Mattituck Cross Country: 2022 Suffolk County Class C Champs

This year Mattituck’s boys and girls cross country teams did something unprecedented—each won the Suffolk County Class C Championships, sending both teams to the State Championship meet at the same time. Each coach—Chris Robinson for the girls, and Mike Jablonski for the boys—was named Coach of the Year in their respective division.

During difficult qualifying races at Sunken Meadow State Park in early November, each team won a nail-biter: the Mattituck girls defeated rival Center Moriches by two points, while the boys won their division by one point. The famously tough 5K course was messy after two days of rain, and unseasonably humid weather caused several young athletes to become too dehydrated to run. This was a race where each athlete’s performance mattered.

For the five seniors on the team, this was the penultimate race of their high school careers: Marc Zappulla, Trevor Zappulla, and Vincent Rakoczy for the boys team, and Jessica Rakoczy and Ava Vaccarella for the girls team. Trevor Zappulla won the qualifier in 17:23, and Ava Vaccarella came in second in her race in 21:06, finishing after Kayla Hayes from Babylon, who ran a 20:25.

Trevor Zappulla and Ava Vaccarella were named to the All-County Second Team, and Zappulla to the All-County Academic Team. Each has led their respective Mattituck team for the past several years.

The New York State Championships were held on Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School in central New York, just under six hours from Mattituck. The field was comprised of very talented athletes and Mattituck made a decent showing against some stiff competition.

The Boys Championship race was won by Bennett Melita from Fonda-Fultonville in 16:36. Mattituck’s first finisher was Trevor Zappulla, who came in 11th with a 17:28. Other finishers were Tanner Vaccarella in 18:33, Colin Fitzgerald in 19:17, Rafa Finnerty in 19:47, Vincent Rakoczy in 21:14, Matt Rosato in 21:51, and Marc Zappulla in 22:09.

The Girls Championship race was won by Angelina Napoleon from Allegany-Limestone in 18:14. Mattituck’s first finisher was Ava Vaccarella, who ran a time of 21:35. Other finishers were Ruby Villani in 22:01, Georgia Buckley in 22:28, Jessica Rakoczy in 23:47, and Summer Hinch in 25:42.

Congratulations to all of these runners and their coaches, who put in a lot of hours of training and competition to make it to States!