Bellport's Vincent Pitre Jr. uses strong kick to win 600 meters at Suffolk large school boys indoor track championships

Bellport’s Vincent Pitre Jr., left, passes West Babylon’s Josiah Pierre to win the 600-meter run during the Suffolk boys large school indoor track and field championships on Saturday at Suffolk CCC-Brentwood. Credit: Bob Sorensen
After all the runners had finally crossed the finish line in the 600 meters, the Suffolk large school champion was crowned. However, it took Bellport senior Vincent Pitre Jr. a little bit to realize he was the one wearing that proverbial headgear.
Pitre was tabbed as the fifth seed in the race and had no expectations of winning. That projection held up until the final 50 meters, when Pitre's strong kick propelled him to the championship.
The Albany commit finished in 1 minute, 25.57 seconds, winning by 0.15 seconds Saturday at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood. It wasn't until after the race was over, when he saw assistant coach Phil Patanjo smiling at him, that he actually realized what he had accomplished.
“I honestly thought I was in second place,” Pitre said. “I finished and turned around and I saw my coach looking at me, and he just looked so happy, so I was like, ‘Well, I guess I got first place.’”
Now that Pitre has joined the exclusive club of county champions, his confidence level has intensified.
“Honestly, if I could do that, I think I’m prepared for anything else that could come for the rest of the season,” he said.
Just a couple of minutes later, West Islip senior Gavin DeVito accomplished his goal of becoming a county champion when he ran 4:30.55 in the 1,600 to win it by 0.13 seconds.
DeVito's victory was unimaginable a month ago. An injury sustained on Dec. 23 at The Armory in Manhattan left him with Achilles tendinitis. He sat out for a month and didn't start running again until last week, in practice. Last year, the potential for a county championship was robbed from him when he tore his hamstring. This time, he was not going to let injury deny him again.
DeVito spent the past four weeks going through a strenuous rehab, just to return to action.
“I feel like it was mostly mental just to get here,” DeVito said. “It was stretching, icing, band work and weights. I had to do 200 calf-raises a day. It was something, man. It just felt good … I wanted to be a county champion.”
Another first-time county champion was Connetquot junior Jayden McCabe, who won the 55 in 6.46 seconds — 0.02 faster than defending champion Jordan Gibbs, a Longwood senior. McCabe qualified for the 55 at last year's championships, but failed to make it out of the preliminary round.
“It feels unreal. Because last year, I never would’ve thought that I’d be in this position right now,” McCabe said. “Now that I’m here, I know I’m just going to keep progressing and getting faster.”
McCabe’s title, alongside senior Fernando Padilla’s victory in the high jump, helped Connetquot score 65 points — eight clear of second-place Commack — to win the team championship. It was only the second county title in program history, the first of which came two years ago, Connetquot coach Shelby White said. Padilla cleared 6 feet en route to the win.
Elsewhere, Commack had a pair of champions, with senior Dylan Manning winning the 3,200 (9:42.8) and its 4x800 relay team, composed of Manning, Harris Cantley, Ben Molino, and Aidan Piracci, running an 8:26.48 to win by over seven seconds.
North Babylon's Jordan Peck won the 55 hurdles in 7.62 seconds. Peck made a bid for a second championship in the 300, but Patchogue-Medford junior Evan Fraser ran a 36.09 to take it.
Northport junior Alex Toran won the 1,000 in 2:36.58. Teammate Gabriel Ko finished just behind him in 2:37.11, tied with Lindenhurst senior Jake Albert.
In the field, West Babylon junior Khadin Muhammad flew 46-9 to win the triple jump, Longwood senior Garfield Geddes flew 22-5 ½ to take the long jump and Whitman senior Xavier Ali threw the shot 50-3 to win. Huntington’s 4x400 team (3:30.82) and Patchougue-Medford’s 4x200 squad (1:31.78) both claimed titles.