25 Years Ago in Bonac Sports: 05.10.18
May 13, 1993
Becky Cooper set two East Hampton High School records Tuesday in a girls track meet here with Mercy. Throwing into a slanting wind, the genial Bonac senior broke the discus record on her first try, unleashing a low throw of 101 feet, one-and-one-half inches that smashed Audine Franzone’s mark, set three years ago, by almost 10 feet.
In the shot, Cooper had to wait until her third try to set a record, her fifth in that event since last year. Her 36-21/4 heave bettered a mark she set earlier this season by three-quarters of an inch. The wind was at her back in this event, but East Hampton’s coach, Mark Sucsy, said, with a laugh, “There are wind-aided 100-meter dashes and 100-meter hurdles, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as a wind-aided shot-put.”
May 20, 1993
The East Hampton High School boys tennis team finished the league season undefeated last week as it rolled over Mercy and Riverhead with the loss of just two sets.
It was the first time East Hampton has had an undefeated boys tennis team since 1986.
The East Hampton High School baseball team continued its streak last week, completing a sweep of Mercy and winning game one of its series with Mattituck. As of Tuesday, the team had won nine of its last 10 games, and seven in a row.
. . . As far as the players went, the week’s “headlines” pretty much were Ross Gload’s as the left-handed junior first baseman hit five home runs — putting him within one of tying Rich Cooney Jr.’s decade-old school record of 10 — and drove in 15. He also had two doubles.
May 27, 1993
Since Kevin Smith began managing the golf concession at Montauk Downs State Park in 1988, revenue has nearly doubled, the pro shop’s inventory has improved, and a variety of new golf programs have been introduced.
With that track record and a pledge to invest $220,000 in other improvements, Mr. Smith said he was confident his firm, Tee to Green Services, would win another five-year contract to manage the concession when the state asked for bids last fall.
Instead, Mr. Smith was stunned to learn late last year the contract for the period beginning in 1994 will be awarded to Fred Gipp, whose Aces and Birdies manages the West Sayville County Golf Course for the Suffolk Parks Department.
“They’re going to have to arrest me to get me out of this place,” said Smith, whose contract expires at the end of this year. He has appealed the state’s decision and is awaiting the results of the state comptroller’s review of the bidding procedure. — Stephen J. Kotz
Despite throwing more consistently than his Port Jefferson opponent, Mike Helbig, Larry Keller, East Hampton High’s candidate for the county championship in the discus throw, was the runner-up by a foot in that event at the first-ever Division III meet, held here Monday.
. . . Helbig’s win evened the series at 2-2 with Keller, who defeated his Port Jeff opponent in a dual meet here, and also in the recent county junior/senior meet. The two will meet again in the county meet at Bellport on June 4 and 5.
Besides Keller, Mike Burns, the team’s coach, will take to the countys his three pole-vaulters — Rob Balnis, who placed third in the division meet with a vault of 12 feet, Chris Minardi, and Ron Gatlin — and perhaps Rory Knight, a sophomore, who recently began competing in the high jump.
Gary Swanander, a 25-year-old East Hampton sports car racer, continues to lead the Sports Car Club of America’s northeast Formula Ford division, despite a second-place finish at the Bridgehampton Race Circuit Sunday to Doug Hobby, last season’s national runner-up, from Sharon, Conn.
“I’ll get him this weekend,” said Swanander, who has yet to beat the 15-year Formula Ford veteran.
A former East Hampton High School miler, Swanander, who is a self-taught race car driver, passed Hobby three times in the 16-lap race around the 2.85-mile Bridgehampton loop. In the end, Hobby beat Swanander by a car length. The open-wheel sports cars averaged about 100 miles per hour, and reached speeds of 140 on the straight.