As the December sun began to set earlier and the air turned frigid, the majority of the student body bundled up and hustled home after school. However, one group of student-athletes has been running straight into the biting wind, unfazed by the cold and dark.
The winter track and field team has consistently been a great program and the 2023-2024 team aims towards another winning season. Last season,two all-county athletes and five all-division athletes received awards at the annual All-Division/All-County dinner in June.
“In my first year running track on this team, I was unsure if I would keep up with all the other runners. However, with support from teammates and coaches, my stamina and pace are at an all time high and I look forward to practicing everyday,” said sophomore Frank Parziale.
Before the season ended, the boys competed in the Division Championship and advanced to Counties. In the County AAA Championship held in May, current senior Steven Theodoropoulos earned County Champion in the 3000m steeple and senior Bryson Bodner placed third in shot put. Other strong efforts came from senior Harrison Maute, who placed fifth in the 800m race, the 4x800m relay team, which placed fourth, and senior Brendan Doherty, who placed fifth in pole vault. The girls track and field team had a record setting season last year, with nine All-County athletes and their coaches being named Coaching Staff of the Year by Newsday High School Sports. To achieve these awards, the girls won their fourth straight Nassau County team title.
“I made some great new friends and got to meet new people from all over Long Island who were my age. I made some cool memories and loved going to meets with my teammates,” said sophomore Caleb Lundberg.
Great performances throughout the season from Emily Bosworth(class of ‘23) and senior Jaydee Vallejo, as they won third and fourth place and earned All-Conference honors in the weight throw competition. Another astonishing performance came from junior Bella Lucas as she was crowned the Conference 1 Champion in triple jump, which punched her ticket to the NY State Championship.
The girls also triumphed in the 4 x 400m race, which was ran by junior Alexa Benun, senior Isabella Yardeni, sophomore Luna Romero, and sophomore Sam Benson-Tyler. Senior Eve Siff-Scherr earned All-Conference honors after placing third in the 1000m, and was closely followed by senior Keira Gould, who placed fourth. To cap off the long list of great performances, junior Ashley Carillo was named the 1000m Conference 1 Champion for the second year straight.
To start this year, the girls picked up right where they left off as the 1000m run in their first meet, on Wensday Dec. 5, resulted in junior Ashley Carillo placing second, senior Makena Romero placing seventh, and Siff-Scherr placing ninth. All three of their times have them ranked in the top tier of both the conference and the county this year.
At their next meet, on Dec. 11, at St. Anthony’s High School, the girls placed first again, this time working together in the 4×800 relay, which gave them an invitation to the Nike Indoor National Meet in March.
Another strong start to the season came from Yardeni, as she hit a new personal record in the 55m dash and placed first.
Benson-Tyler began this season being crowned champion of the Hispanic Games Invite, ranking number one on Long Island and New York State with the fourth fastest race walk time in all of the United States. Benson-Tyler’s race was a nail biter with her beating out junior Gianna Mauri, from Sachem East high school, by 0.04 seconds.
The race started with Benson-Tyler jumping out to a 3-second lead after a hundred meters, with 500 meters to go she had expanded her lead to nearly five seconds (a nearly insurmountable lead in race walk), but with 200 meters left, Mauri began cranking up the pace, and closing on Benson-Tyler rapidly. Despite this, Benson-Tyler was able to hold off Mauri at the line with a well timed lean.
Carillo was also invited to participate in the Girls One Mile Invitational held during the Armory Hispanic Games. It was an honor extended to only eleven girls who came from as far as Delaware and Pennsylvania.
The race offered the opportunity to run at the world famous Millrose Games held at the Armory in February as a part of the Wanamaker Mile.
Carillo would post a quick time of 5:09.86, which is less than a second off of her all time personal record. Unfortunately, this would put her in seventh place and mean that she would not be offered the chance to run at the Millrose Games against professionals.
With such a remarkable start to the season, there is strong belief that the girls will pull off their fifth straight County Championship win and etch their names into the record books.
“After observing many meets, I have come to the conclusion that the team is very close together and depend on each other to get better,” said sophomore Ollie Navo.
“I made some great new friends and got to meet new people from all over Long Island who were my age. I made some cool memories and loved going to meets with my teammates,” said sophomore Caleb Lundberg.
With conferences shortly on the way, the boys and girls are ready to make a postseason run. The conference and county championships will feature athletes competing in as many as two or three events. Both teams are projected to finish in the top two in the conference and take home a conference championship.