Miller Place thrower Jillian Scully breaks her own state discus record. . . again
Jillian Scully of Miller Place competes in the discus throw on Day 1 of the Suffolk track and field individual championships/state qualifiers on Friday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Miller Place senior Jillian Scully just keeps outdoing herself.
For the third time in the past month, Scully broke the state record for a discus throw. This time, she chucked it 184 feet, 2 inches during the first day of the Suffolk outdoor track and field state qualifier meet Thursday at Comsewogue High School. The newest record came one week after she threw 178-10 at the Suffolk Class 4B championships at Mount Sinai. That 178-10 broke her original state record, set at the Glenn D. Loucks Games in White Plains, where she threw 174-2 on May 10.
She now sits first, second and third all-time in state discus-throwing history, and she still has more throws left. She'll compete at the state championships, scheduled for June 13-14 in Middletown.
Scully believes the warmer weather enabled the historic month-long run.
“I remember saying in the winter that I was going to break the state record, and it was going to happen really easily for me,” Scully said. “I got into the season, and it was a rough start. Every meet was cold and windy. Then, at the Loucks Games, it was sunny, and I had a good feeling. It’s been so nice, warm and sunny since then. It has such an effect on my throws.”
Given the work she puts in with her diet, weight-lifting and practice, Scully expects this kind of performance from herself. Because of that, she's had trouble grasping the substantiality of her increasingly common historic performances.
“I definitely don’t feel like I broke the state record again,” Scully said. “I just think to myself that I had a good meet today. Everyone else goes crazy and starts yelling that I broke the state record, when I’m just thinking, I got a [personal record].”
On all three record-breaking occasions, she thought nothing of her throws after watching the disc land. No particular throw ever felt record-breaking leaving her hand. So, every time she's heard the number shouted back towards the scorekeeper, it has provided her with some pleasant surprise.
“Honestly, whenever it goes really far — I have horrible depth perception — I’ll think to myself, that was good, but it didn’t go above 170 [feet],” Scully said. “Then I hear them yell out, ‘184.’ I thought the same thing at the Loucks Games, I thought the same thing at the county meet. So, from my perspective, if I think it went short, it went far.”
Both Scully and Hampton Bays senior Asha Pensa-Johnson qualified for the state meet in the discus. Pensa-Johnson hit the state’s super qualifying standard distance in the discus on May 3, so by simply competing in the event at the state qualifier meet, she automatically clinched a berth in the state championships. She placed second Thursday (131-4).
Connetquot senior Essence Wright was the top finisher among Class A throwers at 107-5, sending her to the state meet, as well, alongside Southold/Greenport sophomore Le Neve Zuhoski, who was the top Class C thrower at 96-1.
Elsewhere, Bellport senior Nevaeh Pedraza flew a personal-record 18-6 ½ in the long jump to win, sending herself to her first outdoor state championship meet. Pedraza entered the meet with a top distance of 18-3, which did not meet either the state’s at-large qualifying standard or the super standard for Class A athletes, meaning she was going to have to place first in her class at the state qualifier meet to make it.
Pedraza had a strong supporter beside her. Hauppauge junior Rachel Budke — Long Island’s best long jumper — had already hit the state’s super standard for Class B the week before. Wanting her closest competitor to join her at the state meet, Budke cheered Pedraza on, which helped push her into the best jump of her life.“I did feel some pressure coming into it, but I calmed myself beforehand,” Pedraza said. “It feels great. I want to shout out Rachel because she was cheering me on and pushed me. I’m glad I’m getting the opportunity to go.”
Budke’s super standard wound up not mattering, as her jump of 17-7 ½ on Thursday was the best from Class B athletes. The top Class C finisher was Mattituck senior Rhianna Lutz, who flew 16-5 to advance to the state meet.
On the track, Bayport-Blue Point senior Sophia McInnes won the 800 in a personal-best 2 minutes, 7.13 seconds. She was pushed the entire way by Sachem East senior Sarafina Scavo, who was the top runner from Class A in 2:12.43 and qualified for the state meet. Port Jefferson eighth-grader Leilani von Oiste qualified as the top Class C finisher in 2:31.87.
In the loaded 3,000, six athletes qualified for the state meet, with five of them owning their class’ super standard. Of course, the headliner of the group was Floyd senior Zariel Macchia from Class A, who won in 9:44.02.
“That field was stacked,” Macchia said. “Our runners right now, especially on the girls’ side, are just insane. I knew I wanted to come away from my final state qualifier with at least one win. I love this meet — it’s my last meet on Long Island. I just wanted to come away with a win today, so I just went for it, and it was a great race.”
Her closest competitor was Bay Shore junior Maggie McCormick, who tailed her closely for most of the race until roughly the final 300 meters and was second in 9:48.03. Harborfields sophomore Sayla Fives (9:56.68) qualified as the top Class B finisher, while Mt. Sinai freshman Cali Gabrielson and Westhampton senior Lily Strebel advanced due to the super standard.
Port Jefferson senior Gwen Connelly was the sixth 3,000 runner to qualify for the state meet, as she was the top Class C finisher. However, she decided to scratch herself from the event, as her primary focus is the 2,000-meter steeplechase. So, her eighth-grade teammate, Myla Kelly, will go instead.
Most of the events that took place on Thursday were preliminary races to qualify for finals runs on Friday. However, there were three preliminary races that no Class C runners survived, meaning that the class’ top finisher from each of those preliminaries earned Suffolk’s qualifying berthfrom Class C. Those races were the 400, 100-meter hurdles and 400 hurdles.
In the 400, Port Jefferson senior Emily Snyder ran a 1:02.44. In both hurdles races, Southold/Greenport freshman Ida Reiniger had the best Class C time (16.65, 1:12.03).
Two other athletes punched their tickets to the state meet. Hauppauge junior Alexandra Wetterhahn hit the state’s super qualifying standard in both the 100 and 200 during the season, and though she did not make the finals either race, her super standards automatically sent her to the state meet. Eastport-South Manor senior Colleen Carroll was the only Class B girl to make it to the finals for the 100 hurdles, which automatically made her the class’ winner and secured her a spot in the state meet.
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.
