Smithtown West sends eight to states

Smithtown West had a Suffolk-best eight athletes qualify for the state indoor track meet Sunday in the Section XI State Qualifiers at Suffolk CC-Brentwood.

The team of Peter Tiranno, Frank Ida, Brennan Schneider, and Anthony Aprile clocked 1:36.51 to win the 4 x 200 meters and highlight a strong day for the Bulls.

Smithtown West junior Matt Morganelli won the shot put with a personal-best of 50 feet, 11 1/4 inches. Michael McCann qualified in the high jump with a jump of 6-4, and Saturday, Karl Nilsen took first in the pole vault with a school-record 13-3.

The top two finishers from each event automatically qualified for the state meet, which is March 3 at Cornell University. "Coming into the meet, we just told our guys to stay focused and that they've been here before," Bulls coach Peter Schieck said. "They really responded today."

Small-school champion Port Jefferson won the 4 x 800 in 8:19.39 with the team of Cole Conte, James Burke, Andrew Keresztes and Fred Agostino. Keresztes also won the 1,000 in 2:33.68, and Burke also qualified in the mile with a time of 4:33.39.

Kelsey Palomino (36-31/2) and Anisa Toppin (36-13/4) qualified in the triple jump for Bay Shore, and Erica Silhan cleared 5-4 in the high jump to qualify. "We went with what we thought were sure shots, and fortunately it worked out," Bay Shore coach Steve Borbet said.

Other highlights from the girls meet include Rachel Paul's win in the 1,000 (2:59.19) for Sachem East, Sara Ronde's victories in the 55 (7.32) and the long jump (18-0) for Northport, and the North Babylon team of Alena Gannon, Shiloe Gardner, Ashley Mandat, and Tori Thompson winning the 4 x 200 in 1:48.71.