East Boys Track Battles Back, Beats Tough Connetquot Squad

This past Tuesday the Sachem East boys track team traveled to the windy fields of Connetquot High School in another epic League II battle.

A very good T-Birds team was determined to defend their home turf against the Arrows. Connetquot opened the meet with a solid 1-2 finish in the long jump. This was followed by a victory in the 110 high hurdles as the T-Birds delivered a powerful opening salvo.

Ryan Scarpelli started to right the ship for the Arrows as he cruised to a victory in the 1600 meter run. Morgan Genoino and Ryan Leone added to battle with a 1st and 3rd finish in the 100 meter dash.

Scarpelli came right back to win the 400 meter dash and close the gap. Not to be outdone, Connetquot then finished 1st and 3rd in the 800 meter run to increase the lead. To add to the Arrows woes, word came in that the T-Birds had won the shot and the pole vault.

Chris Huber picked up a 2nd in the shot and Tom Teufel and Matt DeKoning picked up a 2nd and 3rd in the pole vault to keep the Arrows in the hunt. The 400 meter hurdles was an epic battle of will power as Miles Graves just edged out the Connetquot runner to capture a victory. Trevor Guerrera picked up a valuable 3rd place finish in that race.

With the T-Birds still in the lead Genoino dashed to a victory in the 200 with Ryan Wellwood just being edged out by a T-Bird. The Arrows had closed the gap and word came in that “Big” Pat Bradley had won the discus and Eddie and Willie Silber finished 1-3 in the High Jump to bring the lead down to one.

Jersson Torres and Zack Patsy ran a beautiful 3200 meter race to finish 1-2 and give Sachem its first lead. The triple jump was the final field event before the relays and Connetquot had a distinct advantage on paper. Morgan Genoino and Will Silber forgot to read the paper as they finished 1-3 to extend the Arrows lead.

With having to win only one relay the Arrows 4 x 800 relay team went up against a determined and talented group from Connetquot. The T-Birds took an early lead and held it through the first three legs. Johnny Bruno closed a considerable gap in the third leg to give Scarpelli a chance.

Scarpelli left nothing in doubt as he hammered out a 2:03 anchor leg to seal the win. The Arrows closed out the meet with a very determined Eddie Silber holding off a valiant effort by the T-Birds to lead his team (Utsav Desphande, Joe Battaglie and Trevor Guerrera) to a win in the 4 x 400 relay.  

Finally, the quartet of Miles Graves, Ryan Wellwood, Ryan Leone and Genoino closed out the victory with a win in the 4 x 100 relay. This was a hard earned victory (82-59) over a very good and very determined Thunderbird Team.

The Arrows travel to the Westhampton Beach invitational this Saturday before taking on the Lindenhurst Bulldogs at home on Thursday.

Article courtesy of John Horst