East Hampton Cross Country Teams Start Season Undefeated

It’s been a year and a half since the East Hampton girls cross country team pulled off its improbable run to its first ever county title in November 2019, and while it may have taken a little bit of extra time to get back on the trails, the Bonackers finally made their season debut this past Friday, and they started where they left off.

Not only did East Hampton, along with the rest of Suffolk County, have the start of its fall season pushed back six months due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but when a schedule was finally put out and the Bonackers knew they were going to get back outside, they had to wait yet another week. Its first opponent of the season, Islip, had to postpone the season opener due to COVID contact tracing, which created the tri-meet at East Hampton High School on Friday between Bonac, Islip and Miller Place.

East Hampton won the meet handily, defeating Miller Place, 19-36, and Islip, 15-40. Dylan Cashin won the meet for East Hampton in 16:11, followed by Ryleigh O’Donnell (16:40), Ava Engstrom (17:20), Emma Hren (17:56), and Bella Tarbet (18:56), who finished third, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Engstrom and Tarbet were the team’s top runners in 2019, but it appears the young freshman duo of Cashin and O’Donnell are ready to step up this season, and Coach O’Donnell is okay with that.

“That’s the whole thing about racing, you can’t predict the day of the race, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she explained. “Dylan had a fantastic performance and has been working really hard in training. They all work together and training is not the same as racing. They all train at the same pace, but that obviously always breaks up when you’re racing, so it comes down to who’s got that extra oomph that day of the race. Dylan is a freshman, Ryleigh is a freshman, and they’re coming into their glory days as the older girls get a little more seasoned. It’s still early, though, and we still have more races to go, so there is time for everyone to get up to speed with one another.”

Coach O’Donnell is a bit leery of her team’s depth this season. Cashin, O’Donnell, Engstrom, Hren and Tarbet basically make up the entire team, so one injury or issue could derail the entire season. The head coach said that having the cross country season in March didn’t help in that aspect, but she’s hoping with some recruiting, she can add to the team by next fall.

East Hampton has two more league meets this season against Mount Sinai on March 30 and against Amityville on April 6. Victories in both would ensure the East Hampton girls of another first — a league title.

Just like their female counterparts, the Bonac boys picked up victories over both Islip and Miller Place in their first two meets of the season. After defeating Islip, 20-37, at Belmont Lake State Park in West Babylon on March 10, East Hampton defeated Miller Place, 16-43, on March 16 at Cathedral Pines County Park in Middle Island.

The victory over Miller Place was the 100th career victory at East Hampton for head coach Kevin Barry, who, prior to his 24 years at East Hampton, coached at Mercy for 19 years.

​Evan Masi, a junior, crossed the finish line first along with freshman Brayan Rivera in 13:38 in the victory over Islip. Amari Gordon and Mikey Gilbert finished fourth and fifth in 13:54 and 14:04, respectively, while Liam Fowkes rounded out the scoring for East Hampton by placing eighth in 15:18.

Against Miller Place, Rivera won in 14:22, while Masi and Gordon crossed together in 14:31, followed by Gilbert (14:39) and Fowkes (15:12).

Barry said he likes the fact that he has three freshmen in Rivera, Gilbert and Fowkes, the younger brother of Ryan and Megan “Mimi” Fowkes, both runners who have since graduated, in his top five. Masi broke his ankle this past summer, Barry said, and is still working his way to being in the shape he was when he reached state meet in 2019.

Both East Hampton boys and girls will be at Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor this Friday for an invitational put together by the Pierson boys and girls teams. It will feature some of the top small schools the county has to offer with Westhampton Beach (Class B) and Port Jefferson (Class C) going head to head.