Meet the boys outdoor track state champions for 2024

TRISTAN BROWN, Baldwin, 110-meter hurdles

In his last act as a hurdler for the Bruins, Brown had a good showing at the state championship meet. On top of a second-place finish in the Federation race (14.08 seconds) Brown won the Division I title in 14.11.

He was able to win despite not having practiced hurdling in the two weeks leading up to the meet.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done hurdles,” Brown said. “It felt amazing crossing that finish line first.”

It was Brown’s third go-round at states. After injuring himself at the big meet in his sophomore year, he was thrilled to see how far he had come.

“Coming back two years later to win the whole event is amazing,” he said.

MICHAEL HUEBNER, Shoreham-Wading River, 800

Huebner overcame Achilles tendinitis earlier this year to become a state champion. The junior finished fourth in the Federation race in 1 minute, 54.26 seconds, earning himself a Division II title.

“I just had to run on it; I had to run the whole season,” Huebner said at the Suffolk state qualifier meet on May 29. “The pain finally went away.”

Though he was advised to sit out for a while, Huebner rushed himself back for his team and came out a state champion on the other side.

“They told me I had to take a long time off, and I said I would take two weeks,” Huebner said. “I was kind of an idiot for it, but my team needed me.”

JESS JOE AUGUSTINE, Mount Sinai, 3,000 steeplechase

The Army commit ended his high school career as the state’s Division II champion. His 9:11.67 was fastest among all public school runners and second in the Federation behind Brooklyn Tech’s Elijah Gentry (9:09.58). It was the second consecutive year that Augustine finished second in the Federation and first in the Division II pool. His time at the state meet was an all-time Suffolk record, according to Mount Sinai coach Eric Giorlando.

It was an emotional performance for Augustine.

“Before my race, I was a little upset with myself,” Augustine said. “I went to my mom and I cried. I told her, ‘I love you.’ I told myself that I’ve got to do this for my family, for my coach. Coach Giorlando cares for me a lot. I love him to death. Best coach I could’ve asked for.”

DOUGLAS ANTAKY, Smithtown West, 3,200

The Cornell commit sent himself off as a state champion with the best time of all Division I competitors. Antaky was the top large public school runner in 9:01.99 and finished second in the Federation behind Shane Murphy of the Hunter College Campus School (8:58.45).

Between his appearance in last year’s state championship to now, Antaky shaved 35.33 seconds off his time and finished 22 places higher.

ELMONT, 4   x   400 relay team

Though they finished second to Newburgh Free Academy in the Division I finals, Elmont’s quartet of Dominic Collins, R’Len Richards, Caleb Harris and Aidan Peterkin got over the hump in the Federation race. Behind a strong anchor run from the sophomore Peterkin, Elmont leapfrogged Newburgh’s squad to capture the state title in 3:20.99.

Peterkin was happy to be the one to nail down the victory.

“It makes it amazing,” he said. “This is our first goal together at a high level like this, so it’s just a blessing.”

Richards, a junior, said the group’s next goal is to make school history.

“We’re just going to keep getting better,” Richards said. “We’re going for that school record.”

ANDREW LEE, Roosevelt, high jump

There were two athletes named Andrew Lee who competed at the state championships. However, it was Long Island’s version who walked away with a title.

In his first and only trip to the year-end meet, Lee cleared 6 feet, 8 inches to narrowly edge out Smithtown East senior Braden McCormick for the state title.

Roosevelt coach Joe Vito was both pleasantly surprised and proud of Lee for winning it all.

“When Andrew won the county championship, I was really choked up because he’s been through a little bit,” Lee said. “I call him the comeback kid. The state meet was really an exciting competition. It was a friendly competition going on between those two. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in sports as a coach.”

ROCCO CARPINELLO, West Islip, triple jump

The future Columbia Lion wrapped up his career as a West Islip Lion by winning the state’s Division I and Federation triple jump titles. In the Division I finals, he flew 47-10¼ to win. He cleared 48-3¼ to capture the Federation championship. He also placed fourth in the Federation long jump (22-11 1⁄2) and third in the Division I long jump (22-7 3⁄4).