All Americans Slattery, Menges, Rotondo and DeAngelo The girl's varsity track team completed another fine season with a good showing at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, NC last weekend. Six of our finest runners qualified for the meet and were accompanied to North Carolina by coaches Mr. Cuzzo and Ms. Fregosi. Making the trip were: Emily Menges (800m, 4x400 and 4x800), Michelle Rotondo (400 IH, 4x400 and 4x800), Liz Slattery (4x800), Catherine Cafaro (4x400), Jenna DeAngelo (4x800), and Taryn Schmelzinger (4x400). Taylor Hennig also qualified in both relay events but was unable to attend because of an illness.

The 4x800 foursome of Jenna, Liz, Michelle and Emily finished the season with a trip to the medal stand, and All American status for each, with a terrific 9:05.88. The time surpasses their school record set at the Penn Relays by more than 6 seconds! Luckily for the girls the race took place at 8:45 on Friday night as the daytime temperatures approached 100 degrees all weekend. Toeing the line in the leadoff spot, freshman Jenna DeAngelo broke out quickly and had the Trojans in the middle of the pack when she handed the baton over to the lone senior in the group, Liz Slattery. And closing out her career at GC with a terrific run, Liz held her position and ran a solid second leg to keep the team within striking distance of the medal stand. Taking the baton for the third leg was sophomore Michelle Rotondo who quickly made a move to get around a couple of runners and finished off her leg with a season best 2:15.46. Michelle gave junior Emily Menges a shot at a top 6 finish. And as usual, Menges didn't disappoint. Emily took off with the baton and set her sights on the two closest competitors and began to reel them in. With a surge down the stretch, Emily grabbed a fifth place finish for the team - only 2 tenths of a second off of fourth. Emily ran a terrific 2:08.25 anchor to ensure the All American finish for the foursome.

On Saturday afternoon, Michelle took to the track for her shot at the 400 intermediate hurdles with a bit of a wind and unbearable temperatures, the heat index was at 108. Michelle said that the last 100 meters was like running into a wall of fire. She still managed a fifth place finish in her heat, but it was not good enough to place her on the medal stand.

The last event for the girls was the 4x400 at 7:45 - a good start time with the heat starting to lift a little. The foursome of Catherine Cafaro, Taryn Schmelzinger, Michelle and Emily took to the track with high hopes coming off of their State Championship last weekend. However, facing stiff competition in the top heat from schools from across the country, the girls ran to a seventh place finish with a 3:49.96, just tenths of a second off the school record and less than a second from the medal stand.

On Sunday morning the girls boarded their plane for the trip back to Garden City with another great experience in their National's backpacks and a long awaited rest period. Most of the team has been competing at a continually high level since early December and the summer break will give them a good chance to recharge their bodies for the Fall season where most will be running cross country or playing soccer.

A special mention and thank you to the girl's coaches, Mr. Cuzzo, Ms. Fregosi and Mr. Skrivanek. Without the extraordinary amount of time that they put in, the accomplishments that you read about each week would not be possible. As many of you know, a track meet is not just 90 minutes long - they can last for more than 8 hours each day of a competition! And that doesn't include the prep work, training sessions, and travel time. The dedication and commitment exemplified by these three goes a long way to making this one of the top programs not only Long Island, but in NY State. Congratulations!

Have a safe and healthy summer.