Huntington Track Returns From State Champs With Lots of Hardware

Image via HUFSD

Huntington returned from the New York State Indoor Track & Field Championships at Cornell University in Ithaca on Saturday with plenty of hardware.

The boys team claimed two gold medals and two silver medals, while the girls team claimed a silver medal.

The boy’s 4x400 meter relay defended their state title with a time of 3:24.02. The relay consisted of Kyree Johnson, Lawrence Leake, Shane McGuire and Infinite Tucker.

“Seeing your team cross the finish line first again at the state championships is one of the best feelings around,” Johnson told HUFSD. “I know everyone is proud of us and what we accomplished.”

The relay already had the fastest time in New York after setting a meet record at the historic Millrose Games.

In the preliminary qualifying race, Mitch Rudish and Exzayvian Crowell ran in place of Johnson and Leake to help the Blue Devils make it to the finals.

Tucker also claimed a gold and silver medal in two individual events. He placed first in the 55-meter hurdles, with a time of 7.38 seconds, and placed second in the long jump, leaping 23-01.75 feet after being seeded sixth in the event.

“If there’s one thing that I learned from Coach [Ron] Wilson and Coach [Eli] Acosta it’s that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” Tucker told HUFSD.

Johnson earned a silver medal in the 55-meter dash, finishing behind first place by just 1/100th of a second. His time was 6.40 seconds.

Leake, who was the top seed in the 300-meter dash, placed eighth in the finals with a time of 37.57 seconds after having the second fastest qualifying time in the preliminary heat. Despite the disappointing performance, Leake came back a few minutes later to help Huntington win the 4x400 meter relay.

For the girl’s team, Latoya Shand won a silver medal with Section XI-Suffolk’s intersectional medley relay team. She ran the 200 meter leg of the relay, which was comprised of athletes from Section XI. The relay’s final time was 10:30.79.