All eyes are usually on the sprints through distance races in track and field meets whether the latter be in an interscholastic or intercollegiate competition. The same holds true for an invitational or open meet.
But sometimes a field event takes preference over a running event. And they usually go on at the same time.
This was just the case at the Nassau County Class Championships at Westbury High School. The meet was conducted over a two-day-night period of about five hours each session. And on the second session the high school athletes had to contend at times with the rain and inclement weather.
In any meet, the weather conditions especially the rain slows down the performances of the athletes.
Tevon Hall showed that he has a chance to blossom out in his senior year and be one of the top long jumpers in Section Eight. The West Hempsted High School junior with his father Brent Hall cheering him on from the sidelines cleared 21 feet to take first place in the finals in Class ‘A.’ At the same time he helped to lead his school to 26 points and a tie with Cold Spring Harbor for eighth place in a field of 18 scoring schools in this class. He scored 10 points, the number that goes to the winner of an event.
Last year, he advanced to the New York State meet in the long jump and cleared 22 feet 2 inches for fourth place.
Tevon is the son of a Jamaican native, who as a youngster with his family moved to Canada. Brent was a runner, soccer and basketball player in Jamaica and then in Canada before coming to the United States.
Now Brent is 45 years of age and when he can he watches all of his five boys have athletic careers in the West Hempstead school district. Brent, himself, did not play any sports even when he attended one year of college at New York Institute of Technology.
“Long jumping is a good sport (event),” said Brent Hall. “I’m proud of my son’s (accomplishments). He’s also an excellent football player.”
Brent communicates a lot with his son about sports, but the talk is more about football than about track.
Tevon has been playing football for three years, including two on the varsity team, at West Hempstead High School. In fact, he has been playing the gridiron sport since he was a kid.
The 5 ft 9 inch 17-year-old student two-sport athlete has been running since the seventh grade. His goal is eventually to be a state champion in the long jump. His form is to get up, hang, and pull through.
