The Bonac Boys 4-by-800-meter relay team tried one more time to break East Hampton’s 23-year-old school record last weekend at the Long Island Elite Meet. Their time of 8:42.53, while not record-breaking, still earned them a third-place finish and a spot on the podium at St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington — a fantastic achievement against the best of Long Island.
“The Elite Meet is just for Section XI (Suffolk County), Section 8 (Nassau County), C.H.S.A.A. (Catholic schools), and private schools on Long Island,” their head coach, Kevin Barry, said. “The boys came up short on breaking the record, but did much better than their seven seed, placing third in this prestigious meet.”
Kevin and Brian Ahearn, Chris Reich, and Joe Sullivan set the school record of 8:34.36 in the 4-by-800 back in 2003. This season’s team — Watts Comly-Bolick, Hudson Goulart, Sean Perez, and Jasper Samuelson — came within .4 seconds of that record at the Suffolk County Championships on Feb. 1. Coach Barry thinks this is the last year the record will stand, even with Perez graduating this year.
“With sophomores Jasper and Watts, along with junior Hudson and freshman Emmett Schumann, I expect it will go down next year,” Barry said.
Perez got the team off to a good start in the leadoff position on Saturday, handing off to Comly-Bolick, who kept the boys in third. Goulart ran a great leg, dropping to fourth before handing off to their anchor, Samuelson, who wouldn’t give up.
“Jasper is one of the toughest kids I have ever coached,” Barry said. “He quickly closed the gap to catch MacArthur High School (Levittown) before duking it out with their anchor on the final lap to secure a third-place finish and a spot on the podium.”
The 8:42.53 finish was Bonac’s second best of the season, giving Coach Barry confidence about the winter track season to come.
“Coming off winter break and not being able to use a track in a month, they showed so much courage and ran a great race. I am so proud of our entire team and their winter season,” Barry said. “This team has raised us to a new level and I expect big things next winter. We will miss our seniors Sean, Eduardo Calle, Griffin Beckmann, Max Bellenoue, and Alex Cabrera, but with 28-30 boys returning next year, things are looking up.”
