Boys Track

Derrick Adkins Classic – at Mitchel Athletic Complex

BOYS: 110-meter high hurdles – 1. Kemar Clarke (South Shore) :14.0; 2. Nick Middleton (Saunders, Section I) :15.0, 3. Steven Brown (Half Hollow Hills East) :16.0. 1,600 – 1. Frankie Dioguardi (Massapequa) 4:26.3; 2. Brendan Connell (Smithtown) 4:29.8; 3. Brandon Abasolo (Long Beach) 4:36.0. 400 intermediate hurdles – 1. Stephon Beckford (Baldwin) :57.6, 2. Windell Wallace (Lawrence) :58.7; 3. Gregory Dennis (Elmont) 1:00.2. 400 – 1. Rodney Campbell (South Shore) :49.5; 2. Daine Watson (Elm) :49.8, 3. Barry Mask (Bal) :50.2. 4×100 – 1. Steve Nelson, Dale McDonald, Kevin Thomas, Quincy Hankins (Roosevelt) :44.6. 4×200 – 1. Naheem McNeil, Chad Allen, Anthony Celestin, Julius Grayson (Hempstead) 1:31.3. 4×400 – 1. Anthony Williams, Barry Mask, Lavar Nero, Beckford (Bal) 3:29.1. Spring Medley – 1. Kevin Pisciotta, Andrew Bethell, Harris Nord, Frankie Diouguardi (Massapequa) 1:14.4. Distance Medley – 1. Clark, Lewis, Rosado, Pressman (Grady) 10:58. Discus – 1. John Lanberston (Chaminade) 133-04, 2. Selwyn McPherson (S. Shore) 126-01, 3. George Herger (Cham) 121-00. High Jump – 1. Nathaniel King (Sewanhaka) 6- 02; 2. Fontaine (West Babylon) 5-10; 3. Shaquan Greene (Law) 5-06. Long jump – 1. Nick Adams (Grady) 20-02.75; 2. Nick Carboni (W. Bab); 3. Samuel Cuffey (S. Side) 19-05.75. Pole vault – 1. Vincent Cice (Cham) 12-00; 2. Steven Serrano (Cham) 10-06; 3. Sutherland (Grady) 8-06. Shot put – 1. McPherson (S. Shore) 47-00.5; 2. Searles (Longwood) 45-00.5; 3. Kwaku Boah (Bal) 43-10.  April 10

Longwood 80, Floyd 61; April 26

Longwood 80, Brentwood 61.May 2

Longwood 80, Patchogue-Medford 61. May 9

TRACK & FIELD INSIDER: Archibald’s act together now: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]

Gold, Jeff; Staszewski, Joseph. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 17 May 2007

Austin Archibald was the two-time hurdles champion in winter track and the defending champion in spring track. There were countless first-place finishes and impressive times that made him a Division I recruit.

But it wasn’t enough. Longwood coach Joe Reilly saw a great athlete that, despite the success, wasn’t realizing his potential. He wasn’t working hard enough in practice. The success Archibald experienced had come from natural talent, not from pushing himself to the limit.

When he ran the 400-meter hurdles in just over a minute, a slow time for someone with his talent, Reilly’s frustration increased.

“He’s been the best hurdler for a couple years, but he was cutting himself short. Someone of his ability should be running a lot faster,” Reilly said. “The bulb went on his head and he’s been different. Now when I give him times to run in practice, he runs them or goes faster. There is no fooling around.”

Archibald understood Reilly’s position and accepted it.

“I thought I was working hard, but I guess I wasn’t doing enough,” he said. “I’ve picked it up.”

Archibald currently holds the fastest times for any Suffolk public school athlete during the 2007 spring season in the 110 high hurdles (14.6 seconds), 400 hurdles (55.3), long jump (21 feet, 10 3/ 4 inches), and high jump (6-5).

“There might not be many right around here, but there are many ‘Austin Archibalds’ around the country. He was just going to be a big fish in a little pond if he didn’t begin to work harder,” Reilly said of Archibald, who will continue his career at SUNY-Buffalo. “Now I think he’s really going to do some great things in college.”

“It’s not good enough to be good only here,” Archibald said. “I want to be good anywhere.”

Archibald leads a team that is perennially one of the best in Suffolk. Longwood recently won its sixth straight league dual-meet title and hasn’t lost a dual meet during the streak. Other top contributors include senior James Stavdal and junior Barry Franklin, both of whom excel in the distance events, and senior Dan Wrobel, who would likely be the top hurdler on other any team, but is second on Longwood because of Archibald.

“We’ve had a good season and are now coming around with some really great times,” Reilly said. “Our goal is always to start by winning the league, and then we move on to the county. We’ve accomplished our first goal.”

“Basically anything less than a county title is a disappointment,” Stavdal said. “Year after year, we’ve had success, so you don’t want to be the group that doesn’t keep it going.”

Reilly said he was confident in his team, but that the competition across the county was high. Longwood clinched its league title with a narrow 72-69 win over Middle Country.

“Sometimes you go into a meet and you know what you have and you know what other teams have and nine times out of 10, it works out the way you hope,” he said. “We don’t know that this year. There are great teams out there.”

After the county meet, the top athletes will get a chance to compete in the state meet. Archibald finished fourth in the 110 hurdles a year ago, and would love a state championship to cap his career.

“It’s definitely something I want and definitely something I believe I can do,” he said.

And something he’ll be preparing for with greater focus than before.

Putting best foot forward

SUFFOLK TRACK & FIELD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS, Longwood gains 3rd straight: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]

Gold, Jeff. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 24 May 2007:

The thought of three-peating wasn’t preeminent in Longwood coach Joe Reilly‘s mind midway through the season.

Forget winning a division championship, he just wanted his team to start running to its potential. To start to truly believe in its own ability. His group lacked the confidence he believed it needed to continue the Longwood dominance.

“We thought we had a bunch of nice kids, but we weren’t sure they had the mettle to go to the next level,” Reilly said. “We just kept pounding them to believe they could do it, and the results over the past month got better and better.”

Longwood was awesome yesterday, winning the Suffolk Boys Track Division I championship with 143 points. Brentwood finished second in Division I with 74.

“Today the team performed amazingly,” Reilly said. “We’ve continued to improve and thought we had a chance, but not to do it like this with such a wide margin.”

Longwood was led by Austin Archibald, who won the 110-meter hurdles (14.71 seconds), the 400 hurdles (55.47), the high jump (6 feet, 4 inches) and the long jump (22- 1/4). Teammate Barry Franklin, won the 3,200 (9:44.89) and finished second in three other events.

“Three in a row, and we did it together as a team. It’s huge,” Franklin said. “Longwood track is on top again.”

In the 110 hurdles, Central Islip’s C.J. Benton was trailing Longwood senior Austin Archibald until the final hurdle when Benton bolted forward to finish first and beat last year’s champion 14.70 to 14.73.

Archibald was seething after the loss, and he took out his frustration on the field in the 400 hurdles, winning in 54.81 while maintaining a scowl throughout the race.

“I was definitely trying to make a statement after I lost,” said Archibald, who hadn’t lost in the 110 hurdles since he was a sophomore, Longwood coach Joe Reilly said. “I was surprised he beat me, but I take my hat off to him.”

While Archibald was motivated by another athlete, Mount Sinai’s Nick David was motivated by his own pursuit of perfection. The pole- vaulter won his fifth county championship Friday at 15 feet, 6 inches, entering the competition after the rest of the field had finished. – Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 03 June 2007: