Katie O’Neill with a strong 1000 meters. Following up their dominating performances at the Conference and County meets, the girls of the varsity track team took on the rest of Nassau County once again on Tuesday, February 23rd for the State Qualifier meet at St. Anthony’s. Looking to secure spots on the Section VIII bus for a ride to Cornell University for States, senior Emily Menges, junior Michelle Rotondo, sophomore Jenna D’Angelo and seventh grader, yes 7th grader, Emma Gallagher, all qualified in two events; while senior Catherine Cafaro, junior Taryn Schmelzinger, sophomores Taylor Hennig, Alexis Yeboah-Kodie - all in the 4x400 relay and Molly Josephs in the 1500m race walk also qualified. Menges, Gallagher and Rotondo matched their County championship result with even better times, but the same 1-2-3 finish to all qualify. They then paired up with DeAngelo, a qualifier in the 600m earlier, and took control of the 4x800 to earn their ticket to Ithaca for the State meet.

State qualifying 4x400 Alexis, Taryn, Taylor and Catherine. On Wednesday, Feb. 24th, the School Board honored the girls 4x800 meter relay team for their terrific victory at the 103rd running of the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden. The foursome of seventh grader Emma Gallagher, sophomores Jenna DeAngelo and Taylor Hennig and junior anchor Michelle Rotondo ran into the Millrose record books with a top time of 9:22.66. Congratulations on a great accomplishment.

And to finish up the week, Coach Fregosi took a small group out to the Long Island Invitational meet at St. Anthony’s this past Saturday and came home with some terrific performances.

Headlining for the girls was the 4x400 relay team that captured the outdoor New York State championship this past spring season. The girls produced another stellar result with a first place finish in a Long Island season best time of 3:57.05. The time is also currently the fifth fastest in the state and seventh in the nation this season.

4x800 qualifiers - Emily, Michelle, Jenna and Emma. Earlier in the meet, Jennifer Gerland and Katie O’Neill produced personal best times in their events, the 3000m and 1000m respectively, with both placing fourth in the varsity events. Seventh grader Gerland ran a time of 10:42.23 while eight grader O’Neill ran a time of 3:02.3 - great results for two very talented runners. And Molly Josephs took home fourth place in the 1500m race walk.

The 4x400 team came into the meet as the second seed having run a season best of 4:01.55. But the foursome of Taylor Hennig, Catherine Cafaro, Michelle Rotondo and Emily Menges were focused on improving that time. Knowing that this was their only race of the day also played a part in their being fresh, as all four of these girls do double and triple duty at just about every race, always in the top heats. So on Saturday, Hennig burst out of the blocks at the start of the race and the Trojans never looked back, with each successive girl adding to the lead. Anchor Menges was only looking to ensure a top time and that she did. Without another team to push them, all four girls still ran close to their best times for a 400 to produce the 3:57.05 and take home champion sweat shirts.

Molly Josephs with a State qualifying victory. A special congratulations goes to Emma Gallagher as the 7th grader has rounded into one of the top runners on the team and in so doing she has re-written the record books in New York State for her age group. She now has the top mark all time, in NY State for a 7th grader in the 1000m and the 600m.

LI Invitational 4x400 Champs - Catherine, Emily, Taylor and Michelle. This Saturday it’s on to the state meet at Cornell for a chance at more honors. Good Luck girls!