Thursday, October 1, 2026
With the season-bests of the top five contenders in the Nassau Class A 110 meter hurdles all separated by about a half-second, there was plenty of drama leading up to the event at the county championships last Friday at Roosevelt High School.
Lawrence senior Tevine Johnson, the No. 2 seed, finished second in the preliminary race and rose to the occasion in the final to take the county title in 15.80 seconds. Valley Stream North’s Isaiah Paige was next in 15.96, and Lawrence sophomore Alberto Laguerre placed third in 16.29.
Paige had nipped Johnson in the event, with Laguerre third, at the Division 3B championship meet on May 17.
“It was great to see Tevine pull it off,” Golden Tornadoes coach Bud McQuillan said. “He lost to Paige five times, all by slim margins, over the past two years. He was excited to finally beat him.”
Johnson, who caught a touchdown pass in Lawrence’s win over Sayville in the Long Island Class III football title game, and brought back a kickoff in the team’s Nassau County championship victory over Plainedge, will look to continue his success at the State Qualifier meet this Thursday and Friday at Cold Spring Harbor.
Johnson added a second county title to his resume, finishing atop the field in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 21-feet, 10 ¾-inches. McQuillan attributed Johnson’s breakthrough in the event to working with jumping coach Joe Demarco. “Tevine didn’t long jump last year but constantly worked at it,” McQuillan said. “He started the year in the 18-19 foot range and then just reached another level.”
Junior Noah Serrette made a tremendous bid for the county title in the 400 hurdles but came up short by a nose to Roosevelt’s Joshua Stevenson. Stevenson crossed the line in 57.66 seconds, with Serrette right in his hip pocket in 57.80. Laguerre was fifth. “It was similar to the 110 hurdles with four athletes very close with their times,” McQuillan said.
