The farther along into the track season one goes the meets become longer as more teams compete against each other, but the rewards of success grow as well. The penultimate meet for the Oyster Bay High School boys track team was the two-day state qualifier of May 29 and 30 at Mitchel Field. Excelling in this meet and surviving for the New York State championship were two juniors, Ross Williams and William Davis.

Both runners were extremely active on both days of the meet. On the first day, Williams ran his fastest 3200m (metric equivalent of two miles) race in an impressive time of 10:03. His efforts on the second day produced another personal best, as he ran 1600m (metric mile equivalent) in 4 minutes, 34 seconds. By defeating a strong class "C" field, including Carle Place's Nick Iaboni and Matt Scott. Williams will run in two events at the state championships.

While Williams was dominating the distance events, Davis was in the process of qualifying in the pentathlon. Including a wide range of events, the two-day pentathlon consists of the long jump, high jump, 110m high hurdles, shot putt and a 1500m race. Davis' performance in this grueling test allowed him to take sixth in the county overall and first among athletes from class "C" schools.

Davis, who won the class "C" title in the long jump at the previous week's county championship, showed a unique blend of athletic skill. He ran the 110 hurdles in 16.6 seconds, threw the 12-pound shot put 34 feet, 11 inches, cleared 5 feet 2 inches in the high jump, soared 20 feet, four inches in the long jump and competed the 1500 meters in 5:25.

Both athletes will face stiff competition at the upcoming state meet of June 8 and 9. Runners from across the state will gather at Mitchel Field where Williams and Davis hope to continue their success.