No fully automatic timing system (F.A.T.), no problem for the Bonac boys indoor track team. Their first meet on Saturday at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood was a success, according to their coach.
“It went very well for the first meet of the season,” Kevin Barry said. “We brought about 28 kids and were missing around eight because of Thanksgiving. The coaches and officials did timing. It was the first meet for 15 or 16 of our kids and I wanted to get the bugs out.”
The freshmen certainly got the bugs out in their first attempt at the mile. Riley Simmons took second place in the freshman-sophomore division with a time of 5:16. Lincoln Fischer of Pierson finished in 5:29, and Chase Bohnsack broke six minutes for the first time with a 5:56.
Watts Comly-Bolick, a sophomore, opted for the open division and took second place in the mile with a 4:53. This is his first indoor season.
“Now they’ve seen an indoor meet, and they’ve seen what they can work on,” Barry said.
The upperclassmen also had a solid first outing. Marcus Oransky, a junior, hit a personal best in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.13 seconds. Coach Barry thought that was good enough for fifth place, but wasn’t entirely sure without the official timing system.
Another junior, Hudson Goulart, competed in the high jump for the first time and took sixth place with a 5-foot jump. Sean Perez, a senior captain, ran a personal best in the 600 meters in 1:30.4, which was good for second place over all. Eduardo Calle, also a senior captain, took fifth over all in the triple jump, hitting 35 feet 6 inches.
The girls indoor track team opted not to participate in a meet at Brentwood the following day because of the absent F.A.T. and instead will race there Saturday afternoon at 2:30. Coach Barry said the meet was great practice, especially for his jumpers.
“It was very important for the jumpers and the field event guys to go and compete,” Barry said. “It’s tough for these guys to train in the cold, the rain, the wind. Any time they can get a good indoor workout, it’s good.”
They also got a glimpse of their competition this season. “We saw a couple of teams that will probably be in our league — like Westhampton,” the coach said. “It seemed like they were good in the hurdles and shorter races.”
Meanwhile, he expects East Hampton to excel in the 4-by-800-meter relay. “We’re going to try to really focus on that,” he said. “After the high jump, Hudson ran the 600 in the second heat and won it easily,” Barry said. “Once he gets some more endurance and strength, we should have one of the better 4-by-800-meter teams in the county.”
