Simonetti sisters of East Islip win big at Suffolk championships
Danielle Simonetti of East Islip aces to victory in the girls 400 meter hurdles during the Suffolk County 3A track and field championships at Kings Park High School on Friday, May 30, 2025. She posted a time of 1:05.80. Credit: James Escher
The 400-meter hurdles is more than just a race. It is a Simonetti family tradition.
East Islip senior Danielle Simonetti won the 400 hurdles in 1 minute, 5.8 seconds at the Suffolk Class 3A track and field championships on Friday at Kings Park High School.
She got to do so while running alongside her younger sister, Kathryn Simonetti, a sophomore who finished third.
Running with a sister is nothing new for Danielle Simonetti. The oldest girl in the family, Olivia Simonetti, graduated from East Islip in 2023 and runs for Stony Brook University.
When Olivia was running the 400 hurdles at East Islip in 2022, Danielle asked coach John Reynolds if she could run in that event in a dual meet, just to be alongside her sister.
That move stuck. Not only was Danielle able to enjoy her experience running next to her older sister in eighth and ninth grade, but she eventually became the county champion in 2024, before repeating this year with the younger one beside her.
“That was the best,” Danielle said. “I used to do it with my older sister at a couple of county meets, so to do it with my little one was so nice. It’s such a cool feeling because I was the younger one for so many years because I started so young, so now being a junior with all of the little ones coming up is so cool.”
Kathryn Simonetti is not just “the younger sister,” though. She too is a county champion, as she cleared 10 feet, 3 inches to win the pole vault for her first county title.
Winning on the same day as her sister was a uniting experience.
“I really like that because it just brings us closer together as sisters,” Kathryn Simonetti said. “I think it was a really great experience for us.”
Lost in the shuffle of the touching family moment was the fact that Danielle Simonetti also won the 400 for the second consecutive year, finishing in 57.89. Later, she anchored East Islip’s 4 x 400 relay team to victory in 4:12.91, following sophomore Alexa Menendez, junior Grace Micali and senior Danielle Birner.
Despite all of these Simonetti championships, Hauppauge managed to squeeze out 110 points to win the team title by four.
Junior Rachel Budke won the 100 in 12.62 and broke her own school record in the long jump by flying 18-7. Later, she anchored Hauppauge’s 4 x 100 squad to victory in 49.82, following sophomore Cecelia Moccia and juniors Alexandra Wetterhahn and Ava Dellicurti.
Budke’s long jump mark hit the state’s super qualifying standard for Class B long jumpers, securing an automatic spot in the state championship meet, scheduled for June 13-14 in Middletown. The wins in both the 100 and long jump were her first career individual
county championships.
“I have a lot of support from my teammates to give me that positive mindset and keep me going,” Budke said. “I’ve worked really hard this season to get here, so it feels amazing to do what I’ve done in making the super standard and being able to go to states for the third time.”
Other winners for Hauppauge were juniors Katelyn Oliveto and Katherine Dituro. Oliveto threw the discus 102-3 and Dituro paced a 7:23.07 in the 1,500 walk.
There were two other double champions: Comsewogue sophomore Lexie Cole and Harborfields sophomore Sayla Fives. Cole won the 800 in 2:21.4 and the 2,000 steeplechase in 7:22.4. Fives won the 3,000 in 10:18.44 and the 1,500 in 4:51.62.
For Fives, it has been a long journey to get to the podium. She was brought up to the varsity track team as an eighth-grader. She was discovered to be iron deficient after experiencing health concerns.
Not wanting to give up on running, Fives sat out the outdoor season last year to raise her iron levels. She saw several blood specialists at Stony Brook Hospital and was given medicine, and also added spinach and red meat to her diet.
Though the rehabilitation worked, there were difficult times.
“I was not in a good place,” Fives said. “Running is a huge part of my life. When I wasn’t able to do that, it took me a while to get back to normal and feel confident in myself again. There was a lot of mental work that I had to focus on last spring to just remember that this will be fixed.”
Now she is a double county champion.
“This is more than I could have ever imagined,” Fives said. “I am so grateful to God that I can be helpful again and prove myself. I’m excited to see what I can do over the next couple of years.”
Comsewogue’s Cole had some teammates join her in the champions’ club. Senior Madelyn Serxner won the 200 in 26.59, and fellow senior Sophia Deja scored 2,973 points to win the pentathlon.
Elsewhere, Eastport-South Manor senior Colleen Carroll ran 16.21 to win the 100 hurdles. Sayville’s 4 x 800 team of freshman Aislyn Beach, sophomore Madelyn Griffin, senior Jordan Weber and sophomore Marianna Duffy posted a 10:07.34.
Rounding out the field champions were Half Hollow Hills West junior Suki Dong in the high jump (5-2), Kings Park senior Mia Staiano in the triple jump (36-10 1⁄4) and East Hampton junior Kaili Moore in the shot put (32-8).
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.
