Monday, July 14, 2025
For thousands of high school track and field athletes across Long Island, the Bulldog Invitational is a final shot at qualifying for the postseason. But for one Hewlett High School senior, it was a chance to leave his name in the record books.
Matthew DeCicco, a senior on the men’s varsity track and field team, has been one of the top performers for Hewlett during his four-year tenure on the squad.
A multiple-time county champion, DeCicco originally didn’t plan to run in the invitational to prepare for the state championship on June 13 and 14 at Middletown High School in Middletown New York , however, after recording no score in the high jump, he had to change his plans.
“I really wasn’t even supposed to compete at the Bulldog (Invitational),” DeCicco said. “I was supposed to get the state super standard at a previous meet, but I had no height in high jump, and I didn’t get the standard, so we had to change plans and compete at the Bulldog.”
His decision to participate in the invitational proved to be worthwhile, breaking two school, meet and facility records in both the 110-meter hurdles and pentathlon.
His time of 14.43 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles bested the previous invitational record of 14.74 seconds set by Chris Parker from Mepham High School in Bellmore in 2008.
In the pentathlon, a competition consisting of five events, including hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump and 1500m, he scored 3,219 points, beating the previous Bulldog Invitational record from 2019 of 3,194 points held by Jackson Bright of Copiague High School.
DeCicco said that it was an incredible feeling to end his last regular season at Hewlett with a record-setting achievement on his home track.
“It meant a lot to me, because I’ve never been able to hold like a meet or facility record,” DeCicco said. “So it meant a lot to just go out there, do it at my home track and know that I’ll always have a legacy there, not just in the school, but like for everyone.”
Following the invitational, DeCicco won another county championship in both the hurdles and long jump on May 19 at Hewlett High School and automatically qualified for the New York state championship on June 13 and 14.
The Bulldog Invitational, first held in 2003, is an annual track and field meet hosted at Hewlett High School that has grown into a community-wide event for residents to attend and participate in.
This year’s invitational, held on May 17, was the last meet in which the athletes could compete before conference, county and state qualifiers begin.
Eamon McHugh, Hewlett-Woodmere’s boys’ varsity track and field coach, said that this year’s event drew more than 2,000 athletes from more than 50 schools across Nassau and Suffolk counties, as well as public schools from New York City.
McHugh added that since it’s the last meet before the postseason, the event creates an added incentive for schools to participate, and that this year’s invitational was the largest in its history.
“Because of the new facility we have, and just the overall history of the Bulldog, it’s kind of the culminating major invitational for Nassau County and Suffolk County track and field on Long Island,” McHugh said. “We got more Suffolk County teams than we usually almost ever gotten this year, and we just seem to keep getting more and more PSAL schools coming in from the city. So that combination of things made it to be probably one of our biggest Bulldog Invitationals ever, if not at least in the last 10 years.”
The invitational has become more than just a competition for athletes. McHugh said that many former Hewlett-Woodmere athletes would use the meet to reconnect with coaches, teammates and friends after they come home from college.
David Viegas, Hewlett-Woodmere’s director of health, physical education and athletics, said that McHugh and girls’ varsity track and field coach Stephen Honerkamp have worked to make the Bulldog Invitational an interactive event with participation from members of the community.
“Our coaches have tried to keep that tradition going,” Viegas said. “They have an alumni race in there, they have a coach event in there. They do something with the mascots. So they try to make it inclusive. To put on an event of that magnitude, it really takes everyone to pitch in and come back and support us.”
