Track and Field: Riley will have company upstate in triple jump
SECTION XI INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS/STATE QUALIFIER
Riverhead High School has been the home to the top female triple jumper in Suffolk County for the past three years. What is different this year, though, is that the top two triple jumpers in the county wear blue and white Riverhead uniforms.
It’s hardly a surprise that Melodee Riley, a senior who has dominated the event, took first place in the Section XI Individual Championships/state qualifier for the third straight year and qualified for the state meet for the fourth successive year. What was something of an eye-opener, though, was what Kyra Braunskill-Miller did in the meet at Port Jefferson High School on Saturday.
While Riley turned in a winning distance of 39 feet 11 inches, Braunskill-Miller wasn’t too far behind her. The sophomore landed 38-3 3/4 to grab second place as well as a place in the state meet. For two athletes from the same team to qualify for the state meet in the same individual event is unusual.
Braunskill-Miller was also seventh in the 100 meters in 12.91 seconds.
Bishop McGann-Mercy senior Sasa Vann will also be making the trip to Cicero-North Syracuse High School for the state meet on Friday and Saturday. Vann had a tremendous day on Saturday, the final day of the two-day sectional meet.
Unlike Friday, which was breezy and unseasonably cool, the humidity and heat climbed on Saturday. That suited Vann just fine. The sprinter tore over the track to win the 400-meter final in a school-record time of 56.61 seconds. Vann, who edged out Lindenhurst junior Alyssa Barthelmes by 5/100ths of a second at the finish line, broke her own school record of 57.27, which she had set a week earlier.
In the 4×400-meter relay final, the Shoreham-Wading River foursome of Shannon McDonnell, Laura Lee, Courtney Clasen and Genevieve Kuczewski clocked a time of 3:58.63, which was good enough for fourth place.
McDonnell, a senior who had won the 800-meter final on Friday, was seventh in the 1,500 in 4:52.11.
Riverhead sophomore Destiny McElroy came in seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.38.
In the second day of the boys meet, Riverhead junior Anthony Galvan clocked a personal-best time of 9:58.17 to take third place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He followed two seniors, Rob Calamia of Smithtown East (9:44.95) and Michael Catalano of Smithtown West (9:53.59).
Shoreham-Wading River freshman Jordan Wright finished fifth in the 100 meters in 11.33 seconds.
Riverhead junior Jeffrey Pittman was sixth in the 200 in 22.72.
