Boys and girls indoor track kept busy over the holidays, with both teams competing at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington Station on Dec. 26. The girls also raced in the rescheduled Jim Howard Meet on Dec. 28 and a crossover meet on Sunday, while the boys competed in a crossover on Saturday.
Holiday meets present both challenges and opportunities. With many runners out of town, the Bonac teams are much smaller than usual. It allows participating athletes to try new events, though in some situations there aren’t enough runners to compete in the relays. The St. Anthony’s meet in particular was special, offering competition in high jump, pole vault, weight throw, and distance races. The girls’ coach, Yani Cuesta, said both teams had some great performances.
Lincoln Fischer raced his first 3,200 meters, finishing second in his heat and 13th overall, with a time of 11:25.97.
Jatniel Gonzalez, Max Oransky, and Andrew Perez raced 1,600 meters for the first time. Gonzalez finished in 5:26.03, Oransky finished in 5:27.97, and Perez finished in 5:30.43, better than Kevin Barry, the head coach, expected.
“All three guys ran faster than where Coach Barry seeded them,” Cuesta said. “That was a nice surprise.”
Oransky pole vaulted for the first time in competition. Cuesta thought his first attempt was a strong one. “He was thrown a bit of a curveball when the opening height was set higher than expected, so he did not clear the opening height,” she said. “But he shows a lot of promise.”
The girls had some strong showings, especially in the longer distances. Laura Martinez took first place in the 1,500 meters, setting a personal record of 5:12.89. Danette Gonzalez-Alcala also set a personal record, 5:42.7, which earned her ninth place. Sara O’Brien took sixth place with a 5:38.22 finish. Olivia Stiglitz and Olivia Chapman raced the distance for the first time, finishing in 6:44.07 and 6:49.07, respectively.
Pole vault was another high point for the team, with Vicky Chen hitting a personal record of 9 feet. That put her in fourth place in the event. In girls high jump, Sierra Stumpf cleared 4 feet 3 inches for a fourth-place finish. Alessa Picco cleared the same height, taking fifth.
Just two days later, the girls track team competed in the Jim Howard meet at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood. It was originally scheduled for Dec. 14, but was canceled because of a snowstorm.
Coach Cuesta said it was a fun, quick meet, with no more than eight athletes in each event, and just three girls in the long and triple jumps.
“There were supposed to be no relays contested at this meet, but because the meet went by so super fast, at the last minute they asked if we wanted to throw in any 4-by-400 or 4-by-200 relays,” she said. “We decided to have some fun and threw all the girls into the 4-by-200. The girls were told to organize themselves into three relay squads.”
With no preparation, they did impressively well. Team A — C.J. Echavarria, Sophia Figueroa, Laura Martinez, and Sara O’Brien — finished in second place with a 1:58.63. Team C — Alessa Picco, Lili Hopson, Shirley Jiang, and Bennett Greene — finished in 2:14.64, which earned them a ninth-place finish. Team B — Amy Fleming, Olivia Chapman, Olivia Stiglitz, and Danette Gonzalez-Alcala — finished in 10th with a 2:16.26.
In the long jump, Figueroa cleared 14 feet 7.5 inches for a personal record and a sixth-place finish.
Fleming set a personal record in the shot-put, throwing for 21 feet 10 inches. That earned her 12th place.
In the high jump, Picco cleared 4 feet 3 inches for seventh place.
In the 55-meter high hurdles, Figueroa and Echavarria took third and fourth place, finishing one-hundredth of a second apart. Figueroa’s time was 9.61 seconds, while Echavarria was 9.62.
In other notable finishes, O’Brien was fourth in the 600 meters, with a 1:47.98, while Martinez took fifth place with a 1:48.51 finish. It was Martinez’s first time in the event.
In the 55 meters, Hopson and Fleming set personal records. Hopson finished in 8.8 seconds for 35th place. Fleming took 53rd place with a 9.15.
In the 1,000 meters, Gonzalez-Alcala came in fifth, with a time of 3:35.18. Stiglitz tried the event for the first time, finishing in 4:00.14 and 21st place.
The 300 meters was a gold mine of great finishes and personal records. O’Brien landed in fifth with a 46.37 finish. Martinez set a personal record of 47.02, finishing in seventh. Echavarria raced the distance in competition for the first time and finished in 18th with a 48.25. Figueroa set a personal record of 48.45, which earned her 21st place. Picco also competed for the first time, taking 39th place with a 51.52.
Greene, who has found her new home in racewalking, took second place in the 1,500-meter racewalk, with a 9:23.29. A week later, on Sunday in Brentwood, Greene continued her winning ways, taking second place in the 1,500 meters once again, with an even faster 8:57.41.
Coach Cuesta said the girls were still shaking out their legs after two weeks of inconsistent training schedules and holiday vacations, but they managed some impressive finishes.
Leah McCarron took second in the shot-put, throwing 31 feet 3 inches, a new personal record.
In the high jump, Alessa Picco also achieved a personal record, clearing 4 feet 6 inches, landing in third place. Sierra Stumpf followed in fourth place with 4 feet 3 inches.
In the 55-meter high hurdles, C.J. Echavarria finished third in 9.62 seconds, Sophia Figueroa finished fourth with 9.63, and Stumpf took sixth place with 10.02 seconds. That was a personal record for Stumpf. Angela Mantilla also achieved a personal best with 11.58 seconds.
In the 300 meters, Alexis Salazar set a personal record of 55.06.
Laura Martinez finished second in the 1,000-meter race with a time of 3:18.33, followed by Danette Gonzalez-Alcala, who finished in fourth with a 3:35.67.
Sara O’Brien showed incredible determination finishing the 600-meter race in sixth place with a time of 1:53.80 after falling while coming out of the last turn in the third lap. “It was a tight front pack and the girl behind her clipped her ankle and she went down,” Coach Cuesta said.
In the 55-meter sprint, Lili Hopson set a personal record of 8.7 seconds, while Mantilla tried out the distance for the first time in competition and finished in 9.15 seconds.
The 4-by-400 team of Sara O’Brien, C.J. Echavarria, Sophia Figueroa, and Laura Martinez was no match for the competition, winning their relay in 4:32.32.
The boys track team was scheduled to participate in the Ocean Breeze meet on Staten Island on Dec. 27, but it was postponed because of snow. They wrapped up their holiday break competing in a crossover meet on Saturday.
Lincoln Fischer won the freshman-sophomore 1,600 meters in 5:15.25, and Sean Perez placed third in the overall 1,600 meters with a 4:57.67 finish.
Emmett Schumann won the freshman-sophomore division of the 300-meter race by just one one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 41.08 seconds.
In the freshman-sophomore 55-meter hurdles, Nate Morgan took third place with an 11.21, followed by Zimmerman Levy, whose 11.56 landed him in fourth.
Both teams will be back at full speed this Sunday. The boys will race in the Stanner Games at the Armory in Manhattan. The girls will be part of the Art Mitchell Invitational at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood.
