Longwood's Garfield Geddes says goodbye to track and field with wins in 110 hurdles and long jump at Suffolk 1A championships
Garfield Geddes of Longwood competes in the 110-meter hurdles at the Suffolk 1A track and field championships at Connetquot on Wednesday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
In what was most likely the last track meet he'll ever run in, Longwood senior Garfield Geddes sent himself out perfectly.
Geddes was the only male to win multiple individual events at the uber-competitive Suffolk Class 1A championships at Connetquot High School Wednesday, taking the 110-meter hurdles in 14.76 seconds and the long jump in 23 feet, ¼ of an inch to become a double county champion.
The Suffolk state qualifier meet is scheduled for next Thursday and Friday, and the state championships are set for June 13-14. However, Longwood's senior prom is also scheduled for June 13. Geddes — who does not plan to run in college — wants to enjoy and celebrate his final days of high school, so he plans to go to prom instead. Therefore, there is no point in him trying to qualify for the state meet.
So, Geddes made sure to win while he still had the chance.
“I was really nervous — I had some anxiety before the race,” Geddes said after the 110 hurdles. “For me, this is my last meet, and also my last hurdles race, so I just wanted to make sure that I did well and that anxiety really kicked in. I was like, ‘Wow, this is really it.’”
All of that anxiety rolled off his shoulders once he crossed the finish line.
“It feels amazing; I’m grateful,” Geddes said. “In my mind, I was like, ‘Wow, I really did it.’ I felt freedom. I felt alive.”
Later, Geddes’ teammate — junior Kaden Reid — helped the team sweep the hurdles when he ran 54.49 in the 400-meter version to successfully defend his outdoor county championship. He also ran the anchor leg of Longwood’s winning 4 x 400 relay team, following seniors Anthony Fraser and Jaden Mitchell, as well as junior Micah Laney. They won in 3 minutes, 25.91 seconds.
Reid, who won the Tom Cassese Award for Suffolk's top defensive back during the football season, was battling a sore heel, and some wind and light rain, during his race. However, the mindset he developed as a football player helped get him through those struggles.
"With football, how it correlates is that it’s a mindset of me wanting to be No. 1.,” Reid said. “That’s why I put everything on the track. I go 110% into everything I do, whether that’s a workout, or stretching … I do it all. Each hurdle I see is an obstacle I have to face to become great. It means a lot to be a county champion.”
As far as obstacles go, Whitman senior Justin Keogler competed on a broken right leg and won the shot put with a top throw of 48-2 ½. The University of New Haven commit suffered the injury just over two weeks ago during practice when his knee gave out while throwing. Though he initially walked it off, he was diagnosed with a discouraging list of injuries: fractured tibia, sprained ankle, sprained anterior cruciate ligament.
The lower body is crucial for throwers. Despite the injuries, Keogler wanted to give competing a shot.
“Just grip it and rip it, just go for it,” Keogler said. “The love of the game will get you there. I thought my senior season was ripped away from me, so to come back and win this feels pretty good.”
On its home turf, Connetquot dominated with 159.5 points to win the team championship. Senior Fernando Padilla cleared 6-2 to win the high jump, freshman Jeremiah Davis flew 44-2 ¼ to claim the triple jump, junior Alex Molter cleared 14-3 to take the pole vault and senior Erik Monkan totaled 2,609 points to capture the pentathlon. Davis also led off for Connetquot’s 4 x 100 team that won in 42.75, followed by seniors Leonardo Anglin, Michael Schauder and Julian Bolton.
Elsewhere, Ward Melville produced several champions. Junior Joglanio Alcindor sprinted 10.94 in the 100, senior Jon Seyfert registered a 1:57.13 in the 800, junior Anthony Anatol ran a 4:28.16 in the 1,600 and senior Tim Brown finished the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:00.94. In the 4 x 800, junior Asher Tu, sophomore Andrew Senf and Anatol and Seyfert paced a collective 8:20.51 for the win. They almost swept the distance events, but Lindenhurst senior Jake Albert won the 3,200 in 9:21.09.
Alcindor almost doubled his medal count in the 200, but Patchogue-Medford junior Evan Fraser edged him out by one hundredth of a second, posting a 22.14. Timekeepers ran into technical difficulties during that event and the official winner was unclear for several minutes.
“I was just scrambling through my mind wondering what the results might be,” Fraser said. “It was a little bit stressful waiting. Those last 10 meters, I was a little behind so I tried my best to catch back up and dip through, and I spent the next couple of minutes [wondering] if I got there or not. In the end it worked out. It feels great.”
His classmate, Jeremiah Newsome, won the discus with a top throw of 152-3. Floyd sophomore Zavier Jenkins rounded out the champions’ list by running 49.36 in the 400.
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.
