Southampton's Bridget Ferguson Wins Indoor Small Schools High Jump Title; Malone, 4x2 Earn Silver For Boys

Southampton girls indoor track head coach Eddie Arnold relies on a set of philosophies to run his team. One of them is “You have to have breakdowns first in order to have breakthroughs.”

Last week, leading up to the Small Schools Championships, which were Sunday for the girls at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, Arnold gave Bridget Ferguson a difficult high jump drill that would do just that. The results weren’t great, Ferguson only cleared 4 feet 8 inches, well below her personal best. But it all worked out in the end.

Ferguson turned that tough week of practice into her first ever indoor Small Schools title, clearing 5 feet 1 inch, matching her own school record, to win the event, outlasting Dakota Wang of Half Hollow Hills West, who was seeded higher than Ferguson but topped out at 5 feet. It’s Ferguson’s second Small Schools title overall after winning one in the spring in the same event.

“I’ve been hovering at 5 feet a lot this season, just barely missing 5 feet 1 inch a lot. And then I had a tough week of practice coming into yesterday’s meet,” Ferguson explained. “But talking to my coach, I had to break down before I broke through, and even though I wasn’t clearing 4 feet 8 inches at practice going into Sunday, I went in with a lot of good energy and not to take myself too seriously.

“Yesterday was actually the most fun I’ve had in a meet in a while,” she added. “Yes, there were a lot of schools there, the competition is very fierce, but my teammates were there and I had a lot of fun with it. It’s my last season, my last time I’ll ever be at a meet like this indoors, so I was just happy I was there. A lot of the girls from my team were able to experience this meet for the first time and we got to all experience it together. I thought it was a really great time.”

Arnold said Ferguson may be the program’s first ever Small Schools Champion in the indoor high jump, although he couldn’t say for sure. She is the first in his 20-plus years of coaching.

“She really took it to another level,” he said of Ferguson. “I kept my distance from her, I tried not to overcoach her. You want the athlete to figure out what it is they have to do. And we have such a great relationship and understanding, and I just give her space to grow. And that’s what it’s about. I’m so proud of her. She nailed her jump. She had confidence. Her teammates were there cheering her on. It was a very good Small Schools for us, one of the best we’ve we had in a long time.”

Although Ferguson was the only Southampton competitor to return home with a medal, a number of Mariners finished with personal bests. Both Kyla Cerulo (7.78 seconds) and Sofia Oliveri (8.22 seconds) finished ninth and 21st, respectively, in the 55-meter dash. Oliveri also competed in the 300-meter dash and finished 14th in 46.77 seconds. Jeorgiana Gavalas (11:36.05) finished third in her heat of the 3,200-meter race and 13th overall. Hayden Gilmartin finished the same race in 13:10.90, which place her 21st overall.

Ferguson will now try her best at the state qualifier, which is Monday back at Suffolk-Brentwood. There are a few jumpers in the county who are seeded ahead of her slightly at 5 feet 3 inches. Arnold thinks she has what it takes to compete with all of them.

“I’m going into Monday the same the same as I did on Sunday. I’m not looking at it like I have to beat anybody in order to go to states,” Ferguson said. “Whoever performs best on that day will move to go further in the season and I will try my absolute best. I want to go to states, I have a drive to get there being that it’s my senior year, so I’d love to make it to states. But I’m just looking to perform the best that I can.”

Billy Malone placed second in the 1,000-meter race in 2:43.96 and helped lead the 4x400-meter relay team to a second-place finish as well at the boys meet, which was Saturday. Malone was joined by Harrison Gavalas, Evan Simioni and Maxwell Murch on the team that finished in season’s best 3:41.81, just seven-tenths of a second behind first place Deer Park.

Gavalas competed in both the 55-meter and 300-meter dashes. He reached the finals of the 300, where he finished fifth in 38.13 seconds, and he placed seventh in the 55 in a personal best 6.88 seconds. William Ouzounian finished eighth in the shot put with a throw of 40 feet 5 inches.

Southampton head coach Tony Dottin said Malone will make it to the state qualifier and that the 4x4 relay has a good shot at making it as well.