On December 8, the boys indoor track team traveled to the Armory to compete in their second meet of the season, the Jim McKay Games.
Once again, junior Minhaj Rahman set a new personal record in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.2 seconds, placing 8th in the finals. Minhaj also received tenth place in the shot put (12 lb) for his 34’1” throw.
In the frosh 1600-meter run, with plenty of support from his teammates and coaches, freshman Muhamed Bicic made his way with a time of 5:07 and a gold medal.
For the varsity 1600-meter race, senior co-captain Thomas Sullivan placed 8th with a time of 4:55. Junior Yash Sharma placed 10th with a time of 4:57, senior Christian Castro placed 21st with 5:06, junior Igor Portnoy placed 31st with 5:21, and sophomore Matthew Sullivan placed 33rd with a time of 5:34.
Not satisfied with his results, Christian explained, “Personally, I felt I could have done much better and I only have myself to blame. I let the competition beat me by a long shot. So I guess I’ll just have to train harder than before.”
In the varsity triple jump, junior Junwoo Shin placed 9th with a distance of 33’2” and was trailed closely by senior co-captain Brian Van, who placed 11th.
Junior Evan Mancini placed 7th with 8’6” as the sole THHS representative for the pole vault. In the long jump, freshman Adam Sosnicki remained at 2nd with a distance of 13’6”, while Junwoo placed 29th with a distance of 13’11” in the varsity competition.
THHS was able to place 24th in the 4×400-meter relay thanks to senior Brian Van, junior Shaunak Kaspse, sophomore Abdoulaye Diallo, and sophomore Benjamin Cheng, who had a time of 4:01. A relay team of sophomores Holman Guaman, Evan Noblesala, Dysron Marshall, and Fahim Nousad placed 46th in this event with a time of 4:30.
Coach Martinez said that he is confident about his team and future meets, saying he has a good set of boys who are always willing to improve.
In regard to some of the injuries that took place this Sunday, Coach Martinez explained that it is just part of competing, “Track can be a contact sport, it’s accidental. Track is like life, it teaches you how to get back up.”
On the overall experience, Minhaj said, “This team is shaping up to be one of the best teams in Queen. If we work hard enough, we can be the number one team in Queens.”
