Track & Field team winds up winter indoor season in beat the clock final races in NYC at The Armory
February 21, 2024 at 11:52 p.m.
It's about time! And that's what the Port Chester Track & Field Team was really all about—fast times, that is—during the winter indoor season that was and wasn't. Because there were precious few indoor meets to run in, which means the T&F student-athletes mostly had to practice outdoors in all kinds of weather, competing mostly against themselves while working hard to improve their times (how long it took them to race over distances). And they did keep on getting faster as proven by their performances during their rare appearances at The Armory in New York City, including their latest, the Class AA Championships held on Monday, Feb. 12.
Race against time
While no Ram or Lady Ram T&F performer met the qualifying standards for the Sectional or State Championships, they did beat the clock. And themselves. That is the beauty of T&F. There is no place to hide, no one to blame but yourself, it is just you and your stride once the starter's gun goes off, and if you have put in the work, the stride will be there, and if you have the heart, the will, the determination, so will you.
The time it takes you to run the race you are entered in tells the story. The clock validates your training and effort. Or it doesn't and lack of progress shows where you have run short of your goal.
Clocking the progress
Port Chester didn't come up short.
The Rams and Lady Rams T&F teams wound up their euphemistically named winter indoor T&F season with their fastest and best performances of the year in events ranging from the sprints to the middle distances, the relays to the individual races.
In the 4x200-meter relay, for example, the Rams got a strong opening leg from ex-football co-captain John Delcid and the rest of the quartet took the baton from there with Anderson Duran, Johan Espinal and Jaycee Rodriguez to hit the finish line in a fast 1:41.31.
The Iron Man double
The Rams showed their middle distance talent with Alejandro Salinas running the grueling 600 meters in 1:3.47, a good time for what amounts to a near all-out sprint for more than a quarter of a mile. And Jonathan Abraham showed further development as one of the school's best—and hardest working—distance runners by clocking 11:21.75 for the 3,200 meters, the metric equivalent of the two-mile run.
Both came back to run an Iron Man double by running the first two legs on the 4x800-meter relay with Chris Zamora and Arturo Orozco running the final legs, meaning each runner ran the metric equivalent of a half-mile, hitting the finish line in 9:56.20.
The first Ladies
The Lady Rams had their own cast of heroines emerging in the various distances, from the short bursts to the distance runs.
Casey Schultz, for example, emerged as the school's fastest female sprinter, clocking 8:09 for the 55 meters.
Alexandra Cruz proved to be the team's best quarter miler and then some by racing the 600 meters in 2:04.77.
And Chenoa Marquez and Mayerin Torres finished up as the Lady Rams’ top middle distance runners by striding through the 1,000-meter run in 3:53.45 and 3:53.57, just fractions of a second separating them in one of the closest finishes of the day.
Marquez and Torres came back to do their own version of the Iron Man by running the first two legs of the 4x800-meter relay on a quartet of half-milers that included Katherin Espinoza and Camila Ramos. They finished in 13:28.21.
Alexandra Cruz came back to hand off the relay stick to her sister Liz on the anchor leg of the 4x200-meter relay that had Juliana Castillo and Casey Schultz running the first two legs. They clocked in at 1:59.28. And Castillo showed her versatility by long jumping 14:02.75.
Coach on standouts
"The kids did a good job, from the inspirational Cruz sisters who went from school to practice to working night jobs to Delcid who showed his versatility in events ranging from the hurdles to the sprints to Schultz and Castillo whose speed helps them rank among Port Chester's best tennis doubles players," according to Rams veteran head coach Nick Mancuso. "Especially since our kids compete against a talent base drawn from schools double our size, like Arlington, New Rochelle, North Rockland, White Plains and Mount Vernon."
But time marches on, no matter the marchers, so the T&F team will have to wait until Mar. 11 for their next shot at beating the clock because that's when the Spring Track season is scheduled to start and send them off to the races one more time.
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