Mattituck’s Ever Meyer earns high jump crown at county championship
It is possible to be happy about winning a championship yet be a bit disappointed about it as well.
Mattituck High School junior Ever Meyer experienced those conflicting emotions Saturday at the Suffolk County Small Schools Track and Field championships at Suffolk County Community College.
Meyer captured the high jump crown with a leap of four feet and 11 inches, but she missed her personal goal.
“I did not get five feet, sadly,” she said. “It wasn’t even about wanting to get it. I just should have gotten it. It’s my PR.”
Meyer had three attempts at five feet but knocked the bar over each time.
“I had a really good day today,” she said. “I’m still happy I ended the season on a good note. Now I have state quals.”
The state qualifiers are set for SCCC on Feb. 9-10. The state championships are scheduled for the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island on March 6-7.
“That would be crazy for winter,” Meyer said. “Winter states are really challenging. I really hope I just give a good performance at state quals, because I had a bad season. I want to end it on a good note.”
In a duel with Bayport-Blue Point’s Layla Quirke (4-10), Meyer cleared the bar on her first jump.
“I had a lot of energy,” she said. “My speed was really good. When I put the speed and technique together, it all worked out.”
Meyer knows something about the state championships. Last spring, she qualified for the outdoor states, winning the county small school pentathlon crown. There is no indoor pentathlon, so Meyer returned to her two specialties: the high jump and the triple jump.
With both events running simultaneously, she had be alert to know when she was needed to jump at each event. Mattituck coach Chris Robinson helped out, reminding her. Her best leap in the triple jump was 33-4.75, for 10th place.
“Being busy with my events helps me out,” she said. “It also keeps my adrenaline up. But it also is stressful because it’s two really important events. You’re just going back and forth, back and forth.”
Two Southold-Greenport athletes also stood out, as junior Devin Stanton finished second in the long jump and sophomore Ida Reiniger earned third-place honors in the 55-meter high hurdles.
During her first heat, Stanton fouled on her first two jumps before registering her best leap of 17-2 on her final try.
Asked what she did on her third attempt, Stanton replied, “I don’t really think. I just have to do it. I just have to channel inner energy.”
Southold coach Tim McArdle felt that those fouls could be easily corrected.
“We had some close calls. We had fouls by half an inch, an inch, two inches, which is really minuscule when it was a long jump,” he said. “Some of those jumps look like they could have been winning jumps.”
Hauppauge’s Rachel Budke (18-3.75) won the event.
Stanton had a busy day, running in two other competitions. She recorded a personal record (7.62) in the 55-meter dash, finishing eighth, and took 13th in the 300 (45.76).
She is looking forward to the qualifiers.
“I’m very optimistic,” Stanton said. “I’m seeded fourth right now. I feel like I can do very well.”
Since the qualifiers will be held over two days — the 55 on Feb. 9 and the long jump on Feb. 10 — Stanton figured she would have plenty of energy for both.
Last spring, Reiniger turned heads, capturing the 100 meters at the county 4B outdoor championships, and competed at the states in the 100 and 400 hurdles.
She did well on Saturday.
In the 55 hurdles final, Reinger was clocked in 9.09 seconds while finishing third, improving from 9.23 in her heat.
“I think I did a really good job in the hurdle finals,” she said. “I felt really great going in.”
In the 300 meters, Reiniger had a very strong finish, taking second in her heat (46.55) and 17th overall.
“I just pushed in the end and got a decent time,” she said.
In other results, the Settlers’ Le Neve Zuhoski took eighth in the shot put (27-10.25) and junior Emily Kaelin was 17th in the 3000 (PR of 12:14.24). Mattituck senior Page Kellershon was 18th in the 300 (46.57).
“The girls did a great job,” McArdle said. “Very proud of them. The girls push themselves to their limits, trying to go above and beyond. They’re all strong competitors.”
