Shoreham-Wading River's Michael Huebner, Lindenhurst's Jake Albert qualify for track and field state championships

On the first day of the Suffolk track and field state qualifier at Comsewogue High School, a pair of junior boys officially punched their tickets to next weekend's state championships.  

It was a memorable Thursday for Shoreham-Wading River’s Michael Huebner and Lindenhurst’s Jake Albert, both of whom won their respective races by wide margins to qualify for the state championships at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

Huebner clocked a personal-best time of 1 minute, 53.41 seconds to win the 800 meters. His race was projected to be much closer, but he wound up crossing the finish line 3.3 seconds ahead of the field.

After Huebner was bothered by Achilles’ tendinitis earlier in the season, trainers told him to sit out for “a long time.” He took a risk and sat for just two weeks before coming back early to help Shoreham-Wading River compete in a dual meet because he felt his team needed him.

He trained for the 800 by doing lots of 400-meter workouts. His Achilles’ tendon didn't hold him back during training or in the main event Thursday, as he broke his previous top mark by 3.13 seconds.

Huebner was thrilled to see his hard work come to fruition.

“It feels really good; the training paid off,” Huebner said. “It’s a big [personal record]. My last one was a 1:56.54, so about a three-second PR is pretty cool.”

During the final 100 meters of Huebner’s run, he noticed the timer near the finish line, which motivated him to finish strong and set his new personal best.

“I looked up at the clock, and I saw the clock counting down,” Huebner said. “I saw it around 1:50, and I was fuming. I’m halfway there and I was like, ‘I’m going to do it.’ I had said that I wanted to get a 1:52 today. I’m very happy with it; I’ll take [1:53].”

Shoreham -Wading River coach Joseph Mordarski was proud of Huebner after he clinched his automatic bid to the state championships.

“Mike is the type of kid that when he comes to practice, he brings his whole heart and all of his dedication,” Mordarski said. “It’s just such an honor to coach someone like that.”

As for Albert, he won the 3,200 in 9:23.28, 6.43 seconds faster than the second-best finisher. His time was a personal record and it came after being projected to finish fourth in the race.

After becoming an unexpected champion, Albert was excited to get back out there.

“That wasn’t as fast as I wanted, but I’m very happy about that race, and I’m happy to go to states,” Albert said.

Albert acknowledged that Lindenhurst’s program has not sent a lot of kids to the state championships in the past, which made the accomplishment even sweeter for him.

“It feels great to represent my community,” Albert said. “My program hasn’t had many athletes go to states and beyond, so I’m really glad that I’m bringing more awareness to Lindenhurst’s program and I’m trying to grow our program, too.”

He held the lead for most of the race. However, on the penultimate lap, he fell behind Mt. Sinai senior Jess Joe Augustine.

After hearing Lindenhurst coach Dave Carlson cheering him on, Albert was able to regain the lead and widen the gap before crossing the finish line.

“I heard my coach yelling out my splits, and it was a little slow, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to pass him. I’ve got to go. If I want to make it to states and I want that PR, I have to go now,’” Albert said. “That’s all that was going through my head.”