Bonac Girls Indoor Track Team Continues Its Impressive Season at Small Schools Championships

Just like they did at the League IV Championships a few weeks ago, the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton girls indoor track team had its highest placement in 18 years, this time at the Small Schools Championships, which were held at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood on Saturday.

The Bonackers placed fifth this weekend, and although they placed fourth at leagues, the outcome at the Small Schools Championship is more impressive given that they topped some much bigger teams, including both League IV Champion Sayville and League V Championship Mount Sinai, a pair of teams that have double the number of student-athletes on their squads.

Bonac was led by Bridgehampton standout Leslie Samuel, who won the Small Schools county title in the long jump with a new school record of 17 feet 10 ¼ inches. Her new record surpassed Gabby McKay’s previous record of 17 feet 7 inches set in 2016.

Samuel also reached the finals of the highly competitive 55-meter dash, in which she placed sixth in 7.72 seconds. She finished her preliminary race in 7.64 seconds, a new personal record.

Samuel then helped lead the 4x400-meter relay team to a Small Schools county title. Along with East Hampton senior Melina Sarlo, Pierson senior Meredith Spolarich and East Hampton junior Ryleigh O’Donnell, the squad crossed the finish line in 4:16.10 for the win.

“It was so great to watch these girls run this race,” East Hampton head coach Yani Cuesta said. “Leslie had a nice start and handed off to Melina in third place. Melina came out of the second turn and pushed past the East Islip and Comsewogue runners to take the lead and held the lead through her second lap. She handed off to Meredith, who maintained the lead, and maybe opened the gap a little more, and Ryleigh attacked and finished off leading the way.”

Cuesta added she’s curious as to how the team will do at the Section XI Championships, also known as the state qualifier, which is this Monday, February 13, back at Suffolk-Brentwood, where they will most likely be chasing some of the larger schools in the county, she said.

O’Donnell also competed in the 600-meter run, where she finished third in a personal best 1:40.01. Sarlo placed sixth in the shot put with a personal best throw of 30 feet. Spolarich reached 4 feet 8 inches to place sixth in the high jump. East Hampton junior Dylan Cashin placed ninth in the 3,000-meter race in a personal best 10:58.95. Pierson freshman Sara O’Brien finished 14th overall in the same race in a personal best 11:28.70. Cashin and O’Brien also competed in the 1,500-meter race and finished 14th and 20th in 5:15.58 and 5:27.30, respectively.

Shirley Jiang, Clio McCarty, Hailey Rigby and Sam Ruano finished the 4x200-meter relay in 2:07.42. The squad did not place, but Cuesta was excited the young group got to compete.

“They were the alternates for our 4x400, and we hoped to enter them into something so they didn’t just go up to the meet with nothing to do,” she said. “We have to work on their handoffs, but at least they’ve had the opportunity to be at a big championship meet and that experience is invaluable.”

A pair of East Hampton juniors, Brayan Rivera and Diego Rojas, competed at the boys Small Schools Championships at Suffolk-Brentwood on Sunday.

Rivera finished 11th in the 600-meter run in 1:29.29. Head coach Ben Turnbull said Rivera should move on to the state qualifier on Monday. Rojas finished eighth in the 1,600-meter race in 4:43.49.