Jordan Peck's dominance in hurdles continues at Suffolk 2A track and field championships
Jordan Peck of North Babylon wins the 100-meter hurdles during the Suffolk 2A track and field championships on Tuesday at Commack. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Next to death and taxes, Jordan Peck winning Suffolk’s hurdles races may very well be life’s third guarantee.
The North Babylon junior won his third consecutive 110-meter hurdles title in 14.33 seconds, then followed it up with his second straight 400 hurdles championship in 57.19 seconds at the Suffolk 2A track and field championships on Tuesday at Commack.
The lone blemish on Peck’s hurdling career in outdoor county meets is from 2023, when he finished second in the 400 hurdles as a freshman.
His efforts in the hurdles were instrumental in North Babylon winning the team championship with 137 points.
“It’s because of my team; I’m a big team player,” Peck said. “I just love when my team wins, and that’s just what I want to bring to my team and my whole school.”
For Peck — a lanky, fast athlete with a high motor — his individual dominance not only stems from his body and skill set, but also his mindset. Racing with the right frame of mind has always benefited him.
The way he gets himself into that mental mode is simple: he just hangs out with his friends before the race. They calm him down and narrow his focus for him.
“I spend time with my team, and that’s why team is such a good thing to me,” Peck said.
That help from his friends came in handy during the 110 hurdles. Copiague junior Nigel Harris entered the championship race with the fastest time after the trial runs, but some words of encouragement from the other North Babylon kids helped propel Peck to a narrow victory by 0.33 seconds over Harris.
“They were like, ‘You’ve got that, he’s behind you. Let him see your back,’” Peck said. “I was like, ‘All right, that’s all I’ve got to do.’”
Other winners in North Babylon’s 137-point team championship were senior Joseph Licata (who won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10 minutes, 5.44 seconds) and freshman Kye Roberts (who cleared 5 feet, 10 inches in the high jump).
The only individual who won more than Peck was West Babylon senior Josiah Price, who took the 400 in 49.01 seconds and the 200 in 22.05 seconds. He also ran the anchor leg of West Babylon’s victorious 4 x 100 relay team, which finished in 43.13 seconds. He followed juniors Quinn Daley, Khadin Muhammad and Justin Velasquez.
His individual wins defended titles that he earned last year.
“I came in here with the same mentality and just got the job finished,” Price said. “It feels good, I just didn’t want to have any negativity coming into today thinking anybody could beat me.”
While North Babylon won the team title, West Babylon had the most individual winners. Along with Price’s day, Daley flew 20-11 to win the long jump, Muhammad hit 44-4 1/4 to take the triple jump and junior Joel Colas cleared 11-6 to capture the pole vault title.
Commack junior Anthony Pisciotta was the other double individual champion, which he achieved on his own home field by winning both the shot put and the discus. His throw of 170-3 won him the discus for the second consecutive year, and his throw of 49-4 1/2 in the shot put earned him his first county title in the event.
Pisciotta has now won a county championship in all three throwing events that Suffolk sponsors: the discus, the shot put and the weight throw.
“It feels good to know that I’ve gotten all the events that I could win for counties, and it felt even better to help out the team,” Pisciotta said.
Commack had two other individual champions in senior Dylan Manning and sophomore Aidan Piracci. Manning ran 9:51.56 to win the 3,200, and Piracci took the 1,600 in 4:27.44.
Deer Park junior Maxwell Ferguson won the pentathlon with 3,006 points
Bellport seniors Raymond Kreamer and Vincent Pitre Jr. claimed titles in the 100 and 800, respectively. Kreamer won in 10.95 seconds, and Pitre finished in 1:58.34. The two also ran on Bellport’s 4 x 400 relay, with Kreamer leading off and Pitre running the third leg alongside sophomores John Uyi and Desmond Escobar. The group logged a collective 3:25.22 to win.
For Kreamer, a first-time county champion, it was exhilarating.
“It feels great,” Kreamer said. “Not a lot of people can say they did this. Now, I’m one of the select few who can say they did.”
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.
