Sports

Track & Field: Riverhead relay team races into record books

Riverhead senior Steven Reid III runs the final leg of the 4x100 relay at Friday's state championship meet. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)
Riverhead senior Steven Reid III runs the final leg of the 4×100 relay at Friday’s state championship meet. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

There were undoubtable mixed emotions for Riverhead’s 4×100 relay team following the Section XI State Qualifier last weekend. The Blue Waves, thanks to their personal best time, had punched a ticket to the state meet. But a second-place finish left a bitter taste.

On Friday afternoon, at the University at Albany, the Blue Waves’ quartet was nothing but smiles after running its best time once again. 

Riverhead ran 42.54 seconds to match the school record last set in 1990, according to coach Steve Gevinski.

The Blue Waves finished fifth in Division I to earn all-state honors and to advance into Saturday’s federation championship race.

For all the excitement of equaling the school record, the Blue Waves knew they would get one more chance to set the record for themselves once and for all.

The relay team featured Andrew Smith, Jacob Robinson, Marcus Reid and Steven Reid III as the anchor.

The Blue Waves posted a better time than Half Hollow Hills West, the team that edged them for the title last weekend.

Newburgh won the race in a meet record time of 41.24. The previous record was set in 2006.

Shoreham-Wading River freshman Katherine Lee earned all-state honors with a sixth-place finish in the 3,000. Lee ran 9:59.15. It was the second time her career running under 10 minutes. She set the school record in the event last weekend.

Bella Burda of Arlington won the event in 9:38.14.

It was a busy afternoon for Bishop McGann-Mercy.

McGann-Mercy senior Delaney Macchirole hands off to Dayna Young in the 4x400 relay Friday. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)
McGann-Mercy senior Delaney Macchirole hands off to Dayna Young in the 4×400 relay Friday. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

The highlight was an all-state finish in the 800-meter run from junior Meg Tuthill. She ran 2 minutes 14.87 seconds, her second best time, to finish ninth overall. Among Division II runners, she was fourth, giving her all-state honors. Tuthill ran in the final heat of the championship race, pitting her against the top runners in the state.

Tuthill will also run the 1,500 Saturday and 4×800 relay.

Mercy had two relay teams compete Friday. The 4×100 team finished seventh in Division II in 51.95, beating its previous best of 52.15. The team featured Juliana Cintron-Leonardo, Adafih Blackburn, Dayna Young and Delaney Macchirole.

Three of the girls quickly followed by running the 4×400. Cintron-Leonardo, Young and Macchirole ran with Olivia Kneski. The group finished in 4:25.09 for 14th place in Division II.

Also in the 3,000, Devyn O’Brien ran 11:30.86 for Mercy.

On the boys side for Mercy, Dale Kelly finished seventh in the 200-meter preliminaries in 22.96 to advance to the finals Saturday. In the 400-hurdles, Alex Frabizio ran 57.72 to finish seventh in Division II. He’ll run in the federation meet — which combines all runners — on Saturday.

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