An entire season of training, dozens of runs in the freezing cold, workouts over the holidays, will all culminate on Monday, February 17th at Suffolk County Community College. Section XI's best will face off against each other for one of the two to four coveted states spots per event. Everything aside from the weight throw and the pole vault will be figured out by 10 PM next Monday. The Team Championships that were held last weekend led to a mountain of breakthrough performances. The landscape of events has shifted; many events reached completely new heights and are much deeper. We are going to give event-by-event breakdowns for the boys and the girls events. Hope everyone enjoys it, we doubt it will be covered prior to the meet in Newsday.
Keeping with tradition, we will preview the girls' events first, for no other reason aside from...ladies first. If you read that article and are still reading, we appreciate the attention span. The first two athletes from each event will qualify individually for the State Meet. A third athlete can run as an individual at States if they achieve the state qualifying standard in their event and get third at the State Qualifier. In four events, a fourth person may qualify and run on Section XI's intersectional relay. The intersectional relay is made up of the first non-individual qualifiers from the 300, 600, 1000, and 1500 (1600 for the boys). They team up and run a distance medley relay that consists of 1000, 200, 600, and a 1600. Section XI is always very strong in this event.
55 Meter Dash: North Babylon's Alden Chambers has not lost to a Section XI runner this season in his primary event. He leads the county by .07 and as long as his start stays solid, he should represent Section XI in March at the State Meet. He has run 6.46 which is well under the state standard of 6.74. He is the top dog in a field that has 13 boys under the state standard. Eastport South Manor's Jack Faldetta (6.53) is the second seed and has some daylight between him and a pair of runners who are at 6.58. Connetquot's Jhavani Thompson and Amityville's Derrick Prince will most likely be fighting it out for the third out of three spots to the state meet. This is the first event we are previewing for the boys but is one of the deepest events in the entire meet.
55 Meter Hurdles: Three athletes have the state standard (7.94) and if they can get over the hurdles cleanly, they have an excellent chance of all going. All five of the boys who broke 8.00 this season, did so at the Team Championships last weekend. If everyone is in good form, this should be a great race. At 7.69, Riverhead's Angelo Confort is the first seed. Zekey Huang from Mount Sinai and Krishmar Powell from William Floyd are the other two athletes with the standard. Lurking right behind them is Jordan Peck from North Babylon who JUST missed the standard when he ran 7.95. It should absolutely be an exciting eight seconds.
300 Meter Dash: Seven boys have the standard in the 300 (36.74) which will all but assure fourth place a trip to states. The first athlete without the standard is surprise 55m stud, Alden Chambers. Before the seeds came out, we would have assumed he would do the 55 and their relay of choice. His teammate, Shobanni Richards is the first seed and one of two athletes under 36 seconds. Unfortunately for him and Connetquot's Jhavani Thompson, three other runners are seeded between 36.00 and 36.09. This has the possibilities of being one of, if not the most, exciting races in the entire meet. Five runners will competefor four spots and only .22 seconds separate their seed times. We strongly suggest you carve out 40 seconds of your meet to watch these guys go at it. Who can handle the double the best? Who was the smartest in the trials? Monday night we should find out the answers to both questions.
600 Meter Run: Unlike many of the events we have previewed so far, only one runner possesses the state standard of 1:24.74. Huntington's Kender Edouazin has the only mark underneath 1:25. He needs to finish top three to run as an individual at the State Meet, but I am sure he will be looking for the win. Veteran 600 man Giancarlo DiFava is the next seed with Edouazin's teammate Jahmar Francis as the only other athlete under 1:26. These three will likely be heading to states, but if DiFava or Francis set a season's best by a half second or more, it will free up a fourth spot for an additional athlete.
1000 Meter Run: There is an overwhelming favorite in this race: Huntington's Matt Armstrong. Armstrong has been on fire this season and he is the first seed by three seconds. He may have a 4x4 leg to worry about later in the meet, so we will see if he is content to sit and kick, or if he is going to try and improve his seed time. Mattituck's Trevor Zappulla and Ward Melville's Jon Seyfert are the next two seeds and are favorites to get the last two spots. Only Armstrong has the qualifying time, so there may only be three people going for this event instead of the possible four.
1600 Meter Run: Due to scratching and the proximity to the relays, the 1600 is always an interesting race. Trevor Hayes, Dylan Beggins and Brian Liebowitz all have the standard and will be running this race fresh. Beggins has the top seeded 4x8 too later in the meet so he may not be trying to improve his time either. No Max Haynia and no Northport entrants seem to have watered down the middle of the field a little bit but we should have a great race for that fourth spot for the State Meet. The fast section of eight runners has runners four through eight separated by only 4.9 seconds. Whoever can kick the best may get on to that intersectional relay.
3200 Meter Run: Five runners with the state standard (9:42.24) will be competing for three spots at the state meet. Bay Shore's Jake Gogarty started the fastest with his early season 9:26 but Westhampton Beach's cross country national qualifier Maximus Haynia will be very difficult to beat. Haynia has the fastest personal record from last year (9:12) and has not lost to a Section XI runner this year. Will losing the "Runner of the Year" in cross country be on his mind? Or will he just be content to qualify after a slow start to the season because of illness? Douglas Antaky from Smithtown West had a great Large School Team Championship meet and seems to be in his best form since cross country. Northport's Brandon Cruz ran a very smooth looking 9:34 at the Stanner Games a month ago. Strategy will be a big factor in this race unless Haynia takes the race out from the gun and it could become a test of fitness/who can hang on the best. Regardless, it will be a fun way to start off the meet
Shot Put: If you have read this far and were waiting for the field events, here is where we can start to break some of them down. There are no athletes in this with the state standard (52'00) and with no one over 50 feet yet, it is unlikely that more than two boys get to the state meet. The first two seeds are both over 49 feet and no one else is over 48. West Babylon's Eamon Murray and Walt Whitman's Xavier Ali are the first and second seeds and if they throw what they are capable of, someone will have to come get them.
High Jump: Six boys between 6'0 and 6'2 will be another show down of who can show up big on the day of the meet. This could come down to a jump off for the State Meet. No one has the standard (6'4) and it will be hard to improve that much on Monday. Joseph Norby from East Islip, LaDuke Harris and Krishmar Powell from William Floyd are the three seeded at 6'2. Will Krishmar be tired from the hurdles? This should be very nerve wracking for all athletes and coaches involved.
Long Jump: Unlike the last two field events, Section XI is pretty stacked in the Long Jump. Four boys have hit the 21'6 standard so there should be three going to the State Meet. LaDuke Harris will look to take home the crown as he is the only athlete over 23 feet. It will be difficult because he is in two other events. However, he has proved he is capable of the triple throughout the season. Connetquot, probably the most well-rounded team in the county, has their best Long Jumper Aidan Friel looking for the win. Friel and Harris are the only athletes over 22 feet and they should get to states as long as they bring their A game. Behind them, West Islip's Rocco Carpinello and Central Islip's Ryan Antwi are the two other athletes with the standard and they are only separated by 2 inches. Who will earn that third spot on the runway at Ocean Breeze?
Triple Jump: There are a lot of familiar names in this event from earlier in the article. Ryan Antwi will try and qualify in both horizontal jumps and Aiden Friel will do the same. They are the top two seeds but there are five athletes above the 43'6 state standard. Mitchell Diamond from Half Hollow Hills West is barely in front of North Babylon's Shobanni Richards who will have to navigate his efforts with the 300 dash. Rocco Carpinello is also above the standard and will look to make up the 5+ inch difference between him and Diamond.
Weight Throw: This event has less drama than most of the others. Eamon Murray is the top seed in the weight (as he is in the shot). However in this event, he has the state standard (53'00). Northport's Ethan Makaw is second just above the standard. The main question is can Northport's Mason Hecht get a 20 inch season best OR beat one of the top two seeds to qualify? He is the only other athlete within seven feet of the standard.
Pole Vault: No one has reached the 13 foot state standard. Tristen Michaud from Longwood continues their excellent Pole Vault tradition and is the top seed at 12'9. Behind him, there are four athletes within three inches of each other for the second spot. This situation is very similar to the high jump on the boys side. Who can fly the highest next week? Bishal Das and Troy Belcher both have vaulted 12'3 this season and are the second and third seeds.
4x200 Relay: Five teams are heading into the state qualifier with the state standard (1:34.94) and this race is going to be an absolute battle. Longwood sits atop everyone with a 1:33.22 and they return all of their runners next year according to their seed. Connetquot and Amityville sit less than a third of a second behind them. Both teams will be chomping at the bit to finish in at least second place to earn a trip to the State Meet. Huntington and Half Hollow Hills West are also within a second of Connetquot. If all five teams make it through to the final, whoever picks their order the best, and executes on race day, will be sending four athletes to states. There is a lot on the line and this will be an excellent race.
4x400 Relay: For almost a decade now, the 4x400 relay has run through Huntington. Back in the outdoor season of 2016, we had the privilege of watching Infinite Tucker and Kyree Johnson lead them to one of the most impressive records in New York State. That year, Huntington used a 46.0 anchor to run 3:10. This year, they will have a difficult time repeating that type of performance. However they are still the number one seed and are the clear favorite. They have the first and third seed in the 600 and their coaches always have them prepared to handle a double. Longwood and Connetquot sit right behind them and have the state standard (3:32.44) but they also have 4x2 responsibilities. How will they pick? Will they do both? Huntington is the favorite but can Section XI send two teams in the 4x4? We will have to wait and see.
4x800: This race does not seem to have the drama that the two sprint relays do. Bay Shore and Northport sit almost 30 seconds ahead of their next closest competitor. Bay Shore has two athletes doubling and Northport only has one. Westhampton Beach has a team that can get close if either of these two teams falter, especially with Haynia and Hayes chasing people down. The top two seeds both have the state standard (8:05.04) and they seem to be a straight away ahead of the rest of the competition at least.