Both of East Hampton’s winter track teams competed in the state qualifier championship meet at Suffolk Community College on Feb. 9 and 10. The girls, in particular, set some new school records, thanks to two days of outstanding performances from Leah McCarron. The boys also traveled to the Armory in Manhattan on Friday for the distance medley relay, where they ran well but missed breaking the school record.
On the first day of the girls state qualifiers, McCarron, who was seeded 12th, took third place in the shot-put, hitting 32 feet, 11.5 inches. That broke a personal record and the school record of 32 feet, 2.25 inches, which she only set last month. Her third-place finish in the state qualifier was the first for East Hampton since Allura Leggard, a decade ago.
“We saw that Leah was gaining more confidence as she entered the finals — the only athlete from the first flight to do so — and then proceeded to improve upon her throws,” Yani Cuesta, the team’s head coach, said on Feb. 10. “She broke Melina Sarlo’s school record on Jan. 17 and broke her own last night.”
The next day, McCarron kept the records coming, this time, in the long jump. She reached 17 feet, 5.25 inches, a new personal record which landed her in fourth place. It was an impressive finish, especially since she was seeded 15th coming into the competition. Unfortunately, down time between the first flight and the finals kept her out of the top three.
“This was another great day for Leah. She improved upon her mark really well,” Coach Cuesta said. “The finals didn’t get going until 40 minutes after the first flight finished their jumps. It
Other notable performances for the Bonackers: On the first day, Sophia Figueroa finished the 55-meter high hurdles in 9.44, followed closely by C.J. Echavarria at 9.45. On the second day, Bennett Greene finished the 1,500-meter racewalk in 8:36.63, and Sara O’Brien finished the 600-meter race in 1:44.18.
“The coaching staff is extremely proud of all the girls that made it this far and competed with the best of the best in Suffolk,” Coach Cuesta said.
The boys team sent just two runners to the competition: Jasper Samuelson and Watts Comly-Bolick. Both boys are sophomores who ran in the 1,600 meters. Samuelson was seeded 13th going into the meet, and won his heat in 4:39.5, which was good for eighth place over all. Comly-Bolick was seeded 10th in the freshman-sophomore 1,600 meters and also finished eighth, with a 4:59.07.
“They didn’t run their best times, but they ran close to them. Watts has been battling the flu bug ever since the counties,” said Kevin Barry, their head coach. “I was really proud of both sophomores’ performances in this big meet.”
On Feb. 13, Samuelson, Comly-Bolick, Sean Perez, a senior, and Hudson Goulart, a junior, traveled to the Armory in Manhattan to participate in the distance medley relay. The D.M.R. is a mix of distances — 1,600 meters (Samuelson), 1,200 meters (Perez), 800 meters (Comly-Bolick), and 400 meters (Goulart). The boys finished with a D.N.F. (Did Not Finish) after miscalculating how many laps they had left, missing an opportunity to break the school record of 11:39 set back in 1997.
“Our anchor leg miscounted his laps and stopped with one lap to go,” Barry said. “We were in fourth place and lost sight of the second and third-place teams. If he kept going, they would have smashed the school record by 30 seconds. We were probably going to hit the 11:08 to 11:10 range.”
Coach Barry, ever the optimist, called the entire day a great lesson. “The boys did have fun taking the Long Island Rail Road and the subway to the 168th Street Armory, something new for East Hampton kids! It was a little learning session on how to use public transportation.”
The same foursome — Samuelson, Comly-Bolick, Perez, and Goulart — will run in the 4-by-800 relay at the Long Island Elite meet at Saint Anthony’s on Feb. 28. The girls’ team has entered three girls for the same meet: Leah McCarron in the long jump, Vicky Chen in the pole vault, and Sophia Figueroa in the 55-meter high hurdles. They’ll find out who is accepted on Feb. 24.
