West Hempstead clears many hurdles

The West Hempstead boys’ track and field team had a season for the record books in 2014.

The Rams came in third as a team during the Nassau County Class A championships, held May 20-21 at Westbury High School, which was as high a finish that could be achieved considering they did not compete in many of the field events. Head coach Rob Gewirtz described 2014 as the best season West Hempstead has completed on the track in his nearly decade with the program.

“We put together a pretty good team,” Gewirtz said. “It was exciting for us.”

Leading the way for the Rams was senior Donovan Steele, who captured individual county titles and in the shot put and discus. Steele also won the county shot discuss title as a junior and placed second in the shot put.

Senior Xavier Cameron also excelled in the discus event and placed third in the county.

“He came out of nowhere,” Gewirtz said of Cameron. “He threw a personal best.”

Gewirtz credits throwing coach Geoff Carr with having a major impact on the success of Cameron and Steele. 

Junior Jalen Furline was a positive addition to the Rams in 2014 after transferring from Baldwin High School. Furline earned All-County honors in the triple jump with a third place finish. “We put him on a program and he worked hard,” Gewirtz said of Furline.

Also excelling on the county stage was senior Enrique McFarlane, who finished fourth in the 100 and 200 meters. Senior Akil Phillip also came in fourth for the 400-meters after joining the program just before graduation.

Anthony Beaubrun placed fourth in the high jump at the counties in his first year with the track program. Beaubrun, who was also West Hempstead’s starting quarterback on the football team, accomplished this feat by clearing 5-feet, 8-inches despite the school not having a high jump structure to practice on.

Gewirtz is optimistic about next year and going forward. He credits second-year West Hempstead Principal Dan Rehman for providing that extra motivation by attending the divisional, county and state-qualifier meets.

“He has been our biggest supporter,” said Gewirtz of Rehman. “I think he is a big reason the kids are inspired…He really cares about the track program and sports program in West Hempstead.”