The request was so outlandish, so surprising, so unprecedented, that Steve Steiner just about fainted onto the pavement.
Two springs ago in 2022, a freshman named Blake Sealy came out for the track and field team at Manhasset, where Steiner has been the longtime coach.
Easing the freshman into a sport he’d never tried (Sealy was a basketball player first and foremost), Steiner had Sealy try the 400 meter dash.
But one day Sealy had a request: Could he try doing the 800 meters instead?
“And I about fell over because I’ve never in all my years had a kid request to do an 800,” Steiner said with a laugh. “I told him ‘Blake, you know the 800 is really rough on your body, much harder than (a 400.). And he was just like, ‘nope, I want to try it, can I try it?”
That was the first indication Steiner had that Sealy might be a different kind of athlete. A year and a half later, Sealy is a junior, he’s dropping basketball this season to concentrate on running, and has become a dominant distance runner.
On Nov. 2 at the Nassau County cross country meet at Bethpage State Park, Sealy outdistanced all runners in any class by winning in 15:48.20, pacing Manhasset to an historic performance. Sealy’s time broke a school record that had been on the books since 1979.
According to Steiner, the Set quintet of Sealy, Ryan Boldi, Stije Huinink, Nicolas Katsoulis, and John Hogan ran the fastest five-man average (16:22) of any team ever on the Bethpage course.
“I was pretty happy with the result but I think it’s far from the best I can do, or we as a team can do,” Sealy said. “I’m having a lot of fun with running and just love grinding every day, trying to get faster.”
Sealy is having so much fun with running, he said he’s prepared to give up basketball this season, even with the prospect of playing with his brother, freshman basketball player Reed Sealy, as an incentive.
“I do miss playing, and I do love what (Manhasset varsity basketball head coach George) Bruns does with the program,” Sealy said. “But it’s hard for me to not go all-in with running right now, so that’s what I’m going to do, to see how far I can go with this.”
The Manhasset boys’ dominance at the county meet, their second straight title here, was such that even if the Top 5 runners hadn’t competed, the school would’ve finished ahead of second-place Garden City.
“Our depth is much greater than it has been in the past, and it really showed,” Steiner said. “We had a few guys banged up but they really competed hard.”
Manhasset competed in the state qualifying meet on Nov. 9, placing five runners in the Top 12, again paced by Sealy, who won with a time of 15:37.80. Manhasset will advance as a team to the state championships on Nov. 16, looking to improve on last year’s 2nd place team finish.
The boys from Port Washington were also victorious at counties. The Vikings repeated their 2023 title behind a trio of seniors and a couple of sophomores, outdistancing second place Oceanside by 10 points.
Senior Lukas Derasmo paced Port Washington, finishing in second place overall in 16:21.30, and he credited the long summer training hours for his success.
“I did a pretty insane program over break and really pushed myself really hard,” Derasmo said. “I’m really motivated to do well at states in my last year.”
Port Washington coach Jeremy Klaff said the key was getting a pair of runners in the fourth and fifth position to step up and complement Derasmo and fellow seniors Will Ahmuty (who finished 8th) and Riley Funk.
The Vikings got that, as sophomores Gael Ogmen and Milo Christ improved greatly this season.
“They grew up and gave us exactly what we needed,” Klaff said. “And I can’t say enough about Lukas. This is only his second year running, while most of the top guys in the county have been doing this for 4-5 years, at least. He and Will showed such pure toughness and mental fortitude, and we’re so proud of them.”
Derasmo said he knew he wouldn’t catch Farmingdale’s George Thomatos after the Dalers runner got off to a great start, but paced himself and caught the rest of the pack chasing him.
“I knew after his (Thomatos’) insane start that he would be hard to catch, but I ran a good race and got so much support from my teammates,” Derasmo said.
Now the Vikings have their hearts set on a top finish at states, hoping to emulate the 2009 Vikings team that took third.
“We’re a little tired of hearing about that ‘glory’ team,” Derasmo said with a laugh. “We want to make our own mark and be up there with them.”
On the girls side of the county meet, Great Neck South senior Isabella Spagnoli continued her incredibly-strong cross country career by finishing second in the individual meet, in 18:57.60, just 5.40 seconds behind winner Zaria Hall of East Meadow.
Port Washington’s Ashley Carillo placed fifth in 19:38.70 in the Class I meet as well.
The Manhasset girls captured a close victory in the Class II team meet as well, with 53 points, just ahead of South Side’s 59.
Anna Paloubis led the way for Set with a fourth place finish in 20:09.50, with teammate Kathryn Farrer was fifth in Class II in in 20:15.90.
In Class III, North Shore’s girls finished second as a team, and Chloe Connolly won the individual race in 19:27.10.
