Small School Meet
If we thought the Large School meet was going to be close, the winner of the Small School meet will not be decided until the last relay. Five teams have legitimate shots of winning the meet. Port Jefferson has had a great indoor season so far, and behind the Jacobs sisters, they will be right in the mix. East Islip's High Jump and Mid Distance/Relay group will score major points. The Simonetti sisters will try to cancel out all of the points that the Jacob's sisters score. Sayville has a herd of distance runners that will score in many individual events as well as relays. Bayport Bluepoint's team spirits have been boosted by the return of superstar distance runner Sophia McInnes. In terms of being well-rounded, the Small School equivalent to West Babylon is Westhampton Beach. Lily Strebel will look to win head-to-head matchups against some of the best distance runners Suffolk has to offer.
There are questions we can ask before the seeds come out about each of these teams.
The first question we can ask is: How well do the Jacobs sisters handle the extra race? Similar to North Babylon, the Jacobs will probably have to run five races in 3.5 hours in order to win the meet. Senior sprinter, Jenna Jacobs has had a fantastic season and will look to help Port Jeff score in the 55 and 300. Her sister has a lot of potential in the 300 and should score major points in the 55 as well. Port Jeff has the first seed in the race walk as well by 28 seconds. They could have 30 points using only two people before the relays even start.
The second main question is: What will Sophia McInnes do? She has the fastest PR's in the 1500 and 3000 (from spring of 2022). She has had a late start to the indoor season, but has been trending upward quickly and is at least a co-favorite in any event that she enters. If she enters the 3000, she could knock Mullane Baumiller down if she can beat her, which hurts Sayville's title odds. If she runs the 1000 and 1500, she will likely go toe to toe with Lily Strebel who is also looking to score major points for Westhampton Beach. We would expect her to do two individual events but she has options in all three after racing the 3000 at Leagues last weekend. Her choice of events will swing scores 4-6 points in whatever event she decides, which is a huge amount when teams are looking to score 50-55 points to win.
The third question that people will be wondering is: How does East Islip split up their relays? Do they have enough depth to run both relays at a high level? The Simonetti sisters are sure to be in some individual events which makes running both relays impossible (3 event limit). Can they effectively run multiple relays with tired runners/younger members stepping up? They are the first seed in the 4x4 and the 4x8 but use many of the same girls for both relays. Sayville is the second seed in the 4x2 and 4x8 but will most likely not have to take people from either relay to help the other. Similar to East Islip, with Port Jeff's Jacobs likely doubling in the 55 and 300, Port Jeff will have to choose one relay to go all in on. Sayville's depth will really help them score big points in two of the three relays, a luxury not a lot of small school's possess.
Both sections of the county meet don't seem to have an overwhelming favorite. That likely means it's going to come down to who steps up the most and what coach/coaches can place their athletes in the most advantageous events for them to maximize their points. The end of the season is quickly approaching and this should be one of the most exciting meets of the year.