Distance runners pace South Side

Senior Randy Williams and junior Sean Culkin led South Side in the Nassau Conference 4 track and field championship meet at St. Anthony’s High School.

Williams placed third in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, Culkin was runner-up in the 1,000, and both were part of the 4-x-800 relay that finished fourth. The Cyclones amassed 48 points to place fifth in the 10-school event.

“Randy set a goal to break five minutes in the mile and was determined to reach it,” South Side coach Chris Webster said of Williams, who crossed the line in 4:58.4. “He’s one of our solid hard-core distance runners and a great captain. He came agonizingly close to five minutes a number of times. I knew he was going to do it eventually.”

Williams finished the two-mile race in 10:37.9 and teamed with Culkin, senior Daniel Feldman and freshman Will Duggan to complete the 4-x800 relay in 9:51.3.

The Cyclones scored in all three relays. They were second in the 4x-400 (3:52.3) and just two seconds off the winning time posted by Plainedge. Senior James Hallwood, juniors James Ryan and James Scott, and sophomore David Cacace comprised the foursome. South Side was fourth in the 4-x-200 with Hallwood, Cacace, junior Ben Sellitto and sophomore Evan Chernack.

“With all the snow we had this winter, it was tough for the relay teams to get in the amount of training you’d like,” Webster said. “It was nice to see us hold our own in every relay.”

Hallwood was also part of a tough 300 race. He finished third in 39.6 seconds behind Carmello Rizzo of Plainedge and Matthew Au of Roslyn. “James is another one of those kids with a lot of range for us,” Webster said.

Culkin might have the best range of anyone on the roster, according to Webster, and ran big in the conference meet (2:53.4) to challenge Hewlett’s Lamar Letts for the title. “Sean is really developing and has great range,” Webster said of Culkin. “He wanted to concentrate on the 1,000 and the distance relay this winter. He had a PR in the 1,000 in the conference meet.”

Ryan was third in the conference in the 600 in 1:32.6 and “does whatever it takes to help the team succeed,” Webster said. Chernack was fifth in the 300.