Anthony Anatol wins individual crown, leads Ward Melville boys cross country team to Suffolk Class A team title

Though not all of them wanted to rest last week, it was exactly what Ward Melville’s top boys cross country runners needed to do.

Led by senior Anthony Anatol, the Patriots scored 32 points to win the Class A team championship at the Suffolk state qualifier meet at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park on Thursday. It was Ward Melville’s second consecutive Suffolk team championship.

The victory came after coach Ryan DeLuca sat the team’s top seven runners during the Suffolk Division Championships last week. With fresh legs, the Patriots won in multiple ways, as Anatol also took home the individual title. He finished the 5-kilometer race in 16 minutes, 11.1 seconds. 

Anatol and the Patriots qualified for the public school state championships, scheduled for Nov. 15 at Queensbury High School. 

“Originally, I was kind of skeptical [of the resting strategy] because Divisions is historically a pretty fast meet and I might be missing out on an opportunity to hit a personal record,” Anatol said. “Now that we’ve done this, I’m super glad that Coach made that decision. My legs felt the best they have all season.”

He finished 27.7 seconds clear of the next finisher, teammate Andrew Senf (16:38.8). Anatol’s time topped the merged results as well, 25.4 seconds faster than Sayville senior Dylan Walsh, who won the Class B title.

“Since the track season, one of my biggest goals for my senior year was to dominate [Suffolk] cross country at Sunken,” Anatol said. “This is a much better feeling than when I would win or make states in winter and spring track. I felt like I was able to run to the best of my ability, rather than run tactically, and that’s a really great feeling. It’s surreal, honestly.”

Though Walsh won Class B, and another two Sayville boys placed in the top seven, Eastport-South Manor stacked four of its top five runners between 10th and 13th place to score 54 points and narrowly win the team title. The Sharks were led by junior Matthew Keller, who finished eighth in 17:20.8.

Though ESM won Class B last year, it was given a facelift this year. Keller, a former soccer player, is one of three runners from ESM that gave up their old fall sport to join the cross country team. Classmate Blake Fiori was a volleyball player, while sophomore Chris Dowd — the team’s sixth runner — was a junior varsity soccer player.

However, this is where the newcomers wanted to be.

“Soccer just didn’t give me the same thrill as winning a race or finishing with my teammates did,” Keller said. “I love my friends, I love my team. We have an amazing coach: Brian Methven. And we just knew this is what we had to do.”

Junior Jack Mikula has also been part of ESM’s transformation. Formerly an injury-plagued runner who would run towards the back of the Sharks’ pack, Mikula has shaved over two minutes off his best time at Sunken Meadow. He placed 11th in Class B in 17:43.1 Thursday.

“I’ve been on this team since seventh grade and had a lot of ups and downs,” Mikula said. “I didn’t take other years as seriously. I would rely on other teammates to get points for me. This year, I’ve been fully locked in.”

Bayport-Blue Point junior Dylan Lozano won Class C in 18:01.9. He became the program's first sectional champion in 15 years, and helped lead the Phantoms to 29 points and the team’s first sectional title in 11 years.

Port Jefferson defended its Class D crown with 17 points. Junior Sean Grossman won in 17:27.4.

By Mike Anderson

michael.anderson@newsday.com

Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.