Three days, three track meets; Kal Lewis rewrites record book

On May 5 at the St. Anthony’s Track Invitational in Huntington, Kal Lewis enshrined himself in the Shelter Island School record book.

Running in the first heat of the meet’s mile event with many of Long Island’s top milers, the sophomore ran the 1,600-meter run in a very stacked race. Shortly after the starting gun, Lewis settled into the back of the lead pack, a group of five running at a breakneck pace. He maintained this position until there was half a lap to go.

Running primarily against seniors, the Island sophomore surged on the back stretch to pass three runners and was closing in quickly on the leader, but he ran out of space before the finish line.

Lewis took second place with an amazing time of 4:15.42 minutes, breaking his own school record. Achieving a challenging goal he set for himself early this year, this off-the-charts performance qualifies Lewis as an “emerging elite,” eligible to compete at the New Balance Outdoor National Championships in North Carolina this June.

Without question, Lewis’ effort on May 5 is the most outstanding singular athletic performance in Shelter Island School’s history.

On May 3, the Shelter Island School varsity boys and girls spring track team traveled with the Greenport/Southold combined teams to Babylon High School for a dual meet against Babylon. It was a light meet for the girls team because they had an important invitational the following day.

There was a strong 10 to 15 mph wind coming off the track-side lake. In the 200-meter dash, senior Lindsey Gallagher ran 27.7 seconds, sophomore Emma Gallagher ran 29.0 and senior Justine Karen ran 36.6, a personal record (PR). In the 800-meter run, senior Francesca Frasco ran 2:59.3 minutes and senior Isabella Sherman ran 3:27.1.

For the boys, Lewis bested Marshall McLean’s 1991 400-meter school record of 52.2 seconds by posting a time of 51.8 seconds. Racing for the first time in three weeks due to concussion protocol, senior Joshua Green ran 53.3 seconds in the same race. Some other Indians ran the 400-meter dash — junior Michael Payano, senior Jack Lang and freshman Jason Green ran 57.2, 62.0 and 73.0, respectively. In the 1600-meter run, sophomore

Jonas Kinsey and freshman Theo Olinkiewicz had outdoor PR’s running 5:00.2 and 6:07.5 minutes.

In the 100-meter dash, sophomore Alberto Morales ran a PR in 12.8 seconds and Lang ran 14.6. Freshman Daniel Schulteis posted a PR in the 800-meter run with 2:48.3 minutes. In the 200-meter dash, a popular event with the boys, Morales PR’d with 26.0 seconds, Kinsey ran 27.7, Lang ran 29.0, Schulteis ran 31.3, Jason Green ran 32.9 and Olinkiewicz ran 34.3.

Closing out the day for the boys, freshman Tyler Gulluscio took first place in the 3,200-meter run with a PR of 11:21.3 minutes, while Jason Green ran 13:43.1. Jason Green also threw the discus 66 feet, 3 inches.

The following day, Lindsey and Emma Gallagher competed under evening lights at the St. Anthony’s Track Invitational. In the 800-meter run, Lindsey took the lead right from the start and had to fight off a very strong challenge from a Sachem East athlete in the final 80 meters of the race, winning the event by only 2/100 of a second with a time of 2:23.53 minutes.

Emma’s sit-and-kick technique worked well as she sat back in the sixth place position and then out-kicked three girls to take the third place position with a time of 2:26.78. Both Gallaghers PR’d.

Joshua Green raced in the 800-meter run, winning the fourth heat with a time of 2:02.81 minutes. Green took the lead about 300 meters into the race and held onto that lead before being passed by three runners with 200 meters to go.

He was boxed in against the inside of the track by the three runners who passed him and had to think quickly with 60 meters to go. He stepped behind, then over, the runner next to him and with an amazing kick, ran down and passed the leader with only 10 meters to spare.

This week will be the last week of regular season competition before the championship season starts. The boys and girls teams will competed against Stony Brook on May 8 and then will compete at the East End Classic, an invitational hosted by East Hampton, on Saturday, May 12.