Southampton senior Jena Arnister maintains third place over the final few yards of the 4 x 100 meter relay.

Port Jefferson Station - For the last four years, the Southampton girls track team's sprint relay quartet has established itself as the team to beat in Division II. Whether it was Ciara Pettaway, Jackie Rodriguez, Imani Richardson or this year's fleet-footed foursome, the Lady Mariners have always boasted some of the region's quickest in 100 meter bursts.

Once again, Southampton strutted its stuff at blazing speeds at the Suffolk County Division Championships held at Comsewogue. The quartet of Leah Eleazer, Amanda Acquino, Mikayla Syes and Jena Arnister raced to a third place finish in the Division III finals and are the clear favorites heading into this weekend's New York State Qualifier, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Port Jefferson.

The Lady Mariners' team registered a time of 51.07 seconds, a best for this season. Eleazer gave Southampton a nice boost out of the blocks and made a clean pass to Acquino for the straightaway. Southampton was in contention when the pass went to Mikayla Syes for the bend toward home, and Arnister zoomed down the back straightaway to hold off Center Moriches for third place.

Southampton's biggest competition at counties might be Port Jefferson, which finished sixth in a time of 53.72 seconds. Although the Lady Mariners are clearly out in front among Division II teams in the state, Head Coach Eddie Arnold is confident yet cautious.

"The tables have been set for us," Arnold said. "All we have to do is get clean hand-offs with a decent time and we'll go to states for the fifth time in a row. At any time, though, anybody can beat anybody. We're the favorite based on good, clean hand-offs and all four girls doing their job, but anything can happen. If you drop the baton, you're out. We look pretty good though. I'm not going to be too confident because we still have the run the race, but I think the girls will get the job done."

Southampton's Mikayla Syes braces for impact as she takes on the long jump on Thursday.

The time within striking distance of last year's squad, which ran a 50.53 to finish fifth at the New York State championships, set for Cicero-North Syracuse High School on June 12 and 13. Only the 2007 quartet of Arnister, Richardson, Anyse Bonner and Rodriguez eclipsed 50 seconds, done both at counties and states. Arnold's sprint crew had gone six deep until Jeanette Henderson and Shannyn Weeks sustained injuries.

Freshman Bianca Pessoa "wanted no part of the walk" early in the season but looked the part of a primo race walker on Thursday, taking sixth with a career-best time of 8:19.02. After a slow start, Pessoa began reeling in her competitors one by one and ultimately scored a point for the Lady Mariners.

Before leading the relay, Eleazer placed in both the long jump (3rd; 16-0) and triple jump (6th; 33-3) for a total of seven team points. With 15 as a team, Southampton placed 12th in Division III. "Leah is a natural-born athlete who steps up to the competition and isn't afraid of competition," Arnold said of the senior. "She'll do her very best at any cost. It will be sad to see her go."

Other seniors who competed for the final time were Sami Wellen and Larissa Pauli, who went out on top by posting their personal-best times in the 4 x 800 meter relay. Along with seventh grader Erika Gulija and Katie Laffey, the Lady Mariners took seventh in Division III with a time of 10:48.37, more than a minute faster than their seed time.

"They were the heart of my program as far as strength, motivating people, character and discipline," Arnold said of Wellen and Pauli. At the same time, the Southampton coach said he was looking forward to the freshman class stepping it up even further next spring.

By clearing 5 feet, 2 inches, on Thursday, East Hampton senior Emily Hren locked up her third division title in the high jump.

East Hampton senior Emily Hren was the favorite to win the Division III championship and it sure looked that way as she cruised to her third such crown in four years wearing maroon. Hren leapt 5 feet, 2 inches to win the title going away and it registered as the second-best jump among all competitors, including pentathletes.

Hren is no stranger to the top step on the podium. Last year, Hren needed to clear just 5-3 to win the division yet got as high as 5-6 at the state qualifier to win the county title by 5 inches. As a freshman, she jumped 5-2, which was good enough to win Division II; she then topped 5 feet in the county as a freshman and took third at counties.

East Hampton's record holder in the event will look to qualify for states for the third time. A year ago, Hren posted a jump of 5-7 to take third overall at states. With an experienced field of jumpers, a similar effort will be needed to put her in contention.

Westhampton's Christa Kearns takes the hand-off and starts her 800 meter journey around the track at Comsewogue.

Freshman Ashley West will join her senior teammate at the state qualifier on Friday. West's personal best of 64.09 seconds put her in 12th position in the 400 meter preliminaries.

So Far, So Good
Westhampton Beach's hallmark has always been its distance running and this year has been no exception. Sophomore Molly Bennett and freshman Remy Kneski both performed well in the 1500 meter run, with Bennett scoring a point for the Hurricanes by taking sixth place and Kneski running the fastest time among freshman for 10th.

Bennett beat out Stony Brook's Alexis Fernandez for sixth place by 45 one-hundredths of a second. Bennett ran a 5:08.13 to cross the line just a hair behind fifth-place finisher Katie Sheehan of Bayport-Blue Point. Kneski's time of 5:12.52 was right on her seed time and her performance gave her the final spot in the race's top 10. Both distance specialists will compete at this weekend's counties; Head Coach John Broich believes that even better times are in store for them.

"Today they had good races but I'm looking for them to be a little tougher in the last 500 meters," Broich said. "They should be able to break five minutes. It's going to be a big hurdle for them but I think they can do it."

Bennett also finished seventh in the 3000 meter run with a time of 11:15.45, which was nine seconds quicker than her seed time. Broich was also lobbying for race walker Sara Weigand, who was disqualified for having a bent knee during the 1500 meter race, calling her form "perfect" throughout.

Morgan Wilcox competed as a hurdler for much of the season but it was her versatility that was on display at the divisions. The junior polished off a terrific two-day run by finishing second in the fifth and final event, the 800, to take fourth overall in the pentathlon. Wilcox started by completing the 100 meter hurdles in 19.36 seconds, a "surprisingly good" time according to her coaches. She settled for fifth in the high jump (4-2) and fourth in the shot put (20 feet, 10.75 inches), although the latter gave her her second-highest point total. Wilcox finished up her run by notching a third-place finish in the long jump (13-9.75) and her time of 2:48.90 beat out Port Jefferson's Amber Bruckner by a fraction of a second and Mattituck's Emily Ianno by just over a second.

Hampton Bays' August Thilberg shoots down the straightaway at the halfway point of her 800 meter relay leg.

Broich was also pleased with the effort of senior Lila Miller, who made the finals of the long jump and finished fifth with a leap of 15 feet, 9.5 inches. Miller also competed in the 200 and 400 meter dashes. Westhampton also scored points in the shot put as Kira Braithwaite put a throw of 29 feet, 2.5 inches on the board, which fetched her fifth place and two points.

Hampton Bays' 4 x 800 relay team of Sarah Reed, August Thilberg, Alyssya Bowen and Melissa Gregory is in a position where it can compete for the Division II title. All put forth strong efforts in compiling a time of 10:42.08, or 25 seconds faster than the quartet's seed time. Reed started off the relay with a strong time of 2:40, and Thilberg and Bowen completed their circuit in roughly the same time. Gregory's finishing kick allowed her to post a time of 2:34 on her leg and hoisted Hampton Bays into fifth.

"That's the best we've had all year," Head Coach Dave Oakley said. "We have some tough competition in Bayport, so we have to have a really good day to compete with them." The Lady Phantoms team ran a 10:41.71 to win by just under 15 seconds over second-place Harborfields.

Reed will take part in counties in the 3000 and 1500 while Gregory will run both the 800 and the 3200 meter relay with Reed. The other Lady Bayman who will continue on is junior Megan Gunther. She cleared 4 feet, 6 inches in the high jump and earned fractional points for her squad.

Also tallying points for Hampton Bays was Bowen and Samantha Carey in the pole vault. Both competitors finished sixth by clearing 7 feet flat.