The 2012 Track and Field teams once again had award-winning seasons. Both the girls team, led by Colleen Carr, Katie Egan, Sam Intili, Kate Percevault, Erin Smythe, Alison Sprong and Heather Sweeney, and the boys team, led by Dan Banks, Nick Lukas, and Vinny Puchik, had meets where a lot of medals came back on the bus with them.
The girls team was successful in many events. The pole vault, shuttle hurdles, 4x800m, javelin, 3×400 hurdles, high jump, and other relay teams placed in multiple meets. Some highlights came from the 4x1600m team coming in first place and breaking the record. This team includes Sweeney, sophomore Melanie Egan, freshman Amanda Flores, and freshman Julia Ashley. They blew this record away, but this could not have been done without the anchor leg, Ashley, coming in with a 5:06 mile.
Other relay records broken included the three-man long jump record at Aviator Relays consisting of sophomores Colleen Farrell and Jordan Seubert, and junior Laura Williams. The 4x200m relay was also broken at County relays, consisting of Ashley, Farrell, Seubert, and Smythe.
Even more medals were brought home during the individual season. At conferences, the girls brought home 21 medals. A few athletes came in the top three places in different events. These events were the 3200m with Sweeney, Melanie Egan, and Flores, and the javelin with Katie Egan, Sprong, and sophomore Christina Carlucci.
Other events that had multiple girls place were 400 meter hurdles with Smythe, junior Marybeth Grund, and sophomore Sarah Conboy placing third, fourth, and fifth. The pole vault team with Intili and juniors Kelsey Attamante and Gabi Mercurio also came in third, fourth, and fifth. Percevault, who currently holds the school discus record at 111 ft., came in first place in this event.
County individuals came and went, but the Sectional Championship is where the girls really shined. The girls had 12 girls place in the top six in their events in order to move on to Group Championships. These girls include Attamante, Carlucci, Katie Egan, Melanie Egan, Flores, Grund, Intili, Mercurio, Percevault, Smythe, Sweeney, and Williams. Heather Sweeney went to Meet of Champions and placed 28th out of 30 runners in the 3200 meter run. Smythe also attended the meet and came in 16th out of 35 runners in the 400 meter hurdles and also came in first in her heat.
Similarly to the girls, the boys’ team also shined during the individual season. At Conference Championships, the boys brought home 12 medals. There were many personal records and season bests at this meet, which increased the team’s morale.
“This meet showed us that when we do our best, we can do well. It boosted our confidence so we can do well at Sectionals,” said Banks.
Sectional Championships were a successful time for the boys as well. Lukas, Puchik, sophomore Shaun Degnan, and senior Matt Wolfman all placed into Group Championships.
“Given what we had to work with this season with a lot of young athletes, we did pretty well as a whole and the boys’ team has a promising future,” stated Banks about the season.
