Jack Flood leads Bayport-Blue Point to Div. III title

As the dust left by dozens of Division III runners began to clear, it was Bayport-Blue Point standing alone. A dominant 172 points gave the Phantoms their second consecutive Suffolk boys track crown. But, for many on the team, the championship was more about redemption.

After ending their winter season on a sour note, falling by nine points to Amityville at the small schools championships, Bayport-Blue Point vowed to make the final season of the school year a spring to remember.

"It's been with us since it happened," Bailey Imbo said of the loss to Amityville. "That feeling definitely carried over to this meet. Every day we train, we've thought about that loss."

Imbo finished second in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 56.74 seconds at the championship meet Thursday at Connetquot High School. Teammate Jack Flood won the event in 56.64. Flood also won the 110 hurdles in 14.78 seconds.

"The wind on the track helped me," Flood said. "It was a tail wind, so it pushed me forward and made me go faster."

The Phantoms shined in field events. Beau Kraft won the shot put, throwing 47 feet. Dan Percival and Rob Rodriguez finished second and third, respectively.

"I think we're so good because we have a bunch of guys that are pushing each other," Rodriguez said. "It's always good to have someone right there with you. You want to beat your teammate every day, every drill, and in everything we do."

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk track championships

In Division II, Smithtown West also defended its title, scoring 118 points. Mike McCann, Devin Mirenda, and Alexander Ladouceur all scored in the high jump. McCann, who will compete for the University of Nebraska this fall, won the event with a leap of 6-8.

As storm clouds rolled in, McCann needed to adjust to strong wind gusts as he got ready to jump.

"They turned the mat around, so we'd have the wind at our back," McCann said. "But that actually put us at a disadvantage because we were getting more push behind us. I was running too fast towards the bar, which was carrying me horizontally. I was able to adjust by slowing down my approach. That way, my speed was a little more controlled when I took off."

Northport won Division I on the backs of a top-four sweep in the 1,600. Mike Brannigan won in 4:19.90. Tim McGowan, James Dickinson, and Chris Odin finished second through fourth, respectively. The quadruple finish was hardly a coincidence either. It was all about planning.

"I took the lead into the wind on the third lap," Dickinson said. "I knew that it would be tough, but if I could push the pace, then we'd lose the other guys and get as many points as we could. It's good that we stuck with that plan. The last lap was all out, with a little competition between the four of us to see who would win. But it was a good thing that we all pushed each other and got the points we needed."

It certainly was. Northport, after taking a large lead early in the meet, held off Longwood 99-91.5.