The East Hampton High School girls cross-country team finished third and the boys finished fourth in county cross-country meets this past week at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park.
The girls, coached by Diane O'Donnell, were the defending county champs. Her roster hasn't changed since her charges -- Dylan Cashin, Ava Engstrom, Ryleigh O'Donnell, Emma Hren, and Bella Tarbet -- won the county Class B championship in the fall of 2019, "but the competition is a little tougher. Every one of our girls ran faster than they had at Sunken Meadow the week before, but it wasn't quite fast enough. It's a tough [2.5-mile] course, and, frankly, they were a little tired."
Sayville was the Class B winner, with Bayport-Blue Point second, by 2 points, over East Hampton, which had edged the Phantoms for the division title by 1 point.
Once again, Dylan Cashin, a ninth grader, was East Hampton's top runner last Thursday, finishing in the top 10. After her came Engstrom, Hren, O'Donnell, and Tarbet. "There was no state meet to shoot for, so we didn't feel too bad."
Happily for O'Donnell, Penelope Greene, a Pierson senior who won the county C-D championship -- and the division C-D championship as well -- will run spring track under East Hampton's aegis.
Concerning that team, whose head coach is Yani Cuesta, O'Donnell said, "We had a great turnout on Monday," the first day of spring sports practice. "I didn't count, but I'd say we have around 30 girls, about half of them first-timers. We'll be strong, obviously, in the distances. Ryleigh's playing softball, but we'll have Penelope, Dylan, Ava, Emma, and Bella. We should have good jumpers too. . . . It's going to be fast and furious -- we've only got six days before we have a meet" at home with Mount Sinai on Wednesday.
As for the boys cross-country team, Kevin Barry, its coach, said in an email that without Evan Masi, East Hampton's all-state runner, who's rehabbing an ankle injury, "we were seeded fifth. We were hoping for third, but finished fourth, behind Westhampton Beach, one of the best Class B teams in the state, Bayport-Blue Point, and Sayville."
"Still, the boys were happy with their performances. Two of our freshmen" -- Mikey Gilbert, 12th in 14 minutes and 26 seconds, and Brayan Rivera, 14th in 14:43 -- "led the way for us. Their times were the fourth and fifth-fastest for freshmen at Sunken Meadow this season."
After those two came Amari Gordon, who was 22nd across the line in 15:07; Liam Fowkes, a freshman, who was 33rd in 15:48; Manny Vilar, the senior captain, who finished in 16:03, and Colin Schaefer, a junior, who finished in 16:09.
Barry is already looking forward to "going toe to toe with Westhampton this fall," with the return of Masi, Gordon, Schaefer, Aidan Klarman, Gilbert, Rivera, and Fowkes.