Yani Cuesta, the veteran coach of East Hampton High’s girls winter track team, was pleased to announce Monday that her squad had finished fourth among 10 schools vying in the League IV meet at Suffolk Community-College Brentwood Sunday.
With 59 points, East Hampton finished behind Sayville (121), Westhampton Beach (114), and Islip (72), but ahead of Half Hollow Hills West (21), Miller Place (20), Amityville (19), Kings Park (18), Harborfields (16), and Rocky Point (4).
“This is the highest point total and placement in a league championship in the 18 winters I’ve been coaching,” Cuesta said. “So many stepped up to make this happen.”
Leslie Samuel won the long jump with a personal-best leap of 17 feet 5 inches, was third in the 300-meter dash in personal-best 44.16 seconds, and was fourth in the 55-meter dash in a personal-best 7.77 seconds.
Dylan Cashin, who had the week before run the 1,600 in 5:31.69 at the Stanner Games at the Armory in Manhattan, placed third in the 3,000 in a season-best 11 minutes and 4.24 seconds. She was fifth in the 1,500, in another personal-best time of 5:15.50.
“It was really great watching Dylan run this race,” said Cuesta, “because it was so much more about racing strategy than just focusing on time. . . . Dylan jumped in for Leslie, who had already competed in the maximum-allowed three events, in the 4-by-400 relay. Having already run the 3,000 and 1,500, I worried that she might not have the legs for it, but I was absolutely impressed with how well she ran. In these last few weeks Dylan has become a much different competitor. She’s running much more relaxed and confident. I’m absolutely floored and can’t wait to see what else she does.”
That relay team, which included Melina Sarlo, Meredith Spolarich, and Ryleigh O’Donnell, won the event in 4:28.50.
In other races Sunday, O’Donnell won the 600 and was seventh in the 300; Spolarich was second in the high jump at 4 feet 10 inches, and Sarlo, who is to play lacrosse at Hofstra, placed fifth in the shot-put with a heave of 29 feet 2 inches, a personal record.
Cuesta said she was very happy to have two racewalkers in Paige Daniels and Ella Abran, ninth graders, who placed seventh and eighth, “not far off from scoring positions,” in the 1,500-meter event. “These young athletes have made significant improvements lately — I can’t wait to see them get stronger and better.”
The 4-by-200 relay team of Shirley Jiang, Isabel Doyle, Hailey Rigby, and Samantha Ruano “felt like they’d been blown away by their competition, but this group is a different one than had run the 1:57 that was used as their seeding time. In finishing eighth I thought they did an excellent job.”
