Smith comes up short in title defense
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Mike Smith of Riverhead took second place in the shot put with a throw of 53 feet 3 1/2 inches, but he wasn't happy.
Smith's throw of 56 feet 8 1/4 inches was good enough to bring the senior second place and a spot on the podium in the state winter indoor track championships at Cornell University in Ithaca on Saturday.
Other Riverheaders who made it to the podium were junior Treval Hatcher and senior Sasha Schafer. Hatcher finished fifth in the triple jump, leaping 45-4 1/4. Schafer took seventh in the pole vault, clearing 14-0.
Treval Hatcher of Riverhead tuned up for the state meet by finishing second in the triple jump in the Long Island Invitational. Despite competing with a bad ankle, he covered 43 feet 6 inches.
Loverde thought it would take a throw of 58 to 60 feet to win the shot put title. He was right. State champion Joshua Haghighi of Wheatley won with a shot of 59-2 1/2.
"He has all the natural gifts and he has a tremendous competitive drive," Loverde said of Haghighi. "When he's in the middle of a competition he expects to be the best."
"He's definitely not pleased with the fact he didn't defend [his title]," Loverde said. "There's no question about it."
Loverde said he told Smith that finishing second and setting a new school record could not be considered a disappointment. Plus, he has a new goal to shoot for, which Loverde is confident Smith can hit.
Smith has spent many practices working on the spin technique for shot putting, similar to that of throwing a discus. He currently uses the simpler glide technique, in which a shot putter glides from the back of the circle toward the toe board. Loverde said Smith is far enough along with the spin technique to use it at spring dual meets, but was not ready to break it out last weekend. The spin technique, Loverde said, will add considerable distance to Smith's throws, perhaps enough for him to defend his state outdoor title this spring.
Even if that doesn't happen, Loverde thinks Riverhead's wait for its next state champion could be brief. Perhaps waiting to follow in Smith's footsteps is Hatcher.
At the state qualifying meet on Feb. 9, Hatcher finished third behind Amityville senior Victor Drew and Longwood senior Dannie Holland. Hatcher was having trouble hitting the board on his jumps until Loverde took him aside to stress that he could make it to the state meet if he hit the board. Hatcher did, leaping 46-1 1/4.
In the state meet, Loverde said, Hatcher had no problems hitting the board. However, he was not getting the pop and power he's capable of getting.
"It's part of the learning curve for a young guy like that," Loverde said of mastering the triple jump. "When you're working on a specific piece of that process, sometimes you're so concentrated on it that you can let go of some of your other pieces."
Even so, Hatcher beat both Holland and Drew, whom Loverde saw as his toughest competition. Vestal's Gabe Pickett won the event with a jump of 47-6 1/2.
Hatcher's best competition is graduating this spring, so Loverde sees him as the man to beat next year.
"He's potentially another state champion, without question," Loverde said.
While not a state champion, Schafer came into Ithaca riding a wave of confidence after breaking Riverhead's pole vault record the weekend before at the Long Island Invitational. There, he cleared 14-3, breaking his own school indoor record of 13-6, which he set earlier this season. It also beat the school's outdoor record of 14-1, held by David Ludlum.
Schafer did not match his height of the previous week, but he came close, clearing 14-0 for the third time in a week after never having cleared, or even approached clearing, that height before.
"You can't ask for more," Loverde said. "All these kids, we're looking for huge things in the spring."
jwilliams@nortshoresun.com
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