TENNIS AND TRACK: Boys, Girls Fully Engaged

   Michelle Kennedy, who coaches East Hampton High School’s boys tennis team, played off a half-dozen of her charges Monday with an eye toward rearranging the lineup.

    If things worked out the way she thought they might, Collin Kavanagh and Dan Okin, who have been playing first doubles, would take over the top two singles positions, at least in some of the matches, and Reese Donaldson and Matt Silich would move up from second to first doubles.

    “At the moment, with the first half of the season almost over, we’re in the middle of the pack,” Kennedy said, “behind William Floyd, Ross, and Westhampton.”

    In recent matches, East Hampton defeated Southampton 6-1, the sole loss coming at second singles, and lost at Westhampton Beach as Julian Mac­Gurn, at third singles, and Juan Agudelo and Keith Schad, at third doubles, picked up points. The fourth singles match, which was to have been between East Hampton’s Brady Yusko and Westhampton’s Nisarg Dabhi, was not contested.

    Ross, which is now coached by Juan Diaz — Vinicius Carmo having directed his full attention to Ross’s Tennis Academy — defeated Westhampton 4-3 Friday.

    The Cosmos lost at first and second singles, but won at three and four with Jack Brinkley-Cook and Jonas Feurring.

    Louis Caiola and Mikey Petersen upset Westhampton’s Cooper Lacetera and Brian Schwartz at first doubles, prevailing 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, and Ross’s third doubles team of Will Cassou and Maddison Hummel also won.

    Turning to the track teams, Chris Reich, the boys coach, said during Monday’s practice that while his charges lost last week to Sayville, there were some good things, namely Adam Cebulski and Erik Engstrom’s one-two punch in the 1,600 and 3,200 — Cebulski winning the mile, in 4:46, and Engstrom winning the two, in 10:46; Evan Larsen’s personal best of 2:06 in winning the 800; Hunter Kelsey’s 24.4 in the 200, good for second place, and Keaton Crozier’s performances in the long and triple jumps and in the 4-by-400 relay.

    Will Ellis, a sophomore, who went up against a nationally ranked senior hurdler at Sayville, was also doing well, the coach said, adding that “we gave up 30 points to them in the shot-put, discus, and the 400 and 110 hurdles.”

    “We’ve got seven to 10 guys who can break :60 in the 400,” said Reich. “Not many coaches can say that.”

    “Sayville was strong in the sprints and field events, though our team is really well-rounded. Thomas King is clearing 5-6 just on natural ability alone, and in the pole vault Henry Whitney, Liam Kessler, and Hunter Kelsey have all cleared the minimum height of eight feet. Sayville’s 4-by-8 relay won, but it was very close. We won the 4-by-4, and in the 4-by-1 we were ahead by 15 meters until the baton got passed to their anchorman, Chris Belcher, who’s got ridiculous speed.”

    Reich, who started the season with 57 on his roster, is now down to 50, “though I thought,” he said, “that by this time I’d be down to 35.”

    The team was to have had a meet Tuesday at Amityville.

    “Our first meet,” he said, “was in the snow. I’ve told the kids to bring sunscreen tomorrow.”

    Shani Cuesta, the girls coach, whose charges were to have faced off against their Amityville counterparts here Tuesday, said during Monday’s practice that there had been some personal bests in the Sayville meet. Among them Nina Piacentine’s 9:26.8 in the 1,500-meter racewalk and Taliya Hayes’s 77-1 1/2 in the discus, which was good for second place. Hayes won the shot-put with a heave of 27 feet 6 inches.

    Others to get points for East Hampton in the Sayville meet were Amanda Calabrese, who was third in the 100-meter hurdles and in the 200; Dana Cebulski, who won the 1,500, in 5:12; Cecilia Blowe, who was second in the 200 and third in the 100, and Shannon Ryan, who was third in the walk.

    In Charlotte Wiltshire’s absence, Daniella Dunphy, a junior, has become the team’s chief jumper.

    “Sayville had some terrific jumpers, though,” said Cuesta. “They had four in the 30s in the triple jump, which they won with a 34-5 1/2. . . . Katie Tikkanen, a freshman, tried the 400 hurdles for the first time for us, and came in fifth over all. Sayville beat us 103-32. We’re hoping to do better with Amityville.”