Smithtown Central School District has become an athletic dynamo over the recent years where many League, County, and Long Island Championships will end up sitting in the trophy cases until the end of time.
This year there were no shortages in individual and team accolades for the West Siders who had some of the best athletes in New York State in some specific sports.
During the fall, Smithtown West had some impressive team and individual performances. The cross country team – that is combined with the other high school in the district – saw a great individual performance from Junior Doug Antaky. Antaky was All-League, All-Division, and was the Suffolk County Class A runner-up at the state qualifiers meet.
Under the guidance of head coach Peter Schieck, the rising senior would make it to the state meet that took place at Vernon-Verona Sherrill High School in Syracuse where he would place top-20, claiming All-State honors.
The Smithtown West Football program also continued its turnaround in 2022 as they would make a playoff appearance as they finished with a 5-4 regular season record. They saw multiple players make All-County, All-Long Island, and All-State this fall. The Bulls arguably had the best receiving duo in Suffolk County as Jack Melore and Jacque LaPraire both had monster years and were All-County, All-Long Island, and All-State in 2022.
LaPraire, a senior in 2022, will go on to play football at Stony Brook this fall while Melore was 2nd Team All Long-Island. 6th all time on LI with 56 catches, 8th all time in rec yards with 976, Long Island leader in Touchdowns with 14, T-3 on Long Island with 6ints. He will enter his senior year as one of New York State’s best wide outs with multiple Division One schools already showing interest in him. Their quarterback, Brayden Stahl was also 2nd Team All-Long Island and first team All-County this fall. He was Long Island’s leader in Completions, Yards and Touchdowns. with 170 completions, 2663 passing yards, and 29 Passing Touchdowns with seven of those coming in one game. Stahl is also a rising senior with plenty of Division One schools interested in his services.
Joining the football players and Doug Antaky on the all-state performance list for the Bulls was girls soccer star Stephanie Schubert, who was also named League Player of the Year and All-County. Kira Pirrera was also named League player of the Year, All-County, and All-State in the fall for girls volleyball.
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Honored recently at a Smithtown Board of Education
meeting were four student-athletes. Smithtown Central School District
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Unfortunately for the Bulls, Burke suffered a serious knee injury that would force him to sit out the remainder of the postseason. The Adelphi-commit’s presence was missed during the postseason as the West-Siders would ultimately lose in the Suffolk County Finals.
On the track, Smithtown West saw Douglas Antaky finish runner up in the county once again, this time finishing runner up in the 3200 meter run and qualifying for the state championships for the second straight sports season.
On the girls side of the track, Laina Friedman seemed to not miss a beat after not running a single race since the previous spring season. Not only did she qualify for the state meet in two events, she finished runner up in the 1000 meter run and received All-State honors in the 600 meter run, shattering her previous school records in the process.
In the springtime, Smithtown West saw All-County and All-State performances on the track once again by Doug Antaky and Laina Friedman.
Antaky set a school record in the 3200 meter run by running 9:13 at the Section XI Championships, which helped him qualify for the New York State Meet. He also set a new school record in the full 2-mile run while participating at New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Friedman continued her reign of dominance on the track as she qualified for the state meet yet again and she would take home All-State honors in the 800 meter run.
On the baseball diamond, the West Siders had another successful regular season and were a postseason team yet again. Football star Jacque LaPrarie teamed up with Chris Chase and Brady Austin to make the All-County team and guide the Bulls to another successful baseball season.
Smithtown is also a school that takes immense pride in its lacrosse program, and the boys and girls teams made Smithtown West proud in 2023.
On the boys side, they had a total of two All-County selections, one All-County honorable mention, two All-Division selections, and the Rookie of the Year award winner. Dylan Bonasera and Necco Cottage both made the All County team while John Savino was an honorable mention. Will Fitzsimmons and Carmelo Pace were All Division selections and Luke Brown took home Rookie of the Year honors.
The Boys team unfortunately fell short of winning the county title and they watched their in-town rivals Smithtown East play in the game, but it was still a very successful year filled with dramatic wins and outstanding individual performances.
The girls team, which was loaded with D1 commits and All-State level players, had an outstanding run to the 2023 Suffolk County Championship game that took place at Stony Brook University. Unfortunately, they would lose a heartbreaker to West Islip in the finals and their chances at a Long Island Championship were foiled one game short.
Despite some close calls, it was yet another successful season for Smithtown West and their athletics department who was led by first year Athletic Director Jason Lambert.
Lambert succeeded Pat Smith as the Athletic Director in the summer of 2022 and he has done a great job as he helped transform both Smithtown Schools – East and West – from an island-wide powerhouse into a statewide powerhouse.