High school sports notebook: Ward Melville cross country, Huntington girls volleyball, Great Neck South boys volleyball, Valley Stream District boys badminton

Behind a motivated Jon Seyfert, Ward Melville boys cross country is currently setting the bar for runners across the state.

As a team, the Patriots won the 2024 Queensbury Invitational at Queensbury High School — the host site of this year’s public school state meet. As a result, the team woke up on Wednesday, Sept. 18 to a pleasant surprise: they were ranked No. 1 in New York on the state’s section of MileSplit.com.

“A lot of it is the work the guys put in during the summer,” coach Ryan DeLuca said. “During the end of spring track, we did a good job building the buy-in that we could be one of the best teams in the state this year. They were all really motivated and pushed each other to basically overachieve over the summer.”

Though being No. 1 right now is a strong feather in the cap, DeLuca has his sights set on something bigger.

“The goal is to be No. 1 at the state meet,” DeLuca said. “The goal is to be at the state meet and to put ourselves as high enough as possible when it matters the most.”

Seyfert, a senior, is the team’s top runner at the moment and is coming off a year in which he finished in sixth place at the Suffolk County championships with a 16 minute, 43.92 second time at Sunken Meadow State Park. For the better part of 50 years, that time would have been enough to qualify Seyfert for the public school state championships meet — but not last year.

Seyfert is determined to not let that happen again.

“I was really (ticked) off when it happened,” Seyfert said. “I was the fastest kid to not make the state meet at Sunken. All I want to say is: I want to win it. This isn’t an ‘I want to finish top five, I want to finish in second.’ No. I want to beat them.”

Seyfert paced Ward Melville and ranked seventh up in Queensbury with a 15:50.4. Rounding out the Patriots’ top seven are senior Tim Brown, juniors Anthony Anatol and Luke Jantzen and sophomores Andrew Senf, Matteo Ritieni and Matt Fumai.

Anatol and Jantzen — the team’s No. 2 and 4 runners, respectively — were former soccer players who DeLuca and his staff successfully convinced to run with the cross country team this year. Anatol’s father, Ryan, is the men’s soccer coach at Stony Brook University.

“They had played soccer their whole lives, including last fall,” DeLuca said. “We keep calling it ‘the dark side.’ We got them over to the dark side. They have immediately made a huge impact. They bring such a good attitude and they boost the morale of the top seven immensely.” — Michael Anderson

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Lauren Donaghy has provided a steady set of hands to deliver passes for Huntington volleyball.

The senior tallied 22 assists in a 3-1 win over Bellport on Wednesday, surpassing the 1,000 assist mark for her career.

Donaghy enjoyed a stellar junior season, totaling 522 assists, 100 digs and 31 aces. She was a crucial component in Huntington’s playoff appearance a season ago, just the program’s second appearance since 1998.

“Her decision-making has continued to improve,” coach Tom Donaghy said. “She could be my outside hitter too, but she has great hands, and we figured setting was the way to go.”

Shannon Kehoe’s 1,149 assists are a school record for the rally-scoring era. Donaghy currently sits at 1,008 assists and has a chance to etch her name into the history books.

“It was a goal I set at the beginning of the season, to get to 1,000,” Donaghy said. “Now my sole focus is picking up wins and returning to the playoffs.” — Christopher Matias

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Peter Zhang’s versatility has been a key to Great Neck South’s strong start.

After totaling 286 digs as a libero last year, the junior has transitioned to setter and is off to a rapid start with 210 assists this season.

But he has also racked up 37 kills, 22 blocks, 58 digs and 10 aces to help Great Neck South (5-3).

“He’s a great libero and a tremendous setter, but he’s also one of the best hitters on the team,” South coach Bryan Patterson said. “He’s just been playing for so long and he’s such a smart and cerebral kid that the game comes so easy to him.”

Zhang is now the primary setter in a 6-2 rotation but is active as a hitter when he’s in the front row with Bryan Chau as the other setter on the floor.

Jack Ryan has stepped in and shined at libero this season, racking up 139 digs.

Moving up to the A classification this year after a disappointing loss in the first round of the Class B playoffs last year, Patterson expects to compete for one of the top seeds in this season’s playoffs. — Matt Lindsay

BOYS BADMINTON

There’s a new group of racquet-wielding athletes in Valley Stream District, which debuted its boys badminton team this fall.

The Valley Stream school district surveyed students in grades 7-12, receiving more than 400 responses. Of the varsity teams proposed — boys and girls golf programs being the competing options — boys badminton received the most votes (67).

Kerri Guzzardo coaches the team, bringing 11 years of experience as she coaches Valley Stream Central girls badminton every spring.

“Each year we have boys inquire about it, ask about it,” Guzzardo said. “It was clear; the boys wanted badminton in the district.”

Valley Stream District is now 4-2, third in Nassau Conference II, after kicking off its program by winning its home opener against Mepham, 4-3, on Sept. 9.

“Everyone was just cheering and clapping, and it was amazing,” senior captain Tony Wong said. “Every game we’re learning more and more, and we’re playing way better from the first day we practiced.”

For Guzzardo and Wong, this fall is all about establishing a foundation. Wong plays third singles, learning from his older brother, who plays competitively in Los Angeles.

“I’m hoping that the badminton program is going to be a welcoming place, where anyone can try to play badminton no matter if you’re a beginner, intermediate or just really, really good,” Wong said. — Michael Sicoli