The girls Varsity track team has had some tremendous performances through the holiday season with qualifying times for the NIKE National meet in Maryland in March in 2 events. With very high standards, the NIKE National meet attracts the top runners from across the country and Garden City now has two relay teams set to attend the meet. First, at the Spiked Shoe Holiday Festival at The Armory, it was the sprint medley team of Taryn Schmelzinger, Tara Mahon, Brooke Senken and Emily Menges taking first and putting together a school record time of 4:14.9 to qualify. Then, at the Christmas City Relays at Lehigh University, the distance medley relay team of Taryn Schmelzinger, Maddie Adams, Brooke Senken and Emily Menges came through with a meet and school record of 12:28.88 to also qualify.

In addition to these spectacular finishes, the overall team represented Garden City well at Lehigh and then at a Conference meet at Suffolk Community College during the winter break. Making their annual visit to Pennsylvania and the beautiful Lehigh campus, the varsity girls left GC at 6 AM for the challenging meet. And after the almost 3 hour drive, solid performances were put in by: Laura Martens and Emily Menges in the long jump, Rachel Dooley in the shot put, Michelle Rotondo (8th) in the high jump, Lauren Williams and Laura Martens in the triple jump, Lauren Williams and Michelle Rotondo in the 55m hurdles, Katie Reilly and Rachel Dooley in the 55m sprint, Liz Slattery (5th), Liz Weber (7th) and Kim Verderber (10th) in the mile, Maddie Adams (6th) and Jenna DeAngelo in the 400m, Brooke Senken (4th) and Michelle Rotondo (5th) in the 800m, Taryn Schmelzinger (4th), Laura Martens (9th) and Kim Verderber in the 300m and Emily Menges (1st) in the 3200m.

Outstanding efforts at the cross over meet at SCCC on Friday the 28th were put in by: Molly Josephs (1st) and Enki Toto (3rd) in the 1500m race walk, Taryn Schmelzinger (2nd), Brittany Stufani and Deanna Ceriano in the 55m, Deanna Ceriano, Jenna DeAngelo and Brittany Stufano in the 300m, Caroline Betts in the 3000m, Brittany Mercante and Amanda Murolo in the 600m and Laura Martens in the Triple Jump.

Next up for this talented group is an overnight trip to Cornell University for the Southern Tier Invitational - another highly regarded meet that coaches Fregosi, Skrivanek and Lucas feel very confident in taking the girls to. Good luck girls!