Times will tell whether Port Chester's T&F team will go from fast to faster to fastest in near future
June 12, 2024 at 11:14 p.m.
The New York State High School Track & Field Championships took place last Friday and Saturday (6/7/8) at Cicero North High School in Syracuse—and nobody from Port Chester qualified.
But it was an instructive experience for the Rams and Lady Rams T&F team anyway. Because it showed the difference between fast, faster and fastest and how far the local runners and field event performers have yet to go if they hope to hit the minimal qualifying times and distances needed to make it into the state championship events.
New Rams head T&F coach Greg Domestico, ex-Ram football/wrestling/T&F great returning to Port Chester after around a decade coaching elsewhere, acknowledged as much in recognizing that the gap exists between where Port Chester is and where it must be to become a state championship contender or even send runners and field event performer to the States.
Times are a changin'
"The times are slowly coming down, closer to where they have to be, and that is going to take time, but the important thing is that it is happening, slowly, but it is starting to happen because the team is accepting the new training methods we are introducing," he said. "We are taking the team out of their comfort zone. Asking them to do more. Differently. And urging them to have more trust in themselves, their coaches, and the new techniques we are introducing in everything from relay stick passing to getting off the starting blocks."
Domestico spoke during the May 29 Port Chester Senior Recognition Ceremony in the new high school gym.
And the times and distances he was talking about were readily available for comparison purposes.
The final deuce results
Port Chester T&F was coming off its final two championship meets of the spring season—the Class AA Meet at Arlington in La Grange (5/25) and the state qualifiers at Suffern (5/31).
And the results of those two season-ending meets were both encouraging and discouraging despite the bottom line for both being that nobody from Port Chester qualified for the state championships.
Consider the Class AA meet results for starters.
It was encouraging because Santiago Marquez had posted personal bests in the 800 meters (2:06.39) and 1600 meters (4:48.44) in the metric equivalents of the half-mile and mile runs. And Jaycee Rodriguez and Anderson Doran had sprinted to their season's best times in the 100 meters (12:88 for J-Rod) and 23:78 and 53.82 (in the 200 and 400 meters for Doran). Those three promising runners will be back next year (along with Marc Dorsainvil, another speedster, who has been hampered by a leg injury all season).
The discouraging words
But it was discouraging because the meet was a last hurrah of sorts for 16 of the talented graduating seniors: Jonathan Abraham, Evelyn Aguilar, Allegra Burke, Alexandra (Alee) Cruz, Gabriel Cueto, John Delcid, Steven Farias, Maria Garcia, Kimberly Maldonado, Kayley Martinez, Ramaul Morgan Jr., Jordan Orellana, Adrian Osorio, Alejandro Salinas, Miguel Valdovinos and Alejandro Velasquez.
Santiago Marquez (#1) posted personal bests in the 800 meters and 1600 meters in the Class AA Meet at Arlington on May 25.By File Photo
What was even more discouraging was the fact that even Port Chester's best of times—Marquez times in the half mile and mile run, for example, would have to come down considerably to match the 1:54 to 1:57 it would take to be up there with the area's best in the half while the low 4:20s would be the ticket to race in the mile run top tier. And Rodriguez and Doran would both have to lower their best times by at least a second in the sprints and middle distance—feats that are difficult but not impossible depending on how hard that trio trains during the summer and fall, alternating distance with speed work intervals. And lots of both.
Which is easier said than done. But doable. Especially since that trio came back to run on various relays during that AA meet.
T&F work in progress
Meanwhile, the times and distances Port Chester racked up in that meet at Arlington indicated a team that was making impressive strides for what amounts to a talented local T&F squad that is essentially a work in progress.
Graduating senior Ramaul Morgan Jr., the Rams’ All-Section and All-League soccer player headed to American International University on an athletic scholarship, was one of the individual standouts in that AA meet. And the relays showcased the overall team speed.
In the 4x100-meter relay, for example, Delcid, Duran, Morgan and Rodriguez clocked a combined 46:01. The 4x400-meter relay ran 4:03.87 running with a foursome that included Salinas, Marquez, Duran and Nicholas Wolff. And the 4x800-meter relay finished in 9:22.29 running with Abraham, Salinas, Marquez and Christopher Zamora. Wolff also long jumped 17:10.
The top-tier Lady Rams
Lady Rams head coach Danny Alvarado's squad also came through with some impressive performances.
In the individual events, Elizabeth (Elle) Cruz clocked the fastest times in the 200 meters by crossing the finish line in 27:66 and 28:25 respectively. Mia Pagnotta and Elle Cruz hit 1:05 and 1:05.70 in the 400 meters. And going up the ladder in distances, Alee Cruz ran the 400 in 1:05.17 and hit 3:17.87 for the 800 while Katherin Espinosa and Chenoa Marquez ran 7:04.81 and 12:29.23 for the 1,500 and 3,000-meter runs respectively. All respectable but not great times while also showing good conditioning.
In the relays, Castillo, Schultz, Pagnotta and Liz Cruz sprinted to a time of 52.30 in the 4x100; Liz Cruz, Pagnotta, Alexa Aguiriano and Allee Cruz hit their stride by finishing in 4:32.65 in the 400-meter relay and Marquez, Mayerlin Torres, Espinoza and Abigail Pesantez each ran their metric equivalents of the half mile in the combined time of 13:05.96 for the 4x800-meter relay. And Juliana Martinez soared 22:03 in the long jump. Again, all good, but not good enough to qualify for the States.
The Lady Rams 4x100-meter team of Castillo, Schultz, Pagnotta and Liz Cruz—all of whom will be back next year—became the only Port Chester relay team that hit the minimal required times for the state qualifiers at Suffern, clocking 52:66. But while that was fast, it was not fast enough to make it into the state championships.
Eye on the future
"The kids worked hard, kept improving and showed lots of potential," according to veteran assistant T&F coach Nick Mancuso. "And all the coaches are looking forward to seeing an even more improved team next year."
Especially if Marquez comes back out for T&F and concentrates on that sport alone. Because the multi-talented Venezuelan import is also a triathlon athlete, a mountain bike rider and the best swimmer in Port Chester history. But the time has come for him to decide what sport he is best at because he is already an All-League cross-country runner who is approaching college athletic scholarship times in T&F. But only if he practices and competes in that sport year-round. So it will be intriguing to see what happens next for Marquez as well as Doran, Rodriguez and the fastest Lady Rams sprinters (Castillo, Schultz, Pagnotta and Liz Cruz). Because they are all coming back next year and how fast they go will determine how the T&F team goes.
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