County Champs -
Girls Varsity Track

The 2008 County Champion Garden City Trojans.

On Saturday, Feb 9th, the Garden City girl's track team went to Suffolk Community College to compete in the Nassau Class A County Championships. And compete they did! Looking to add to their string of consecutive championships the girls ran in Class A this year against rivals and powerhouses Uniondale, East Meadow and Hempstead. The Lady Trojans literally ran away from their competition at the Class A Championships and took the title with a commanding 23 point advantage over runner up East Meadow. The girls captured their third consecutive County track and field championship - Winter '06-'07, Spring 2007 and now, Winter again.

Coach Erica Fregosi had the girls primed for a run at the championship by taking them to a number of very competitive invitational meets throughout the season. Using these meets she ensured that the team not only had the depth they needed, but also the quality and versatility to match up against the best of the best in any event. As senior Maddie Adams told Newsday following the meet 'this is a great feeling, we have so many girls who can do different things'. The GC girls won the conference championships two weeks earlier and came back to beat the 26 schools in Class A for the County Championship last Saturday! The only thing that slowed down the team, but not really, was a fire alarm that cleared the building. The alarm went off with a lap left in the 1500m run but Maddie and Emily Menges stayed focused and finished first and second - even with runners and spectators heading for the exits.

Seniors Maddie, Lauren and Brooke with coach Fregosi.

Led by Maddie, a County Champ in three events - the 1000m, 1500m and 4x800 relay, the girls scored early and often. Starting with a victory and County Championship for Emily Menges in the 3000m, as well as a fifth place for Liz Slattery in the 3000, then a fifth place in the high jump for Michelle Rotondo, sixth place in the 55m for Taryn Schmelzinger, a fourth and fifth place for Brooke Senken and Michelle in the 1000m, a second place in the 1500m for Emily, who then came back with a third place finish in the 300m with Taryn getting a sixth in the same race. Lauren 'Stick' Williams scored with fourth and sixth place finishes in the triple and high jumps. Then closing out the individual events, a first place and County Championship for Molly Josephs in the 1500m race walk. Finally, ending the meet with strong relay performances, GC won the 4x800 championship with Liz, Michelle, Brooke and Maddie running away from their competition. Then, a very solid second place finish was turned in by the 4x200 from Brooke, Brittany Stufano, Katie Reilly and Lauren. The final event, the 4x400, also put points on the board with a fourth place finish by Jenna, Tara Mahon, Laura Martens and Taryn. Final score: Garden City 92, East Meadow 69, Uniondale 53. Congratulations Class A County Champion - Garden City and County Champ runners - Maddie Adams (3), Emily Menges, Molly Josephs, Brooke Senken, Liz Slattery and Michelle Rotondo.

Liz Slattery leads off the County Champ 4x800 relay.

Returning to the field house at SCCC last Monday night several members of the squad competed for the right to run in the NY State meet the first weekend of March. The 4x800 relay team (Emily, Michelle, Brooke and Maddie) kept up their winning ways with a strong performance and qualified easily. In the individual events, Emily Menges outdueled Emily Lipari of Roslyn abd pulled away with a great kick to qualify in the 3000m. Molly Josephs continued to lower her school record with each new race in the 1500m walk and also qualified. And Maddie was easily on her way to a qualifying performance in the 1500m race with 3 laps to go when the lights went out and the race was halted. She needed to return on Tuesday night for another shot. Congratulations State Qualifiers!

Katie Reilly gets the baton from Brittany Stufano in the 4x200.

The girls will continue to compete before they move on to the NY State Championships at Cornell and the Nike Nationals in Maryland with a couple of highly contested invitational meets at the Armory - the Pepsi Nationals and the Eastern States. These events will pit the GC girls against the best of the East Coast - a test for the squad that they appear ready for. Good luck and as Emily likes to say - Just Win!

Michelle Rotondo grabs the lead for the Champion 4x800.

Lauren Williams anchors the 2nd place 4x200 relay. Eight grader Tara Mahon looking good in the 4x400. Aoi Nishimura at the starting line for the 600m race. Brooke Senken extends the 4x800 lead for the County Championship. Champion coaches Erica Fregosi, Tom Skrivanik and George Lucas Emily Menges easily wins the 3000m County Championship. Jenna DeAngelo runs strong in the 4x400. Three time County Champ Maddie Adams.