On her return from the 140-team county AAA track meet Friday, Yani Cuesta said her East Hampton High girls team's third-place finish, with 90 points — behind Hauppauge and East Islip — was the best that she could remember.
Sean Knight, who coaches East Hampton's boys, reported "some fantastic results" from the county boys meet, as well.
Leading the way for the girls were K.K. Moore, Greylynn Guyer, Leah McCarron, C.J. Echavarria, Sara O'Brien, and the 4-by-400 relay team of Alex Kolhoff, Josie Mott, Laura Martinez, and O'Brien. Moore won the shot-put with a heave of 32 feet 8 inches. Guyer was the 2,000-meter steeplechase runner-up in a school-record time of 7 minutes and 28.16 seconds. McCarron was second in the shot-put at 32-1 and second in the discus at 98-10, a personal record. Echavarria was the runner-up in the 100-meter high hurdles. O'Brien was the runner-up in the 400 intermediate hurdles. The 4-by-400 relay team also came in second.
Moreover, Moore was fourth in the discus with a personal-best throw of 93-3, and Sophia Figueroa was fourth in the 100 high hurdles, as was the 4-by-800 relay team of Vanessa Rizzo, Maggie Greenwald, Danett Gonzalez-Alcala, and Guyer. Other fourth-place finishers were Kolhoff in the high jump and long jump, and Vicky Chen in the pole vault. Those placing fifth were Martinez in the 1,500-meter race and Bennett Greene in the 1,500-meter racewalk. Sixth-place finishers were Martinez in the 400, Greenwald in the 400 hurdles, McCarron in the long jump, and the 4-by-100 relay team of Chen, McCarron, Sam Ruano, and Echavarria.
"Eric Malecki and Nick DeLuca have worked so hard in preparing the girls for this meet, and many of them gave it their all and delivered," Cuesta added. "Nick maximizes our team's potential in every meet. He makes adjustments to our lineup as needed, sometimes at the last minute, and they work. . . . He was spot-on when it came to predicting the county meet's final standings."
As for the county qualifier meet at Comsewogue High School tomorrow and Saturday, Cuesta said she wouldn't know whom she would take "until Monday night."
"What I can say is that we're looking to have as many girls get in as we can — we want to keep strengthening our program each year."
As for the boys, Franco Palombino placed fifth in the county shot-put, as did the 4-by-400 relay team of Liam Knight, Edmar Gonzalez-Nateras, Sean Perez, and Xavier Johnson, in a season-best time of 3:35.10. Gonzalez-Nateras placed seventh in the 800. Marcus Oransky was seventh in the 400 intermediate hurdles. Watts Comly-Bolick, a freshman, placed eighth in the 1,600 in 4:51.80. Johnson was eighth in the 400. Max Bellenoue placed eighth in the 3,200. Knight was ninth in the 400 in a personal-best time of 51:58. Perez was 11th in the 800 in a personal-best time, and Jasper Samuelson, a freshman, was 12th in the 800 at 2:10.7, a personal-best time.
In other running news, Sean Grossman, 28, won the Montauk Mile on Sunday, crossing the Edgemere Road finish line in 4:21.21. Erik Engstrom, 26, was the runner-up in 4:36.99, followed by Edmar Gonzalez-Nateras, a member of East Hampton High's boys track team, in 4:43.61.
The top five were rounded out by Liam Knight (4:46.47), also a high school trackster, and the 41-year-old Neil Falkenhan (4:51.48).
Rebeka Stowe, 35, won the women's mile in 5:07.16. The 29-year-old Hanna Jerome (5:23.70) was second. Alyssa Bahel, 27, was third in 5:32.68.
The races, sponsored by the Old Montauk Athletic Club, were run in memory of the late John Conner, whose name is on the cup given out each year. The men's race drew 39 entrants, the women's 50.
