Cicero - In just a year, Southampton senior Kyren Miller went from athlete to track athlete. His football and hoops friends tried to coax him to play baseball; instead he went out to the jump pit and inch by inch he's improved over the course of this spring.

Miller's leap of 22 feet, 1.5 inches left him behind just Zach Nevidomsky of Weedsport, who registered a jump of 22-8.5.

It all came to a head this month. A first year jumper, Miller soared to the county championship at Port Jefferson on June 5 and very nearly broke the school record. At this past weekend's New York State Outdoor Track Championships outside Syracuse, Miller concluded his short stint on the track with quite a strong showing - a second-place finish in the state at the Division II level.

Miller's leap of 22 feet, 1.5 inches left him behind just Zach Nevidomsky of Weedsport, who registered a jump of 22-8.5. Four competitors behind Miller leapt past the 21.5 foot mark but Miller was able to extend just beyond them for second place, this despite preparing for two other events.

"I went to do the 4 x 100 to get ready for the 4x1 and came back and asked if I could do my steps but I couldn't," Miller said. "I fouled one time and the other times I had to jump off the wrong foot. If I at least got my steps down, I know I would have won, but it's over now."

His first jump was in the mid-21s, he fouled on the second and then, for the final attempt of his career, soared past the opposition to take second. From his perspective, he settled. On his last jump at counties, he had made history momentarily. Miller soared past his previous best by at least a half-foot; however, his momentum did not carry him forward enough and he ended up stepping backward into the sand after his initial landing. His imprint closest to the board ended up being recorded, thus keeping him shy of the record. The mishap left Miller despondent afterward, even though he had qualified for states and exceeded his best jump in his short career.

The Mariners' jump coach, Charlie Bell, grinned ear to ear even after the sure 23-footer was wiped out. In a few short months, Miller had developed into an NCAA caliber jumper. He will attend Bowie State outside Baltimore in the fall and is working on the details of competing in track.

"I'm extremely proud of him," Charlie Bell, Miller's jump coach, said at the counties. "His work ethic is extremely tremendous and that's what got him where he's at. He's highly coachable and he listens. I'm very happy."

Miller's leaping prowess doesn't end there either. He recorded a career-best 44 feet, 4.75 inches in the triple jump to place eighth in Cicero. A week ago, the senior eclipsed 43 feet for the first time by 43 feet, 2.5 inches from the board; prior to that, he had just barely topped 42. At states, though, he reached for a little bit more and got it.

East Hampton senior Emily Hren cleared 5 feet, 4 inches in the high jump to claim eighth place at the outdoor track state championships in Cicero.

On top of that, he was teamed with Alex Mangliviti, Owen Laub and B.J. Mack, the Mariners placed 10th in the 4 x 100 meter relay with a time of 44.71 seconds. It was a dash quicker than their time of 44.74 at counties, which qualified them by nine one-hundredths of a second. The middle distance foursome of David Melo, Nick Collazos, Laub and Mack put forth the second-best time in Division II (3:26.81) and their mark of 3:27.43 put them in seventh place at states. The team was able to qualify and run a strong time despite competing without its most proven runner at that distance, Davin Johnson, whose hamstring injury suffered at the division meet kept him out of every race but the individual 400 at counties and from competing at states altogether.

Mack also made the trip to Syracuse to compete in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles, finishing 10th in Division II (57.47 seconds). It comes a week after the senior, who had targeted the school record in the event from the start of the season, finally broke it in the preliminaries at Port Jeff with a time of 56.89. Another senior, Gabe Anglickas, who will accompany his brother Julius at Brockport State in the fall, took 23rd in the high jump by clearing the bar set at 5 feet, 10 inches.

A senior, Leah Eleazer, passes the baton to junior Amanda Acquino, who will be one of the key cogs on next year's sprint relay squad.

Lady Mariners Sprint Into Top 10
For all the hardware they've hung up in the hallways of Southampton High, nothing may be more treasured by the Southampton girls 4 x 100 meter relay team that its tradition. This weekend, their track record of fleet-footedness added another 400 meters. Leah Eleazer, Amanda Acquino, Makayla Syes and Jena Arnister, some veterans of the stage, some brand new to it, ran a time of 51.52 seconds to take 10th place at the Division II level. The time was shy of their best - 50.58 seconds - which was recorded in the preliminary round at last week's state qualifier.

Southampton's Leah Eleazer not only ran the first leg of the 4 x 100 relay but nearly leapt 16 feet in the long jump upstate.

In Cicero, the Lady Mariners ran in the faster of the two heats, one which yielded the top five finishers and eight of the top 10. Oxford's foursome of Amanda Brown, Amanda Marks, Emily Woodford and Katie Woodford took top honors by running a 49.44. The appearance at states marked the fifth straight year for Southampton, which has finished as high as high as third (2005, 2006) and hit the line fifth last year with a time of 50.53.

At counties, Southampton was far ahead of the Division II field, finishing second in their preliminary heat behind Brentwood and becoming the only small school to advance to the finals. There the Lady Mariners took sixth (51.07) and, as the only D-II rep, won the county title once again.

"Every coach calls it a crapshoot but not for us in the 4 x 1," Head Coach Eddie Arnold said last week. "The girls have built a tradition. The chemistry has been there, and they know this is the race they have excelled at in the past five years."

Eleazer also competed in the long jump at states, jumping 15 feet, 10.75 inches to take 12th place.

Like the Mariner sprint relay team, those upstate are familiar with the exploits of East Hampton's Emily Hren, who has proven to be a high jumping phenom since she was a freshman. In her final stop at states, the senior placed eighth in the event that has become her hallmark, jumping 5 feet, 4 inches.

A year ago, Hren cleared 5-7 to set a personal mark outdoors and finish third. Hren dealt with a nagging case of the flu in the winter and missed many weeks of practice. Even still, she won the indoor county title and earned All-State honors by topping 5-5. She came back strong in the spring and last weekend won her third county championship, jumping 5-4 at Port Jeff, just two inches shy of her season-best leap of 5-6.

Hampton Bays freshman Sarah Reed made her debut at the state meet, completing the 1,500 meter circuit in 5:13.93. Reed had finished second in Division II at the state qualifier.

Hampton Bays' Sarah Reed made her debut at the state meet, competing in the Division II 1500 meter race.

Looking Back At Counties
The Hampton Bays girls were also represented well at the qualifier. Pole vaulter Samantha Carey had her best attempt of the season, soaring over the bar set at 8 feet to finish second in Division II and eighth overall. The vault was a full foot higher than what she cleared at the division meet in Port Jefferson Station and a half-foot over her vault at last year's state qualifier. Alyssya Bowen also participated in the pole vault, topping 7-6 to finish in a 10th place tie. On the track, the 4x800 meter relay team of Reed, August Thilberg, Bowen and Melissa Gregory recorded a time of 10:58.49 to finish 14th. Reed also took part in the 3,000 and 1,500 meter races, and Kory Kingsley threw the discus.

For Westhampton, Lila Miller closed out her career by finishing 22nd in the long jump, leaping 14 feet, 1.5 inches. Southampton's Eleazer placed sixth in the long jump by flying 16 feet, 10 inches, and then 21st in the triple jump (32-2.5). Acquino finished 11th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.10 seconds, while Arnister was 16th in the 200 (27.82).

Sophomore Forest Gilbakian was the highest finisher in his event for the Westhampton boys, completing the 1,600 meter race in 4:31.06 to take 10th. Later, Gilbakian teamed up with Avery Raimondo, Brandon Penn and Joe Palagonia to form the 4 x 400 team that placed 16th (8:38.21). Raimondo hit the line in 17th place in the 800 (2:02.62). Elsewhere, Alex Choi ran a 16.84 second 110 meter hurdles to finish 18th. Jason Iannone's leap of 20 feet, 1 inch, left him in 20th place.

The Bonackers put a pair of leapers in the long jump event. Joel Kelsey took 14th by jumping 20 feet, 5.75 inches, while Brendan Mott took 21st by registering a 19-foot, 6-inch bound.

Other Southampton boy competitors were: Jordan Seymore (triple jump, 17th, 39-11.5), Laub (100 meter, 20th, 11.79; 200 meter, 15th, 23:53), Onajja Browning (100 meter, 23rd, 12.09), Mangliviti (200 meter, 21st, 24.29), Johnson (400 meter, 20th, 54.10; triple jump, 20th, 38-4.5), Melo (400 meter, 22nd, 54.42), Nick Collazos (800 meter, 19th, 2:03.11), Zach Escallier (400 hurdles, 20th, 61.93).