Youth leading the way in county track championships
If there was one lesson learned from the Suffolk County 4B track and field championships, it is not to count out any talented younger competitors.
Two North Fork sophomores and a freshman made this clear by winning points for their schools at Mount Sinai High School on May 29.
Competing in her first county final, Southold/Greenport freshman Ida Reiniger won the girls 100-meter hurdles title and acquitted herself well in two other events. Teammate and sophomore Devin Stanton continued a family tradition by capturing the long jump. And Mattituck sophomore Ever Meyer, in her first try at the event, took first-place honors in pentathlon.
Southold girls track coach Tim McArdle, who called Reiniger’s performance “a huge deal,” had an inkling that she had great potential. “I was very intrigued by her ability,” he said. “I knew that she was going to be very competitive coming into the first couple weeks of the season. I spoke to the Southold and Greenport athletic directors, and said, ‘I think we’re going to have another special one on our hands. I think that she could compete for a state championship.’ I’m happy it’s coming to fruition.”
Reiniger won the 100 hurdles in 16.85 seconds. She also finished second and seventh in the 400 hurdles (1:10.39) and 100 dash (13.41), respectively.
She said winning “was a dream … I was hoping to make it to the counties and states and just do well.”
Part one was accomplished on May 29.
The key to Reiniger’s victory in the 100 hurdles was a quick start. “I had a kind of good start,” she said. “It was a little rough, but I got faster as it went on.”
Stanton literally followed in the footsteps of her older sister Cameron, who won the event last spring. She came out on top with a leap of 16 feet, 3 inches — one inch better than Elwood-Glenn’s Erika Hartough. “It feels amazing,” she said. “I never thought I would, because my sister has always been the county champ. Feels amazing. It’s very unexpected, but I’m very happy.”
And happy with her winning leap. “I had a way better run up and I didn’t think as much,” said Stanton, who took fifth in the 400 (1:05.00). “I just did what I usually do. I felt good in the air. I got a lot of height. I also had my sister, which really helped me for the first time this season. She came back from college [at Tufts University].”
Nothing like having a mentor who had already accomplished the feat. “She said that I could do it,” Stanton said.
Meyer needed two days to secure her victory. On Saturday, she earned first-place honors in the high jump (1.42 meters) and long jump (4.28). On Thursday, she was second in the 100 hurdles (18.91) and shot put (7.45 meters), and third in the 800 meters (2:50.19). “I think I could have done better, because I always think I can do better,” Meyer said. “But overall, I’m pretty happy.”
Competing with the varsity as an eighth-grader, Meyer asked head coach Chris Robinson about competing in pentathlon. She was told she could upon reaching a certain level of maturity. “Track’s all about trying to get the points and working the team and see who’s best at what. I do a broad amount of things,” she said. “I run, I jump, I hurdle. I do everything.”
The trio’s next challenge is the state qualifiers at Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson on June 5 and 6. “It would be my first time. So, kind of scary,” Reiniger said.
And perhaps scary to her competitors.
Stanton said that competing at the states in Middletown on June 14 and 15 “would be amazing. I have no words.”
Meyer won’t rest on her laurels. “I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m going to work my butt off, and I’m going to get better at every single one of the events,” she said.
In other results: Mattituck’s Haley Lake finished second in the girls’ pole vault (8 feet). Southold’s Catherine Glasser (1,991 points) took third in the pentathlon. Teammate Le Neve Zuhoski also secured third place in the discus (96-08 feet).
Ryan Duffy, who completed the 3,200-meter race in seventh place (10:29.48), recorded the best finish among Settlers’ boys. For the Tuckers, Anthony Soto was sixth in the 400 hurdles (1:02.62) and Daniel Gamboa-Boutcher in the triple jump (39-9.5).
Southold (48 points) took fifth in the girls competition. Mattituck (18) was 13th. Among the boys, the Tuckers (2) were 11th. The Settlers did not accrue any points.
