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Danny Ryan

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By Bill Landon

Ward Melville’s Dennis Chen does it all for Ward Melville.

The sophomore solidified first-place finishes in the high jump and 110-meter hurdles, nabbing personal bests with each victory in the boys track and field team’s 74-44 home loss to Patchogue-Medford May 7.

Needing to clear 5-4 for the top spot, Chen said he drew energy from his competition to pull out his 5-6 leap.

“We push each other,” he said.

He clocked in at 15.9 seconds in the hurdles and won his heat in the 200 dash, it being the first time he competed at that distance this season.

The day of firsts continued when senior Danny Ryan crossed the 400 hurdles finish line in 59 seconds, which according to head coach Ryan DeLuca is two seconds shy of the school record. Junior Ryan Abbatiello came in first in the triple jump with a lead of 39-9.5, a personal best by almost a foot, DeLuca said. Although sidelined for the meet, middle distance runner Eric Zulkofske also pulled out a personal best at the St. Anthony’s Invitational over the weekend. He tweaked his quad in the last 70 meters of the 1,600 to finish third, but his 4:16.24 finish bested his previous record by two seconds. The senior made it to the state championship during the indoor season and qualified for the states in cross country in the fall.

“He tweaked his quad muscle while he was making a move to run down the leader,” DeLuca said. “I believe he would’ve [clocked] a 4:13, but it was visible in the video that he pulled up because of the injury.”

Taking his place in the 1,600 against Pat-Med, sophomore Ethan Winter’s 4:58 and junior James Moore’s 5:02 were both personal records.

Freshmen Minseob Kim and Jonah Komosinski both notched personal records in the 800 meters, with 2:14 and 2:15 times, respectively. Classmate Anthony Petrillo came in under five minutes in the mile. His 4:57.6 is a new personal best.

“He’s a young guy who’s been running some great races,” DeLuca said. “That’s a big step forward for him.”

The loss dropped the Patriots to 1-4 in League I this season. Ward Melville will travel to Sachem East May 9 for a 4:30 p.m. meet. The Freshman/Sophomore Championships are May 15, division championships will be held May 22-24 and the state qualifier will take place June 1-2.

“We have a lot of young talent, and a lot of kids driven to better themselves every day,” DeLuca said. “This team is a pleasure to coach and I am really looking forward to the upcoming championship season.”