Typically the weather is freezing and wet, but this year the sun and temperature was very helpful in creating some great performances at this year’s Suffolk Officials Meet held Saturday at Mt. Sinai High School.
The Sachem North boys track and field coaching staff told its athletes it was a great day to compete and the possibility for getting personal records (PR) was there. Many of the boys got PRs in both of the events they competed in as well. With so many of the team’s athletes posting their best performances, it was only right that some team members etched themselves in the Sachem record books.
The morning started off with thrower Michael Kearns getting a personal record twice in the discus. Kearns took fifth place in the meet with a throw of 131 feet and 9 inches, which ranks him eighth in Suffolk County. That was only the warm-up of Michael’s day though. When his favorite event, the shot put began, he kept his momentum going with a throw of 56 feet and three-inches, breaking his old record of 55 feet and five-inches and securing himself a spot in the finals. Kearns would end the day winning the meet for shot put with a new personal record of 56 feet and eight-¼ inches. That throw would also rank him as the fourth best thrower in the county.
It’s hard to match a day like that, but that is exactly what the distance medley relay team would do when the last event of the meet was called. Coach Holl and Coach Rogers decided that all relay members would run fresh because there was a strong possibility of them breaking the school record.
The record of 10:55.8 was set back in 2008 by the very talented team of Franco Doyle, Frank Fezza, Joe Johnson and David Steinberg. Could seniors Antony Coccia, Isaac Garcia-Cassani and Bryan Runz accompanied by freshman Jonathan Lauer break the record and if so, by how much?
The relay team ran on all cylinders with each member running fantastic splits. Coccia opened up with a 3:12.44, 1200 meter race. Runz kept the baton moving fast as he split a 52.88 in the 400. The rookie, Lauer now had a lot of pressure on him to perform well and he answered with a 2:05.01 in the 800.
Anchor leg Garcia-Cassani rounded out the relay with a 4:26.26 in the mile, which was his best time of the season.
When it was all said and down they had broken the school record as well as the meet record with a time of 10:36.26! The meet record was set last year by St. Anthony’s at 10:42.
Twenty-six Personal Records, two school records and one meet record. Not a bad day at all.
-Submitted by Sachem coach Bryan Rogers