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Riverhead cadet presented with award for heroics

COURTESY PHOTO | Navy Officer Commander John Karin presents Cadet Anthony Mammina with the Meritorious Merit Award as Lt. Col. Peter McCarthy looks on.
COURTESY PHOTO | Navy Officer Commander John Karin presents Cadet Anthony Mammina with the Meritorious Merit Award as Lt. Col. Peter McCarthy looks on.

A Riverhead High School senior and NJROTC cadet received the corps’ highest honor during their annual inspection Friday morning for saving a fellow runner who had suffered an asthma attack during a cross country meet last September.

Anthony Mammina was competing in the Suffolk County Coaches Invitational last year when he found another runner from a different school who had suffered an asthma attack and was lying on the ground, unconscious. Though other runners ran past the fallen competitor, Anthony stopped to help the teen.

Anthony, a Boy Scout trained in first aid, used an emergency inhaler nearby to help the boy regain consciousness, and then with the help of another runner carried the victim to a first aid station.

Anthony then finished the race.

Anthony, who has overcome a seizure disorder to run in track meets across the country, was awarded the Meritorious Achievement Award by Navy Officer Commander John Skarin during the inspection Friday.

In a citation issued to Anthony, Navy Commander J.W. Hankins praised his actions as “in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Junior Officers Training Corps program.”

“Cadet Mammina’s quick thinking, positive action and heroic behavior helped to save another athlete’s life,” the citation reads. “His willingness to get involved, apply his first aid knowledge, and his compassion for a fallen competitor are a testament to his strong sense of honor, sportsmanship and determination to do the right thing.”

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