Jenna DeAngelo pushes ahead in the 600m. The Varsity Girls team has begun their run to another strong season with several terrific performances for the early season. Following up the opening Nassau Coaches meet where the youth of the team showcased the depth of the GC team to the Conference, coach Fregosi brought only a quartet to the Friendship Field Games at Farmingdale HS two weeks ago - Michelle Rotondo, Molly Josephs, Alexandra Schlapp and Dana DeFelise, and they didn't disappoint. Michelle took first place in the high jump with a personal best of 5'2". While out on the track, Molly walked to a dominating first place finish in the 1500 meter race walk - winning by more than 90 seconds. And in the shot put coach Lucas watched as Alex tossed a solid 29'04" to take second place. Great job by this foursome.

Then last Saturday Coaches Fregosi and Skrivanek took the team to the 21st Bishop Loughlin games at the NY Armory - a venue that the girls truly enjoy and look forward to attending. Leading the way to the Armory were Emily Menges and Michelle Rotondo, both running in the seeded 1000m race and facing some very talented runners. Both ran to personal best times - Emily taking second place with a school record and current US #2 time of 2:53.42 and Michelle took ninth with a personal best of 3:07.23. That duo then came back with Taryn Schmelzinger and Taylor Hennig in the 4x400 to bring home 6th place with a school record of 4:05.27.

Dana Famiglietti soars in the long jump. Highlights for GC were the personal best performances of Taylor Hennig in the 55m (8.13); Katie O'Neill in the 1000m (3:21.21); Jenna DeAngelo (1:42.82), Taryn Schmelzinger (1:44.01) and Sarah Rubino (1:53.6) in the 600m; Catherine Cafaro (43.23), Taylor Hennig (43.47) and Deanna Ceriano (44.94) in the 300m; Liz Slattery (5:25.9) in the mile; Carly Knowles (14'0.5) in the long jump and the triple jump (28'0.75) and Dana Famiglietti (27"7') in the triple jump.

The Trojan girls also ran strong in the relays with the 4x800 team of Jenna DeAngelo, Victoria Chimento, Sarah Rubino and Liz Slattery producing a 10:15.24; and the 4x200 team of Tara Mahon, Carley Knowles, Laura Martens and Catherine Cafaro running a strong 1:52.87.

Catherine Cafaro off the first turn in the 300m. While the majority of the team were running at the Armory, Coach Lucas took the shot put foursome of Alexandra Schlapp, Caroline Holman, Shannon Defliese and Lauren Creighton to Farmingdale High School for the finals of the Friendship Games. Alex came home with 2nd place with a personal best toss of 31'3".

Considering we are only in the second week of the indoor season, the many personal bests listed above are quite impressive and should only get better. Let's hope the girls can keep the young season going strong this coming Saturday at the Tenth Annual Marine Corp Holiday Classic at the Armory.

Happy and Healthy Holiday Season to all!

Deanna Ceriano on the bank of the 300m. Liz Slattery working hard for her PR in the mile.