On a perfect day for running, members of our boys’ track squad turned in fine performances yesterday in the Suffolk Officials Holiday Classic held at Mt Sinai High School. Edward Kim and Taylor Colucci began their days early, winning their 100 meter dash preliminaries in 12.9 and 11.7, respectively. Colucci qualified for the semifinals where he cruised to the third best time, 11.44, and in his first 100 meter final of the year he raced to a time of 11.30 to medal in 4th place. Our next competitors were Wyatt Piazza and Yisheng Cai in the 1500 meter run who, despite going out at a quick pace, were able to finish in 4:48.1 and 4:52.4, respectively.

In the 800 meter sprint medley relay, our boys hit the emerging elite qualifying mark for Nationals with a time of 1:37.46, good enough for 3rd place behind sprinting powerhouses Longwood and Bay Shore. Khoren Lawson ran his opening 200-meter leg in 22.00 seconds, then handed off to Jon Wentling who ran his 100 meter leg in 11.7. After receiving the baton, Marco Masakayan ran a 12.8 100 meters before placing the fate of the team in the anchor, Taylor Colucci.

Colucci received the baton in 4th place, but passed William Floyd’s anchor on the backstretch and continued to close on the leaders, running his 400 meters in 50.8. Coach Morley was very pleased with his team’s effort, not only because they hit the qualifying mark, but because Colucci, who had already run three races, ran a very strong 400, and the fact that they competed without Andrew White, replaced by Masakayan, whose best open 100 mark is 11.6.

Last up for the Bears was the open 4 x 400 meter relay. The three sure members of the team–Colucci, Lawson and Wentling–watched as four of their teammates competed to possibly determine the fourth slot for this year’s Penn Relays squad. Thomas Peckham, Piazza, Kai Strachan, and Masakayan turned in a time of 3:48.4 to medal in 6th place.

Next up for the boys is a home meet with Mercy this Wednesday April @ 4:30pm.

---