When it comes to Nanuet sports, the Track Team never disappoints! This season will go down in Nanuet history as one to remember, as records have been consistently broken with many more to come. Throughout the spring season, the Nanuet Track team has seen victory after victory with no end in sight.
The boys started off the spring phenomenally, bringing home Gold in the League Championship Medal in the 60th Annual Nanuet Relays back to back with the 2023 season. The girls team placed higher than they have in the past two decades, showing immense improvement. This was only the first of many victories in their spectacular season.
Olivia Santos, Aliyah Wilson, Leila Mendez, and Samantha Dow made up the girls 4×4 team for the majority of the season. Despite consisting of just one senior, two freshmen and an eighth grader, they broke both the 4×4 and SMR school records this season with times of 4:02 and 4:13.
Later in the season, 18 athletes qualified for the prestigious Penn Relays, with international teams from all over the globe arriving in the name of fierce competition. Nanuet athletes in attendance for this event included Ryan Sung, Sebastian Figeroa, Derick Mendoza, Joel Shin, Olivia Santos, Aliyah Wilson, Alana Wilson, Samantha Dow, Verony Gyimah, Leila Mendez, Bryan Santana, Blake Flowers, Jarell Gibbs, Caiden Washington, Shane Ethakkan, Nate Adjei, Kurt Deitrich, and Alex Gong were all given the opportunity to perform at this amazing event.
The group had a lot of fun at the Penn Relays, according to Kurt Deitrich, a junior. The other teams in attendance allowed for the team to meet students from all over the world, he added.
“We got to sleep over, which was really fun,” he said. “There was some really crazy teams there. A lot of Jamaicans, there’s like Japan, Egypt, Ghana, Turkey, Spain.”
At the League Championship, Nanuet scored a narrow victory against Nyack, 85.5-79. The highlight of the night was the victory of the boys 4×4 relay team of Joel Shin, Blake Flowers, Jarell Gibbs, and Bryan Santana, who also broke the school record with a time of 3:25.92 minutes.
Near the end of the season, many members of the Track Team qualified for the Section 1 Championships, which took place on May 20th and 22nd and consisted of 16 teams.
On the first day of the meet, Katie Schmid, a sophomore, scored fifth for the 2000m steeplechase. On the second day, many Nanuet athletes scored points for the team, including juniors Jarell Gibbs’s third place finish in the 400 meter dash and Shane Ethakkan placing second for the boys 3200m. Joaquin Villain broke the freshman school record for the mile, running a 4:44. Upcoming prospect Aliyah Wilson, an eighth grader, placed seventh in the 200m with freshman Olivia Santos behind her in ninth. Senior Samantha Dow shined in her races, placing third in the 400m, and winning gold in the 400m hurdles, for which she already had the school record. Kurt Deitrich also won first place for the 400m hurdles, with junior Jordan Lafleur and freshman Jerome Thomas placing 4th and 5th behind him.
On the other end of the field, the throwers of the team share just as much glory as the runners. Senior Shane O’Neill scored gold for both discus and shot put, with senior Joe D’Adamo right behind him at second for shot put. For the women’s shot put, senior Swapna Gearge placed second. School record holder junior Gabby Vizcarrondo placed fifth for discus.
As the night continued, the relay races commenced, which are arguably the most important events. This is where Nanuet absolutely dominated the track. Our esteemed 4×4 relay team of Joel, Blake, Bryan, and Jarell won yet another gold medal only 2 seconds behind their own record.
When approached to have a quick chat before the race, Joel Shin said, “Not right now Tristan, I’ve got to lock in for this!”
And he sure did! Our 4×8 relay team of Ryan, Alex, Nate, and Derick scored 2nd for their race, and the record-breaking 4×4 girls team of Sam, Leila, Aliyah, and Olivia also placed 2nd, both continuing to push themselves further every meet. The girls 4×8 team also did amazing with Caroline Conway, Katie Schmid, Ella O’Connor, and Sarah Rivera, enduring through to place fifth.
By the end of the night, the boys team won the Section Championship with 107 points, with the girls placing 6th throughout 19 other schools! All around great effort and performance was delivered through the entirety of the team. This season will truly be one to remember and as we look forward to the future of the team, the athletes show no intention of allowing this energy to dissipate.
Jordan Lafleur, a junior hurdler, is pleased with his season.
“I’m looking forward to the off-season, where I can really just perfect my hurdles and really just stay in shape for the winter season,” he said.
He described how he reaches his goals and stays competitive.
“I think just trying a lot harder in practice will definitely get me there, ‘cause I’ve seen the effort that the whole group has put in and that really inspires me to just keep pushing and do better,” he said.
The youngest member of the Nanuet track team, Aliyah Wilson has a bright future ahead of her, and said she’s “expecting to go to nationals again with my relay team,” showing that even as a middle schooler, she’s anticipating even more successes to come.
Senior Samantha Dow has been on the team since seventh grade. According to Dow, it has been a privilege to “have such a good team” her senior year.
“We’ve had a really great 4×4 this year, which has been really really exciting ‘cause it’s been a little bit since I’ve had a relay team this amazing,” she said. “I have never run on a team this good.”
Always complimenting her younger teammates, she said, “they’re so young and have so much potential”.
When asked about her feelings towards breaking record after record, Dow said the achievement belongs to others, as well.
“It’s obviously very exciting and I feel very grateful to have the opportunity to do it,” she said. “But it’s only possible with my coaches and having a really great team surrounding me and pushing me everyday.”
Come September, she’s moving on to college track at John Hopkins University.
“I’m really proud of how far this program has come as a whole,” she said, adding that she relates her progress to the team’s. “I think that’s made it a lot more exciting, doing it with other people.”