Huntington's Tucker runs off with 110 hurdles and 400 titles
Infinite Tucker says he enjoys the thrill of competition.He enjoyed the thrill of victory Friday.
Tucker, a Huntington junior, won the Division II 110-meter hurdles (14.48 seconds) and the 400 meters (48.93) at the Suffolk Division boys track championships at Comsewogue.
"I love going against the best kids and you have a lot of great kids going today, so it feels pretty good," said Tucker, who also placed second in the Division II long jump and helped Huntington win the Division II 4 x 400 relay. Huntington won the Division II team championship, scoring 99 points to finish ahead of Eastport-South Manor (86).
Tucker won by almost a full second in the 400 and beat Copiague's Aaron McFadden by one-hundredth of a second in the hurdles.
"He pulled away pretty fast, and then the wind starting hitting him and that's when I started pulling up to him and caught him at the finish line," Tucker said of his win in the 110.
"He's a phenomenal athlete, as we see, but he's humble about it," Huntington coach Ron Wilson said. "He loves competition, and I think that's what drives his success."
This love of competition is what landed Tucker in the hurdles in the first place, as Wilson said his bread-and-butter events are the 400 dash and 400 hurdles (Tucker was held out of the latter Friday).
"The 110 hurdles, he loves doing them, but he's always run behind McFadden," Wilson said, adding "now it's starting to click for him."
In Division I, Sachem East's Drew Alfano scored a 3,333 in the pentathlon, tying the best mark in the state this season, according to coach John Horst.
Ward Melville won the Division I team championship.
Amityville had a pair of double-winners en route to the Division III championship. Travon Duncan won the 110 hurdles (14.79) and 400 hurdles (56.37), and Hassan Matthews won the 100 dash (11.31) and 200 dash (22.94).
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