East Hampton High’s girls track competitors circled the oval here in fine spirits following a meet on April 12 with Half Hollow Hills West, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” as they went.
Indeed, they had reason to be happy, for that day’s 100.5-48.5 win was the team’s third in a row, the first time apparently since 2016 that an East Hampton girls track team has begun a season at 3-0.
The meet marked the return to action of Pierson’s Meredith Spolarich, who competed in four events (the maximum allowed) — the 400, the long jump, the high jump, and the 4-by-400 relay. “She’s as strong as ever,” said the team’s coach, Yani Cuesta, who, as it turned out, didn’t have to worry much about strategy that day given the fact that Hills West, though it’s known for having strong sprinters, jumpers, vaulters, and throwers, lacked strength in the distance races, the racewalk, and relays.
East Hampton’s winners included Dylan Cashin in the 800 and 1,500-meter races; Ryleigh O’Donnell in the 400; Spolarich in the long jump; Becca Trowbridge in the discus, “P.R.ing” with a throw of 69 feet 6 inches; Sara O’Brien, a Pierson eighth grader, in the 3,200, and Davi Trowbridge in the 1,500-meter racewalk.
The last time out, Trowbridge was disqualified in that event for not maintaining the proper form, but this time, thanks to Mimi Fowkes’s help recently, Cuesta said, “she wasn’t DQ’d, and took 30 seconds off her time. She didn’t think it was terrific, but it was. She and Natalie Reininger are still going slowly, focusing on technique. The speed will come.”
Runners-up for East Hampton were Leslie Samuel in the 200-meter dash and long jump; Cashin in the 3,000; Reininger in the racewalk; Becca Trowbridge in the shot-put; Kate McMillan in the discus; Tiffany Georgopoulos in the triple jump; Riley Miles in the 1,500, and O’Brien in the 800.
Third-place finishers were Casey Stumpf in the triple jump; Alexa Gomez in the 100-meter high hurdles; Leah Fromm in the 1,500; Samuel in the 100; Miles in the 800; Fromm in the 3,000; McMillan in the shot-put; Daniela Yanza in the discus, and Stumpf, Delani Beavers, and Isabel Doyle in the pole vault.
“While it’s really nice to be 3-0, we know we have really tough competition coming up after the spring break,” Cuesta said. “We don’t want the girls to think they can relax by any means.”
Cuesta’s squad is down to 27 at the moment, owing to the departures recently of Emma Hren, a senior distance runner who is rehabbing a pulled quadriceps muscle, and Zion Osei, a ninth-grade distance runner who is rehabbing tightness in her hips and knees. While she doesn’t know for sure, Cuesta thinks her team, which has 15 sophomores on it, is probably smaller than those with which East Hampton is competing. One thing she does know: “East Hampton’s sophomore class is really strong athletically.”
The girls and East Hampton’s boys team (which lost at Hills West on April 12) were to have attended an invitational meet at Deer Park Tuesday. Tomorrow and Saturday the girls are to compete in the Joe Brandi Relays at Connetquot High School in Bohemia.
Other Sports
Turning to other Bonac sports, the softball team was 1-4 in league play as of Friday and 3-5 over all. The team, coached by Annemarie Brown and Melanie Anderson, defeated Rocky Point 19-18 on April 5, lost 12-11 to Hills West on April 8, lost 9-2 to Islip on April 12, and lost 1-0 to Kings Park on April 13.
The girls lacrosse team was 2-5 in Division II play as of this week. The girls lost 12-11 to Deer Park on April 8, but defeated Southampton 18-5 under the lights there on April 12.
On Tennis Rankings
Like the girls track team, East Hampton’s boys tennis team was undefeated, at 7-0, going into the spring break. Matches at home loom with Miller Place (on May 2) and Ward Melville (on May 5). Kevin McConville, the coach, said he thinks his charges can handle Miller Place, but Ward Melville may prove to be too strong. “They’ve got three very good singles players and a UTR 9 playing at first doubles.”
Universal 1-to-16-point tennis rankings are used widely at the high school level now, McConville said, as a way to streamline the college recruiting process. By way of explanation, he said, “Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer are 16s; there are eight N.C.A.A. UTR 14-plus players. Stanford, the best team in the country, has eight 13s, but no 14s. Harvard has two 14s, but then there’s a big drop-off. Wake Forest also has two 14s. . . .”
Max Astilean, his number-one singles player, a junior who has picked up his game significantly of late, is a UTR 7.8 at the moment, “though that’s because he hasn’t played in any UTR events recently. He’s really better than that, a 9 I would say. He’s beating UTR 9s and playing UTR 10s even.”
Ward Melville’s number-one, Aaron Burstyn, a UTR 9, defeated Astilean in straight sets in the county quarterfinals last year, “but that won’t happen again,” said East Hampton’s coach, who has been working with Astilean on finishing off points quickly rather than getting drawn into endless baseline rallies. “Seventy percent of the points on the pro tour are decided in four shots or less,” McConville said. “You want to attack as soon as you can.”
East Hampton’s number-two singles player, Nick Cooper, a UTR 7, has been out with a groin pull, though should be ready to go again, McConville said, when school resumes at the end of the month. He was less sure about Chris Pilarski, one of his top doubles players, who has a nagging shoulder problem.