand Prix, and A.T.P. tour events. He won three singles titles and was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 1984. He was also during his touring years one of the top doubles players in the world, partnering primarily with Christo van Rensburg of South Africa.

Annacone has dedicated the book to his mother and father for getting him started in the game, but also credits his brother, his coach for more than seven years on the tour during which he achieved his career-best singles ranking of 12th in the world in 1985. 

“I never could have done this without the support and strength of my family,” Annacone said. His father, Dominic, “was the principal of Pierson High School here in Sag Harbor for many years, had his Ph.D., and took education very seriously. So, I think he’s proud of what I was able to do. But I also wanted to formally document my experiences for my whole family especially.”

“But the book is not so much about the sport of tennis as much as it is a process-oriented journey based on the sport of tennis,” he added. “It’s really the life I have lived, and the front-row seat from which I have watched some of the greatest players compete on the most majestic courts in the world. But it is also something that can be applied to our own day-to-day life.”

Living near Los Angeles now and spending upward of 18 weeks on the road takes its toll, but Annacone has had a chance to rest up on the East End the past few weeks before he gears up for some book signings at the U.S. Open, which starts Monday. He’ll also be an on-air commentator for the Tennis Channel. He held book signings at the East Hampton Indoor-Outdoor Tennis Club on Saturday and at BookHampton in East Hampton on Tuesday.

In the copy he signed for Scott Rubenstein, E.H.I.T.’s managing partner, Annacone said if Rubenstein had availed himself of the book’s advice 30 years ago he would definitely have beaten him in shuffleboard at Orange Lake. 

Annacone said that living close to the Tennis Channel studio in Los Angeles was very convenient. “The other travel does take a lot these days, but it’s always great to be back home here,” he said, pointing to the courts where he learned to play. “And the U.S. Open in New York is always so exciting. The crowds are loud and are so into it as well.” 

He believes that Federer, his former pupil, who at the age of 35 captured both the Australian and Wimbledon titles this year, has a great chance to get his 20th Grand Slam title in Flushing Meadows. “I talked to Roger the other day and he sounded very good. He took some time off and he is clearly one of the favorites. It would be an amazing accomplishment if he wins.”

It’s unclear if Annacone offered him some tips and advice. But Federer does have a copy of the book.

Bees Doc to Premiere at Hamptons Film Fest

Bees Doc to Premiere at Hamptons Film Fest

Carl Johnson, who recently retired as Bridgehampton High School’s boys basketball coach, is at the center of the film, the Cummings brothers have said.
Carl Johnson, who recently retired as Bridgehampton High School’s boys basketball coach, is at the center of the film, the Cummings brothers have said.
Craig Macnaughton Photos
Basketball was the lens through which they were able to examine such issues as race, income inequality, gentrification, the criminal justice system, politics, education, and a seasonal economy
By
Jack Graves

Orson and Ben Cummings were happy to announce this week that their documentary on Bridgehampton High School’s storied Killer Bees boys basketball team, which has nine state championships to its credit, is to premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October.

In discussing the film with this writer last winter, the brothers, former Bridgehampton students themselves, said basketball was the lens through which they were able to examine such issues as race, income inequality, gentrification, the criminal justice system, politics, education, and a seasonal economy. 

“We grew up in this world and we knew it well,” Ben said. “And while the time frame is limited to basketball, the film [one of whose associate producers is Shaquille O’Neal] covers pretty much everything that’s going on out here.”

Asked if people, say, from California would like it, Orson said, “Oh yes. The storyline is basketball, which is popular all over the world, and some of the themes the film addresses, like income inequality, can be related to a lot of places. . . . It’s a movie from New York, and everybody cares about New York. The little engine that could — everybody likes to hear about that.”

Carl Johnson, the recently retired Killer Bees coach, the only one in New York State to have won three championships as a coach and three as a player, is at the center of the film. Were it not for a shotgun injury in his senior year that had dealt a severe blow to his hoop dreams, “he wouldn’t have become a coach,” said Ben.

The brothers interviewed Julian Johnson — an outstanding player with whom they used to shoot hoops in their backyard on Narrow Lane and at the Bridgehampton Day Care Center, where once and future Killer Bees honed their skills — at the Elmira state penitentiary, to which he’d been sentenced as the result of a minor drug charge.

There is footage too of Deborah Kooperstein, a Family Court judge “and a big fan of the Bees,” addressing the criminal justice system’s inequities.

While the Cummingses were unable to interview either of the late Killer Bee coaches, Roger Golden — who implemented the ball-hawking, run-and-gun Killer Bee style of play — and his successor, John Niles, “John’s son Joe was super helpful,” said Orson. “His archives are the crown jewels of the film. Joe had it all. We’ve got great footage of Pujack [Carl Johnson] playing back in the day . . . of him, Wayne Hopson, and Louis and Sam O’Neal playing in a big venue, looking like the Knicks . . . we’ve got footage of championship games of the past. . . .”

“We’re thrilled to be premiering the film in the 25th anniversary of the Hamptons Film Festival,” Orson said. “It’s the ideal place for us to show, considering the subject matter and the hunger in the community to see the film. The festival has been extremely supportive since we started the project.”

“We’ve had a few small ‘behind the hedgerow’ screenings to raise funds,” he continued, “and we’re very happy with how the film is playing. We continue to learn that this story is one that people are excited to hear — how the Bees have accomplished so much over the years. . . . It’s interesting how many people who come from the city know nothing about it. When they learn about the team, the history of the community, and all the wild social and economic diversity in Bridgehampton, they seem stunned. So, we’re happy to get it out there.”

“Viewers have also seen the story as representative of larger issues going on in the country involving race and income inequality — and, of course, a love of basketball — so we’re optimistic about it finding an audience outside the Hamptons as well. We also have heard that the festival board is working to make 100 tickets available to the kids at the Bridgehampton School, which is terrific.”

Sports Briefs: 08.31.17

Sports Briefs: 08.31.17

Local Sports Notes
By
Star Staff

National Picks

Recently joining Chasen Dubs and Amanda Calabrese as selectees for the national under-19 Life Saving Association team that is to compete in New Zealand from Nov. 25 to Dec. 5 were Val Ferraro, Maggie Purcell, and Isabella Swanson, who were among the Hamptons Lifeguard Association’s place-winners in the national lifesaving championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., earlier this month.

Purcell, 17, won the open division’s board rescue event and placed third in the u-19 rescue race. Ferraro, 17, was the u-19 champion in beach flags, and Swanson, 17, placed second in the Ironwoman and surf ski events and took third in the u-19 rescue race. Dubs, 16, and Calabrese, a Stanford University sophomore who has three national beach flags titles to her credit, have represented the United States in international competitions before.

 

The Clubhouse

Scott Rubenstein, the managing partner of the East Hampton Indoor-Outdoor Tennis Club, said this week that The Clubhouse (so named in a contest by Carly Emanuel), which will include 10 bowling lanes, three bocce courts, 40-plus arcade games, a golf simulator, a restaurant and sports lounge with multiple large-screen TVs, and a mini-golf course that will be lighted for nighttime play, is expected to open in February.

Twenty-percent discounts, he added, will be available to local first responders, volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians, and to men and women who have served or who are at present serving their country. 

“Something is also in the works for Bonac alums who stayed,” Rubenstein said.

The Lineup: 08.31.17

The Lineup: 08.31.17

Local Sports Schedule
By
Star Staff

Thursday, August 31

HAMPTON CLASSIC, hunter and jumper competition in five rings, featured events to include the $2,500 Adult Amateur Hunter Classic, at 1 p.m., and the $40,000 Sovaro Speed Stake, at 2, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 8.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at McGann-Mercy, Riverhead, scrimmage, 10 a.m. 

GIRLS TENNIS, Half Hollow Hills East at East Hampton, nonleague, noon.

Friday, September 1

HAMPTON CLASSIC, featured events to include $86,000 Douglas Elliman Grand Prix Qualifier, 2 p.m., and $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Welcome Stake, $10,000 SHF Enterprises 7-and-Under Jumpers, and 7-and-Under Jumpers Championship, from 8 a.m., Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds.

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Mattituck, nonleague, 10 a.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, Miller Place at East Hampton, noon.

Saturday, September 2

HAMPTON CLASSIC, featured events to include $50,000 Longines Cup, 2 p.m., $15,000 Carolex Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic, and $10,000 Great Southwest Equestrian Center Equitation Championships, Rounds 1 and 2, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 8 a.m. 

GIRLS SOCCER, Bellport at East Hampton, nonleague, 10 a.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at multiple-team scrimmage, Bay Shore High School, 8 a.m.

Sunday, September 3

HAMPTON CLASSIC, featured events to include $300,000 Hampton Classic Grand Prix presented by Sovaro, 1 p.m., $30,000 Longines Rider Challenge presentation, $25,000 Campbell Stables Jumping Derby, and $10,000 Hermes Hunter Classic, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 10 a.m.

Monday, September 4

RUNNING, Great Bonac 5 and 10K Foot Races, Springs Firehouse, 179 Fort Pond Boulevard, 9 a.m. 

Tuesday, September 5

FIELD HOCKEY, East Hampton at Babylon, 5 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, West Islip at East Hampton, 5 p.m.

Wednesday, September 6

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Bayport-Blue Point, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS TENNIS, East Hampton at Commack, nonleague, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Sayville, 5 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Bay Shore, nonleague, 5 p.m.

The Lineup: 09.07.17

The Lineup: 09.07.17

Local Sports Schedule
By
Star Staff

Thursday, September 7

GOLF, William Floyd vs. East Hampton, South Fork Country Club, Amagansett, 4 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY, Greenport-Southold at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at East Islip, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, September 8

GIRLS TENNIS, McGann-Mercy at East Hampton, 4 p.m.

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

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, Eastport-South Manor at East Hampton, 5 p.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 9

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at invitational tournament, Eastport-South Manor, 8 a.m.

RUNNING, Andy’s (5K) Run, West Water Street, Sag Harbor, 8:30 a.m., check-in from 7-8:15.

GIRLS SOCCER, Rocky Point at East Hampton, 2 p.m.

Sunday, September 10

MIGHTY HAMPTONS TRIATHLON, in memory of Steve Tarpinian, 1.5K swim, 40K bike, and 10K run, Long Beach, Noyac, 6:40 a.m.

Monday, September 11

GIRLS TENNIS, Eastport-South Manor at East Hampton, 4 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Sayville, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Center Moriches, 6:45 p.m.

Tuesday, September 12

BOYS CROSS-COUNTRY, Sayville, Mount Sinai, and Amityille vs. East Hampton, Cedar Point County Park, 4 p.m.

GOLF, East Hampton vs. Ross School, East Hampton Golf Club, 4 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at Islip, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Shoreham-Wading River, 5 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY, East Hampton at Sayville, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, September 13

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

GIRLS SWIMMING, East Hampton vs. Sayville-Bayport, Sayville Middle School, 5 p.m.

GIRLS TENNIS, East Hampton at William Floyd, 4 p.m.

Fowkes and Cuomo Win Great Bonac Races

Fowkes and Cuomo Win Great Bonac Races

Ryan Fowkes, East Hampton High School’s top cross-country runner, won Labor Day’s Great Bonac 5K in Springs, in 17 minutes and 31 seconds. A teammate of his, Geo Espinoza, below, was the runner-up.
Ryan Fowkes, East Hampton High School’s top cross-country runner, won Labor Day’s Great Bonac 5K in Springs, in 17 minutes and 31 seconds. A teammate of his, Geo Espinoza, below, was the runner-up.
Jack Graves
Yani Cuesta would like to grow her beginners group
By
Jack Graves

A buoyant crowd of young and older runners turned out at the Springs Firehouse Monday for what was said to be the 40th running of the Great Bonac Footrace, founded by Howard Lebwith. 

The event, a benefit for the Springs Fire Department’s scholarship fund and the Old Montauk Athletic Club, has actually comprised two races in recent years, a 5K — the more popular of the two — and a 10K, which this year was won by Steve Cuomo Jr., 34, of Shirley, whose father oversees the Rolling Thunder Track Club, the members of which have special needs. The Long Island-based club, he added, also has branches in Connecticut and Wisconsin now.

“We believe in inclusion, not exclusion,” Cuomo Sr. said. “I brought 15 with me today, mostly young runners, who will run on their high schools’ cross-country and track teams.” 

Proof that mainstreaming special needs athletes worked could be found, he said, in the fact that one of his protégés, Mikey Brannigan, who had run in these Labor Day races in the past, had been a Paralympic gold medalist in the 1,500-meter race in Rio, and another, Tysheen Griffin, had made it to the finals in the 400. His son, moreover, has also competed internationally, in Poland and Ecuador.

“There was a special needs girl here today from East Hampton,” Cuomo said, in between cheering Rolling Thunder runners on as they neared the finish line. “I’m going to ask if she can run with the high school’s girls cross-country team.”

“For the first time,” he said, “there will be events for disabled athletes at next year’s U.S. Track and Field championships. We’ll have athletes there.” 

Both of East Hampton High’s cross-country teams were out in force as well Monday. Ryan Fowkes, the boys team’s number-one, won the 5K, in 17 minutes and 31 seconds.

Kevin Barry, the boys coach, announced that his team’s planned trip to a big high school and college meet in Lakeland, Fla., at the end of the month had been approved by the high school’s field trip committee Friday. Pearl River, the second-ranked team in New York State, would be going too, he said.

The sole chance to see the boys run here, at Cedar Point County Park, will be Tuesday, said Barry. “We’ll be running against half the league — Sayville, Mount Sinai, and Amityville.”

With Liana Paradiso, Ava Engstrom, and Bella Tarbet, Diane O’Donnell’s girls cross-country ought to be interesting too. Tarbet, who remained with the middle school’s team last year as an eighth grader so that she could run in Suffolk’s cross-country race at Sunken Meadow for seventh and eighth graders (which she won), ran the 10K, her first appearance in a 6.2-mile race, and she paid for going out too fast. 

She’d learned her lesson, she said after crossing the line in 49:31, about 10 minutes after Steve Cuomo Jr. had. That having been said, Tarbet was the 10K’s third female over all, behind Barbara Gubbins (42:06) and Emma Raser (44:21).

Engstrom, whose brother, Erik, a former county cross-country champion, returned recently to the University of Massachusetts, is, like Tarbet, only a ninth grader, but a formidable one. She topped the 5K’s 13-to-15-year-old girls, in 21:45.

Another notable young runner, Luke Castillo, a Springs School sixth grader, won among the 5K’s 12-and-unders, in 20:35. 

“Two years ago, when he outkicked me at the finish,” said Paul Hamilton, a former county mile champion who helps Barry coach East Hampton’s cross-country and track runners, “Luke was running fast and slow, like kids do, but this year he ran at a steady pace. He’s incredible and he’s still two years away.”

Craig Brierley (44:59), who brought several of his girls swim team members with him, couldn’t hang around long inasmuch as he had lifeguarding duties to perform. “It’s been that way lately — lifeguarding and coaching the team, with not much time in between,” he said, adding, in answer to a question, that Bonac’s team would be at least as strong as last year, when its record was 4-2.

Yani Cuesta, who coaches East Hampton’s indoor and outdoor girls track teams, said she’s begun to coach several beginning runners, two of whom made their 5K debuts Monday. “We’ve been meeting at my house in East Hampton. We’ve trained for the past eight weeks. These are people who have graduated from alternately running a minute and walking a minute and a half to a 5K. They told me they felt good. . . . I’d like to enlarge the group.”

The Lineup: 09.14.17

The Lineup: 09.14.17

Local Sports Schedule
By
Star Staff

Thursday, September 14

GIRLS SOCCER, Hauppauge at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GOLF, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4 p.m.

Friday, September 15

GIRLS TENNIS, Mattituck at East Hampton, 4 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Mount Sinai, 4 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY, Babylon at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

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

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, nonleague, 5 p.m.

Saturday, September 16

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Harborfields invitational, 8 a.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at Riverhead, nonleague, 10 a.m.

FIELD HOCKEY, Shoreham-Wading River at East Hampton, 11 a.m.

RUGBY, Montauk Rugby Club at Rockaway, 1 p.m.

Monday, September 18

GIRLS TENNIS, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at Westhampton Beach, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, September 19

BOYS SOCCER, Miller Place at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, Islip at East Hampton, 5 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Comsewogue, 5 p.m.

Wednesday, September 20

GIRLS TENNIS, East Hampton at McGann-Mercy, Riverhead, 3 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at Hauppauge, 3:30 p.m.

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