Although the boys and girls track teams are separate, most of their meets fall on the same date. This included each team’s division championship. On May 12, both the boys and girls track teams won their respective divisions at MacArthur High School. Both teams ended up in domination of Division 1B.
Boys Track
The division win was the boys team’s first in 32 years. They finished the meet with 147 points to clinch, compared to 115.5 and 104.5 points for second and third place Valley Stream Central and Baldwin, respectively.
The team gave a well-balanced effort, winning five events and placing in the top five for fourteen of the seventeen events at the meet.
Senior James Burns, who will be running for Princeton University next year, won two of the three events in which he participated: the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles.
Sophomore Peter Kirgis placed first and second in the 3200m run and the 1600m run.
“We’re the best team in the division. When you try us with a sorry team like Baldwin, that’s the result you’re going to get. Don’t you ever talk about us,” said Kirgis, channeling his best Richard Sherman impression.
The team won both the 4x800m relay and the 4x100m relay. Freshmen Aaron Siff-Scherr and Joey Levine, and sophomores Matt Kramer and Andrew Adelhardt ran the 4x800m, while junior Marc Livshin and seniors Ben Moy, Shogo Yamamoto, and Kent Ortega ran the 4x100m.
“It felt great to contribute to this squad. Knowing that our win made a difference makes it feel even better,” said Siff-Scherr.
Although winning the division is a notable accomplishment in itself, the team hopes that this big win could be a springboard for a win in the Nassau County Championships.
“The odds are definitely stacked against us for Counties, but hopefully this past win can give us momentum going into this meet. I believe in the team, and I really think that we have what it takes. We just need to execute during it like we do at any other meet and to the best of our ability,” said Siff-Scherr.
After this season concludes, many seniors will graduate, including Burns, Moy, Yamamoto, Ortega, Noah White, David Tung, Leo Potters, Michael Gennusa, Kwan Park, Yuji Choi, Eden Alkan, and Devon Liu.
Many of this year’s contributors were seniors, and the team will have to try to repeat without their skill and leadership next season.
“It’s going to be sad to see the seniors leave, but we’re gonna need to put that behind us at the start of next season and try our best to fill the void left by them. Guys like Peter Kirgis, Aaron Siff-Scherr, Jordan Hurt, Matt Kramer, and myself are gonna need to step it up, continue improving, and take charge of next year’s team,” said Adelhardt.
Girls Track
The girls team finished the meet with 156 points and an even larger win margin than the boys en route to becoming division champions.
Their division has been dominated by MacArthur High School in recent seasons.
Before this season, the Generals had a nine year streak of winning the division. This year, they came in second to the Lady Vikings, scoring 101 points.
“Honestly, it was an amazing feeling to finally end MacArthur’s nine year winning streak. We all contributed in our events and at the end of the day, it was just a great feeling to know we all were a part of that big win. We all came together as a team to earn the championship,” said sophomore Emma Cisneros.
Of the seventeen events at the meet, Port placed first in ten.
Junior captain Jenny Aguiar and senior captain Joelle Feinberg combined for seven of the individual events.
“It was the best feeling in the world, no exaggeration. Every day, people say how track is just an individual sport and there’s no team goal as a whole. Winning the division proves that notion wrong, and it was such an accomplishment for all of us. It was a success for the girls who won, the girls who were scorers, and even the girls who were non-scorers and still worked hard on the team. We all came as a team, and left as a team, and it just comes to show how track is not just the typical individual sport a lot of people think,” said Aguiar.
Sophomore Hope Walker and junior captain Neve Devine also added wins in the long jump and high jump, respectively. The team also won the 4x800m relay, ran by freshman Carly Perlmutter, sophomores Charlotte Hyde and Christina Marinelli, and senior Jordan Abrams.
“Everyone was really excited and I was happy I could help the team finally win divisions and beat MacArthur,” said Hyde.
After this division win, the team is looking toward a win at the Nassau County Championships after clinching a berth to the meet.
“The way that were training and the hard work we put in, I can definitely see us doing very well at counties and being a strong contender,” said Cisneros.
For next season, the team will lose seniors, including Feinberg and other team leaders.
Three of this season’s captains, Aguiar, Devine, and junior Laura Russo, will be returning next year, and they hope to gain the same success as they had this past season.
“It’s going to be hard losing our seniors, but we make it work to the best of our ability. As more graduate, we have to keep our eye out on the little upcoming freshman who have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. No matter what, the team tries to carry on the legacy and tries to work as hard as we can with what we got,” said Aguiar.