Shoreham-WR senior Leyton Mangiamele dominates long jump, defends county title
Shoreham-Wading River's Leyton Mangiamele wins the long jump during the Suffolk boys indoor track and field small school championships on Sunday in Brentwood. Credit: Brittney Dietz
On a day without many eye-popping times or distances, Shoreham-Wading River senior Leyton Mangiamele stood out a little extra at Suffolk Federal Credit Union Arena.
Mangiamele flew 22 feet, 8¾ inches to win the Suffolk small schools long jump championship in Brentwood on Sunday. His best jump cleared the pack by 2 feet, 1 1⁄4 inches.
His victory successfully defended his small schools county championship from last winter.
He also won the long jump title in the Suffolk IV-A championship during the outdoor season last spring, making Sunday’s victory three straight county championships.
“It’s always great to see myself win by huge numbers, but I always like to think it’s just me against myself,” Mangiamele said. “It doesn’t matter what everyone else is jumping. I want to do my best and jump as far as I can.”
His dominance caught the attention of many in the arena, turning some of his final jumps into an area of great interest. As Mangiamele stood on the end of the runway, staring down it while thinking to himself, all the spectators and athletes in the arena clapped methodically for him, rooting for him to jump even farther.
Being the man in the arena, the solo performer with all the eyes and pressure on him, is a familiar feeling to Mangiamele.
He is also a musician, with experience playing the trombone, piano, clarinet and trumpet. He is used to performing — often playing solos — in front of hundreds of people.
Sunday was just another typical day.
“It was just me and the runway,” Mangiamele said.
His 22-8¾ was the farthest indoor jump of his career. That indoor personal record came on a pair of rolled ankles, with his left injured in practice during the week leading up to, and his right hurt while competing in the high jump earlier in Sunday’s meet.
Even with the bum ankles, his first two leaps went 22-8 and the aforementioned 22-8¾. He went 21-7½ on his third jump, which would have won by a foot and a half-inch in its own right.
He landed awkwardly, however, and was slow to get up.
His coaches tried talking him out of taking his next three jumps to prevent aggravating the injuries, knowing that his lead was already insurmountable.
Ever the performer, Mangiamele decided the show must go on instead. He took his final three jumps, posting another two victorious distances and earning the gold medal the hard way.
“The ankles started killing me, but it doesn’t matter,” Mangiamele said. “It hurt a lot for each jump, but I just didn’t want to give up on it. You only get three jumps, sometimes six, so I don’t want to give them up.”
Islip senior Ryan Donohue continued his breakout season when he won the 1,000 meters in 2 minutes, 34.24 seconds. He had never run the 1,000 before this winter, but he has found a niche in it, as he is ranked fourth on Long Island and has won his first county championship.
His transformation into one of Long Island’s best has resulted from an emotional maturity that has come along with his experience.
“I’m not afraid to fail anymore,” Donohue said. “Last year, I would’ve been shaking in my boots. Going into today, I wasn’t worried if I won or lost, I just wanted to give it my all. Now that I know I’m one of the top guys, I have the confidence now to go out there and not worry.”
West Islip scored 54 points to narrowly beat Mount Sinai by two points and earn the team championship.
Senior Chase Miller won the 3,200 in 9:50.46 and classmate Sebastian Niewinski won the 300 in 36.15 to lead the team to victory.
Niewinski’s title was almost a full second (0.98) faster than the next finisher. It was his first race in three weeks after straining his groin in practice in early January.
“We had the league championships a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn’t provide for [the team],” Niewinski said. “It’s a really good feeling that I could step up today, overcome what I had before and be there for them.”
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.
