ELLENVILLE – The Ellenville Boys' Track and Field team headed to West Point on Valentine's Day to crush the hearts of their opponents and make a little history. The boys defeated the 12-team field with a final score of 93 points. For the third straight year they sent the Liberty Indians home with a runner-up plaque. Liberty's 85 points gave them a second place finish and they were followed by Pine Plains with 78 and Eldred with 55.

The Blue Devils were led by their senior standouts. A.J. Borriello continued his domination of the shot put and took first place with a throw of 49'3.25." Meanwhile, fellow seniors Joe Barrera and Doug Lewis won the 55 meter hurdles and the 600 meter run. Barrera captured the hurdle championship with a time of 8.44 seconds and Lewis won the 600 with a time of 1:27.77. Seniors were not the only ones to earn first place finishes at the meet. Junior Ben Altshuler won the long jump with a mark of 20'3'' and the 1600 meter relay team won a Section IX championship for a second straight year. Joe Barrera, Andrew Platt, Jimmy Quiceno, and Shawn Leland ran a time of 3:48.08 in the victory.

The Blue Devils also had some other top three performances at the meet. Junior Tomasz Czarnecki finished in third place in the 55 meter dash with a time of 7.05 seconds, and Doug Lewis took third in the 300 with a time of 39.16 seconds. The final top three performances for the Blue Devils were in the final event on the track, the 800 meter relay. Tomasz Czarnecki combined with Matt Persell, Jose Aldorondo, and Jimmy Quiceno to finish third with a time of 1:41.5.

Before the season started, the boys knew that no team in school history has won a Section IX championship three years in a row and their major team goal was to change that — and that they did. The only team to win four straight championships was the boys' tennis team, which won the MHAL in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983. Next year the Devils plan on adding a second team to that list.