Smithtown West Travels Upstate for Trophy
Boys Track Team Takes Title at Queensbury Invitational
By James B. Teese
Photos Courtesy of Smithtown West Track
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It’s always a more satisfying bus ride home when you’re also bringing home the title!
That’s the story of the trek home from near Lake George for the Smithtown West Boys Track team this past weekend as they brought home the top team score from the Dr. Jack Iron Queensbury Track Invitational.
“Everything seemed to come together this weekend,” said Coach Peter Schieck. “Steps were on, starts were explosive and sticks were crisp,” he explained about his team’s battle with 24 teams from the State’s Section Two and surrounding counties. Smithtown West and East compete in Section One – comprising Suffolk County — one of the toughest sections in New York.
West totaled 95 points, outdistancing host Queensbury High School with 81 points and third-place South Glens Falls High School with 78 points.
Solid Performances
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Nick PaquetteNick Paquette led the West team, accounting for 28 of the team’s 95 points. He won the High Jump with a personal best and meet record 6 feet,-4 inches, and also won the Long Jump with a leap of 20 feet, 4 inches.
Paquette then joined Mike Traina, Cameron Baker and Ethan Scully to place second in the 4x400 Meter Relay in a time of 3:38.
Max Doughty was the other individual event winner, earning gold in the Shot Put with a toss of 42-2.5.
Numerous athletes finshed in the scoring to aid the West championship.
Ethan Scully placed second in the 200 Meter Dash. John Barone (4th ) and Chris;)
John Barone & Chris Quilla Quilla (3rd) contributed big points with stellar performances in the 110 High Hurdles and the 400 Meter Intermediate Hurdles.
Distance runners also contributed. Mike Grabowski placed 4th in the 3200 Meter run, and Nick Sabia was 5th in the Invitational Mile event.
Alex Grabowski placed 5th in the Discus, and James Moran found his steps to place 4th in the Triple Jump.
In the Pole Vault, Ryan Budney had a near miss with the bar at 11 feet, but still placed 6th overall. Jagger Kachejian had a personal best at 10’-6” and finished just outside the scoring.
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Scott Dinger Chris Murphy placed seventh in the High Jump. The 4x100m relay team of Matt Cappock, Xavier St. John, Matt Cacace, and Tyler Scully placed 4th. Scott Dinger and Matt Maidhof went 7-8 in the 3,000 Meter Steeplechase to earn ribbons. Cameron Baker also placed in the 800m to add a point.
“And I have to note the busiest guy of the day, Bobby Montoni,” said Schieck of his entrant in the five-event Pentathlon. “He placed 7th in his very first try at the Pentathlon!”.
Hammer Squad
Schieck was especially proud of his underclassmen, whose hard work, he said, has produced solid results and a promising future.
“For the first time we have six freshmen on the Hammer Squad list – marking a particularly good time or score in the list of Track & Field events — so we are very excited for the future with this group,” said the coach.
“This time of the season was particularly challenging for us due to the rain-outs and rescheduling of meets. We have had to go from meet to meet to meet for several days, and were concerned that the guys would be a little flat. We had a relaxing day on Friday and the guys were able to perform well [at Queensbury,]” he added.
Upcoming Championships
“Now it’s time to prepare for the championship part of the season,” said Schieck, referring to the upcoming League, Division, and State Qualifying meets.
On May 27 and 29, West will compete in the Division Championships to be held at Comsewogue High School.
A week later, the Section XI Individual Championships and State Qualifier will take place at Port Jefferson High School on June 5 at 3:00 pm and on June 6 at 12:00 noon)
The qualifiers culminate in trips to the statewide NYSPHSAA Championship to be held at SUNY Albany on June 12 and 13.