Liz Slattery with solid form taking 3rd in the 1500m (Courtesy Sportspix.info) The Varsity Girls track team continued their stellar season with their third consecutive Spring County Championship, defeating nearest competitor Hewlett by 44 points. The girls have had an excellent season but it is long from over, although they capped their local season with the County Championship last week. The Counties were run over two days, May 19th and 20th at Mitchell field and had our girls competing against 18 other Nassau Class AA schools. On a day when the weather looked to impact all of the runners, with winds blowing pretty strong on the back straightaway, all competitors were forced to step up their performances.

On Tuesday, the girls had several outstanding performances turned in and came away with several individual County championships as well as All County honors for those finishing in the top three. First it was Michelle Rotondo running in the semi's of the 100 meter hurdles and winning her heat (16.34) to move on to the finals on Wednesday. Then it was GC's first championship as Emily Menges jumped out to the lead and never looked back (except to see her teammates) in winning the 800 meter race. Jenna DeAngelo (2:20.33) placed second and Taylor Hennig (2:22.4) took third for a clean sweep of the 800 by GC.

Dana soars in the long jump to 4th place. (Courtesy Sportspix.info) Running a solid 3000m race was Liz Slattery (10:59.63) in taking third place and capturing All County honors. During the course of the first day, Michelle was also competing in the high jump and ultimately took third place and All County honors with a jump of 5'.

Immediately following the high jump, actually while her opponents were lining up as she was making her last attempt, Michelle changed shoes and jogged over to the start of the 400 meter hurdles. And with little time to prepare, she sprinted out to a good start and held on to the lead through the finish line capturing her third consecutive 400 hurdles championship in 1:05.14. Running a close second and gaining All County status was Taryn Schmelzinger with a time of 1:07.69 - pretty good considering this is her first year running the hurdles! In the last event of Tuesday evening, the 4x400 relay team of Victoria Chimento, Taryn, Alexis Yeboah-Kodie and Catherine Cafaro took second place with a time of 4:02.75.

Two Event County Champ - Michelle Rotondo (Courtesy Sportspix.info) On Wednesday, Michelle came back to run the finals of the 100 meter hurdles and she sprinted to her second individual title of the meet with a solid victory in 16.5. Next up was the 1500 meter race with GC taking 3 of the top four spots. Emily led the Trojans with her second County title - running a solid 4:38.64. Finishing third and fourth were Liz Slattery and Jenna DeAngelo, (4:57.46 and 4:59.34, respectively). Then Katie Reilly ran a personal best in the 2000m steeplechase to take second place (8:08.97) and All County honors.

Moving out of the distance races and into the 400 meter sprint, Emily Menges came back to cap her day, and a great two days it was, with a terrific run of 56.10 and her third County Championship. Catherine Cafaro and Taylor Hennig also ran sub-minute 400's and finished 4th (58.83) and 6th (59.45) respectively.

Jenna is followed closely by Taylor on the way to 2nd and 3rd place finishes. (Courtesy Sportspix.info) The last event of the competition was the 4x800 relay and the Trojans once again proved to be above the class with a dominating victory in a time of 10:03.27. Running the lead leg, Katherine Odell got out to a fast start and the team never looked back. With Katherine handing off to Liz Slattery the lead continued to grow. The third leg was run by Victoria Chimento, and she continued the fine run and passed the baton to anchor Jenna DeAngelo to finish off the winning relay and earn a County Championship for the foursome.

The winning relay topped off a terrific performance from the entire team and earned Garden City the County Class AA Championship once again. Adding points and also having some good results at the meet were Mary Odell in the 400IH, Liz Weber in the 3000m, Dana Famiglietti and Taylor Hennig in the long jump and Katherine Odell in the discuss.

Coaches Cuzzo, Fregosi and Skrivanek have been preparing the girls all season and the preparation has paid winning dividends. The 4x400 relay will compete at the prestige Reebok Games at Icahn Stadium along side many of the top Olympic runners from the US and Jamaica tomorrow. Then it is on to the State Qualifier meet at Westbury on June 1st and 3rd, which will then be followed up with the Eastern States Invitational meet on Saturday June 6th. And for those that qualify to represent Section VIII, the State meet will be held in Syracuse this year on June 11th and 12th. The girls then cross the finish line of their Spring season with a run at the Nike Nationals in Greensboro, NC. Not a bad last month of the season and just in time for the girls to take on an even more enviable task - FINAL EXAMS! Lucky for them that they are as competitive and successful in the class room as they are on the track. The photo's are courtesy of Dane Petersen and can be found at www.SPORTSPIX.info.

Liz Weber runs strong in the 3000m (Courtesy Sportspix.info)

Sarah Leone moves through the pack in the 3000m (Courtesy Sportspix.info) Three Event County Champ Emily Menges (Courtesy Sportspix.info) Katie Reilly comes out of the water jump clean (Courtesy Sportspix.info)