SHSE Boys 4x800 Relay Team Brings Home The Gold And Breaks School Record

Champions in Record Time

East Relay Squad Makes MileSplit US Second Team Elite

(photo by Teese & Associates)

The Smithtown High School East Boys 4x800 Meter Relay Squad brought home the Championship Trophy from the 74^th Annual Eddy Meet held on Saturday at Schenectady High School.

After winning Bronze Medals last year in a time of 8:23, the quarter of Matt Whalen, Patrick Teese, Eric Herrmann and Eric Melcer (pictured l-r between Coach Borbet and Coach Margraf) not only earned Gold Medals by lowering their time to 8:05.16, but set a new Smithtown HS East school record in the event.

The fast time also catapulted the squad to a US Second Team Elite ranking on MileSplit.com, a national track & field website!

Herrmann (1:58+) led off the relay and gave East the lead.  Melcer (2:05) kept the team essentially even with the runner from Christian Brothers Academy, but he and Teese had an awkward pass with CBA getting in the way.  Teese (1:59+) battled back to erase the CBA lead in the third leg, making a clean handoff to Whalen just after CBA.  Whalen (2:00+) ran on his opponent’s shoulder for a lap, passed him on the back straightaway and held on for the two-and-a-half second margin of victory!

Three of the four are juniors – Melcer is the only senior – so the squad is looking to break the record again!

The relay team and the rest of the top Smithtown East performers will be competing in the Section XI Division championships this week at Comsewogue High School and the NYS Qualifiers soon after.