SCHOOLS

Pirate pride on display at Limmer Invite

Posted

The sun shone brightly on Saturday for a track and field meet that the Mepham High School community looks forward to every year.

The Mepham boys’ and girls’ track teams welcomed scores of runners to the school for the ninth annual Paul Limmer Pirate Invitational on April 18. The competition features a variety of races, showcases the Mepham track program and allows the school to honor two former coaches.

The invitational was named for Paul Limmer, who coached the Mepham track and field team from 1969 to 1999. Teams come from Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties to participate.


This year, the Paul Limmer Pirate Invitational featured a new event: a relay carnival. Every runner competed in three events, and medals were awarded to the top five finishers in each varsity and freshmen/sophomore event.

The Coach Hughes Memorial Award was named for long-time Mepham track coach Gerry Hughes. He suffered from ALS before he died in 2010.

Trish Hughes, wife of the late Mepham coach, said in Scuttlebutt, the W.C. Mepham Alumni Association magazine, that her family began the scholarship because they felt it was important to keep her husband’s name alive in the track and field community. She said her entire family plays a role in selecting the recipient.

Senior runners write essays to be considered for the award, which is presented at the Varsity M dinner later in the spring. This year’s winner was Charles Skidmore, who hugged Trish Hughes after his name was called.