On December 13, the THHS Boys Track Team lined up at the starting mark for the PSAL Distance Night at the Armory crossing their way to many victories. In a race designed for distance runners, jumpers, and pole vaulters, the THHS track team proved to be fit competitors.
For the pole vault, junior Romil Parikh took 16th place with a distance of 7’ in his first race of the indoor season. In the high jump, sophomore Evan Noblesala placed second with a distance of 4’8”. Senior Harry Quinn placed 7th during the varsity competition with a distance of 5’ 2” and junior Minhaj Rahman with a distance 4 ft. 4in. to land him in 15th place.
Romil said, “It was harder than normal because I was able to see my competition and being able to notice how everyone else pole vaulting heights they seemed to be 9 feet-11 feet, I got intimidated and scared.”
In the 1600-meter run freshman Muhamed Bicic finished in 1st for the second week in a row with a time of 5:06 in the frosh race.
Muhamed said, “Even though I may be in first at the moment I must continue training and running progressively better to keep myself there. I can’t let these medals get ahead of my goals I want to achieve and records I hope to break.”
Another freshman, Nicolas Barrios came in 6th with a time of 6:09. In the sophomore race Matthew Sullivan ranked 5th with 5:20 followed by Fahim Nousad whose 5:32 placed him 9th. In the varsity race junior Igor Portnoy landed in 13th place with a time of 5:19 followed by junior Stanley Haracharon in 18th place with a time of 5:38.
Igor said, “I was expecting based on the amount of people in the race to be seeded with the guys running 4:30 and breathed a sigh of relief when I was saved by 3 people in front to me.”
In the 4×800-meter relay freshman Patrick Menchaca, Vasilis Papa, Isaac So, and Adam Sosnicki combined to place 10th in the frosh race with a time of 11:09. In the sophomore race Abdoulaye Diallo, Evan Noblesala, Noah Silversmith, and Benjamin Chang ranked 4th with a time of 9:40. In the Varsity Race Townsend ranked 17th with a time of 9:25.
Abdoulaye said, “I feel that the competition was not overwhelming as it was sophomores against sophomores. I personally feel we could have done better but it was our first 4×800 and personally medals mean nothing to me, it is improvement in my respective times that make me feel accomplished.”
Townsend made their mark in the long jump with freshman Adam Sosnicki landing 1st place with 14’ 11”, Nicolas Barrios came in 7th with 12’ 4”. Fahim took 14th place with a distance of 13’ 2”. Regarding his performance Fahim said, “I didn’t really know much of the rules or how to start off my jump. But because we were given three chances I was at least able to make one of them count, but in the future with a bit more practice I believe I may have a chance of placing.”
For the 3200-meter run, junior Yash Sharma landed in 10th place with a time of 10:48. In the 55 meter high hurdles, senior Harry Quinn landed a spot in 3rd with a time of 00:08 and junior Minhaj Rahman finished 6th place with 00:09.
Minhaj said, “Competition in these [hurdles] will always be tough for me since I am dominantly a javelin and discus thrower for the outdoor season so I don’t normally train for the hurdles do I feel there will always be a lot of competition in this event.”
The boys hope for a successful season, however, they need to improve with much improvement and hope to other runners grow in their events. Benjamin said, “Once we get a better feel for the 4×800 Meter Relay, we have a good chance of beating Stuy, Curtis, and Brooklyn Tech.”
The next meet will be the Bishop Loughlin Meet and will be held on Saturday, December 21 at the Armory.
