On Saturday, December 13th, the boys indoor track team competed at the New Paltz Running Camp Invitational at the Armory Track in Washington Heights. At the end of the day, many members set new personal records, and the team had top place finishers in several events, including the 1000 meter run, the 4 X 800 meter relay, the weight throw, and the one mile run.
The afternoon commenced with the 55 meter hurdles event, in which sophomore Justice Williams placed sixth out of 22 runners with a time of 8.37 seconds. Sophomore Adam Sosnicki finished shortly thereafter with a time of 10.11 seconds; he placed 18th. Junior Fahim Nousad placed 20th with a time of 10.41 seconds.
In the 1000 meter run, junior Abdoulaye Diallo placed third out of 41 runners by setting a new personal record of 2:39. His teammates, juniors Matthew Sullivan and Holman Guaman, also set personal records and placed 28th and 34th, respectively. Matthew finished with a time of 3:02, and Holman with one of 3:07.
“It was my first time running the 1000 meter, and it was a really crowded race, so I wasn’t in the best position when the gun went off. It was a very fast paced race, and I haven’t felt that much adrenaline in a while. I originally started in the back running in lane two for the beginning of the race, but I ended up passing all but two people, nearly passing [the] second place [runner] at the finish line,” said Abdoulaye. “I personally didn’t like my performance, as I didn’t run as I should have. I ran too slow.”
Sophomore Muhamed Bicic placed second out of 39 runners in the one-mile run, finishing with a time of 4:41. The next to finish was senior captain Yash Sharma, who set a personal record of 4:48 and placed seventh. Matthew finished with a time of 5:15, placing 35th.
In the 400 meter dash, junior Dysron Marshall placed 15th out of 58 runners; he set a personal record of 55.19 seconds. Senior captain Stanley Harcharan placed 24th with a time of 57.56 seconds. Rounding it out, juniors Evan Noblesala and Benjamin Chang placed 31st and 32nd, respectively.
“I was in front for the majority of the race and was passed at the last second in my heat,” said Dysron, who was pleased with his progress. “I’ve come a long way from last year’s indoor season and the improvement shows that I’ve been getting better as a runner.”
The boys also competed in two relay events, the 4 X 200 meter relay and the 4 X 800 meter relay. In the former event, a team comprised of Stanley, Dysron, Evan, and senior Akash Pillai finished with a time of 1:43 and placed 13th out of 18 teams. THHS’ 4 X 800 meter relay team, which was made up of Stanley, Muhamed, Abdoulaye, and Justice, qualified for city championships by running with a time of 8:36, and placed fourth out of 21 teams.
“It was a great race since we qualified for cities with none of the runners running fresh, something we weren’t able to do last year,” said Muhamed, noting that last year’s team had qualified for cities with each member in the relay team “running fresh.”
The boys also participated in a wide variety of field events. In the triple jump, Adam placed 12th out of 17 athletes by jumping a distance of 34 feet, 5.50 inches. Senior captain Minhaj Rahman placed 11th out of 23 athletes in the shot put by throwing a distance of 34 feet, 4.00 inches. Minhaj also competed in the weight throw event, where he clenched second place by throwing a distance of 39 feet, 11.50 inches. Junior Aidan Moran placed fourth in the weight throw, and set a personal record of 39 feet, 3 inches.
Minhaj described his performance in the weight throw as the “perfect way to end the day.” He added that he felt the team had done well saying, “I’m proud of my team. Overall, the field events are picking up their game to make sure we are the first team to win gold and the Boys Varsity Queens Borough Indoor Track and Field Championship in school history. I’m hoping that everyone continues to PR and, hopefully, our relay teams will have more efficient handoffs. Everyone has room for improvement and that improvement only comes from practice. I have a good feeling about this year. Our team is looking extremely strong.”
The boys will next compete at the Bishop Loughlin meet on Saturday, December 20, 2014 at the Armory Track. There, they expect to do well against stiff competition.
Abdoulaye said, “Bishop Loughlin is a meet we’re all looking forward to. It has very good competition and will help push the team to their limits. I enjoyed this meet last year, and we’re all anticipating those beautiful medals this year. I expect everyone to PR just from the better competition and the tense atmosphere. We plan on working harder at practice especially in the weight room as we’ll all need that extra strength to kick at the end of our races.”
