Smithtown West's Ryan Tona captures Suffolk title in 110-meter hurdles

Ryan Tona clapped his hands thunderously as he crossed the finish line.

After yearning for this moment for four years, and having a high set of expectations placed upon him throughout this season, his aspiration finally came to fruition on Friday. Tona had become a county champion.

"This is just satisfaction," the Smithtown West senior said after winning the 110-meter hurdles in 14.96 seconds at the Suffolk individual boys track and field championships at Comsewogue. "The buildup to this race, I’ve been ranked first all season. Last week at the division championships wasn’t my best race, but this is a big mental hurdle for me, to win it today."

Feeling a great deal of pressure leading up to the race, Tona ultimately delivered.

"Coming into today there was so much stress over the past two days," Tona said. "It was just constantly in my head. ‘What if I don’t win? I’m supposed to win.’ There’s just so much pressure not wanting to let anyone down. To come out and win just feels so good."

Also winning a county title for the first time was Huntington junior Quincy Chery, who claimed the 400 hurdles in 56.22.

After being unable to qualify for the finals in the 110 hurdles, Chery bounced back in a big way.

"I’m just so happy that I won," Chery said. "I was thinking about it too much. I false started in the 110, but the fact that I could come back stronger in the 400 was just a blessing."

While the conditions impacted Chery’s approach, they did not overwhelm him.

"I wanted to stay consistent with the wind blowing so heavily," Chery said. "So I wanted to get out hard and have enough energy for that last home stretch."

Other winners on the track included Connetquot’s Jermaine Thompson in the 200-meter dash (21.91), Eddy Vu of Floyd in the 100 (10.94), Westhampton’s Maximus Haynia in the 3200 (9 minutes, 29.87 seconds) and Gavin Ehlers in the 1600 (4:16.43), CJ Kiviat of Huntington in the 800 (1:58.38) and Lavazoli Nico in the 400 (50.24).

Amongst the field winners were Shoreham-Wading River’s Blake Wehr in the high jump (6 feet, 6 inches), Elijah Singleton of Sachem North in the long jump (21-6), Central Islip’s Ryan Antwi in the triple jump (45-6.75) and Jake Martin of West Babylon in the shot put (53-11).