Running Their Way to Claim Victory

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John Broich

The girls 2014-2015 indoor track team after competing in CrossOver “C” on December 21, 2014 at Suffolk West.

Most days, the Winter Track team runs outside in the blistering cold, followed by an intense core workout session, and sometimes followed by time in the weight room. Some days, they run in the crowded and stuffy hallways. They’re the “Beasts of the East,” and they’re looking to avenge last season’s five-point loss to Kings Park in the League IV Championships, with the Kingsmen beating the Hurricanes 101 to 96. “We were second at Leagues last year, and I don’t think we want to be second again,” claimed junior Grace Gilbakian. This year’s team is returning most of the key athletes from last season to ensure the long-awaited win.

Sprint On And On And On…

Leading the sprinters are senior Lauren Lorefice, juniors Nora Murphy and Grace Gilbakian, and sophomore Serena Choi. Lauren and Serena run the 55M in 7.62s and 7.75s respectively, while Lauren, Grace, and Nora run the 300M in 41.66s, 44.53s, and 45.43s respectively. All four are considered to be “National Elites,” a feat accomplished when an athlete reaches a season best that is considered to be qualifying for the New Balance Nationals Indoor track meet held at the Armory this March.

These Flats Were Made For Walking

Leading the racewalkers are sophomore Kelsey Jordan and senior Ellen Griffen. This is Ellen’s seventh season and Kelsey’s first season competing. “During our first week of track, on an event day, Broich said we could either try the long jump or try race walking with Annica Penn and Sabrina Mason. I knew I wouldn’t jump well so I tried race walking. Seeing how amazing Sabrina and Annica were and getting the knack of it pretty quickly really is why I started in the first place,” claimed Ellen. Much like Ellen, Kelsey “just wanted to try it out at first, then I realized that I really liked it and wanted to compete in the event.” Their season has been impressive so far. At the recent Zeitler Relays, the duo combined their times (7:40:39 for Kelsey, 8:19:46 for Ellen) to create a total time of 15:59:85, placing them second behind the Kings Park “A” team.

 Increase The Jumps…By Twos!

Nationally-recognized high jumper Keira Kelly is rebounding from last year’s “hurdle incident,” resulting in a broken arm last winter and seeking to once again attend Nationals. “I started high jumping because Coach Wiz, my middle school track coach, told me that I would be good at high jump because of my height and flexibility. He was right: I did not lose a single middle school track meet,” stated Keira. She is currently ranked 28th in the state, but hopes to increase her personal record of five feet, 5.75 inches by at least 1.25 inches and attend Nationals.

The distance jumps (long jump and triple jump) are led by sophomore Serena Choi, junior Keira Kelly, and senior Olivia Horbatiuk. Olivia and Serena started competing in the event last year, reaching over 30 feet each in the triple. Keira joined them earlier this year, also reaching 30 feet in the triple. “Competing to see who can jump the farthest into a box of sand is unlike any running event I’ve ever participated in,” said Olivia. “I was a bit flustered at first because I had never done something like it before, but I thought, ‘Hey, why not try it.’ After I started jumping, I just didn’t want to stop; I loved it,” claimed Serena. Consequently, Serena is ranked 32nd in the state.

Throw Far

This season marked a first in which the Hurricanes had not one, but two throwers: myself and Olivia! Starting on December 21 at Section XI’s CrossOver C, the “Dream Team” has competed in every track meet, with the exceptions of the North Shore Invitational and the Jim Howard Invitational, together in the shot put and the weight throw. This is currently the first year that New York State has allowed for the weight throw to be in the state meet. However, since the weight throw requires a throwing cage for safety, the meets that have the event are very limited.

 They’re Simply The Best

The 4x400M relay team has done impressively well so far, with Jenny Jordan, Nora Murphy, Grace Gilbakian, and Lauren Lorefice leading the way. They are currently ranked first in League IV and in the Small Schools division, ranked second in Section XI overall, ranked ninth in New York State, and ranked 21st in the nation! After a very heated and nail-biting race against number one Hauppauge on January 14th, our team made history: they broke the indoor record, shattered their outdoor personal best, and will be attending the highly prolific Millrose Games on February 14! Their Millrose Trials time of 4:03.27 is also good enough to attend the New Balance Indoor Nationals. They have also placed second at the Yale Relays on January 16 with a time of 4:04.81, trailing the team from Paul Robeson by 0.24 seconds (There are very limited amounts of tickets left for the event. ArmoryTrack will have a livestream of the races on their website.)

 As of January 15, we are currently poised to beat Kings Park in the following events on January 24 at the League IV Championships: the 3000M, the 55M, the 600M, the 1000M, the 300M, the 1500M, the high jump, the shot put, the 4x200M, and the 4x400M.