Kellenberg's Evans Linzey named Track MVP at CHSAA championships
Evans Linzey of Kellenberg races to victory with a time of 35.80 in the boys 300 meter dash during the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA track and field championships at St. Anthony's High School on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2023. He also won the 55 meter dash (6.60). Credit: James Escher
To hear Evans Linzey tell it, it was a bad case of under-confidence that’s been keeping him down. The Kellenberg junior would walk into a meet, see his competition and just not believe that he could be the one at the top of the podium.
Why him?
Sunday proved there are a lot of reasons. Linzey’s confidence is sure to be boosted after an MVP performance at the Nassau–Suffolk CHSAA League Track and Field Championships at St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington.
Linzey won the 55 meters in 6.60 seconds, the 300 in 35.80, and was on the 4 x 200 relay that won in 1:34.75. He was voted track MVP of the meet.
“The main part is, the other kids are older and bigger than me,” Linzey said of his confidence woes. “They’re usually much stronger than me, so I feel kind of insecure, pressured and nervous, like ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ All these thoughts go through my head. But my coaches, family and teammates push me to become better.”
Sunday’s wins marked a turning point in that thinking.
“Now I realize that I’m better than I thought I was,” he said. “So I’ll keep going and keep pushing forward. I know what I can do now.”
Linzey’s teammate, Ryan Mroz, won the high jump (5 feet, 8 inches) and triple jump (42-4 ¾).
Elsewhere, Chaminade’s Jack Higgins won the 3,200 in 9:27.37 and the 1,600 in 4:27.52. Higgins found himself in last place early in the 1,600 — thanks to a fast pace set by a trio of St. Anthony’s runners — but worked his way up toward the front before the final lap.
“Man, they took it out fast,” Higgins said. “They were flying. I was getting very anxious about whether I was going to catch up with them, but my teammate Pat [Mulryan] and I were able to stay together until the last 800 … I wanted it really badly today.”
Mulryan, who was second in the 1,600 in 4:29.35, won the 1,000 in 2:34.11.
“It was a bit quick,” Mulryan said of the win. “We were out in 2:02, but I knew I could close, so I just took it away from them. Don’t even give them a chance to [come] in.”
St. Anthony’s won the team championship with 92.5 points. It’s the Friars' 14th straight league championship, coach Tim Dearie said. Jack Ward won the 600 in 1:23.47. Matthew Lourenco cleared 13-7 to win the pole vault and Christian Oliva threw 51-2 to win the shot put.
Olivia’s toss is sixth in the state, and longest on Long Island, this season, according to milesplit.com. He was named field MVP of the meet.
