Perfect day for a track meet!! The temperature was just right at 50 degrees and sunny with little wind! There were a total of 23 Striders competing at the meet.
Full meet results here:
April 18th 2021 complete results
Field Events (High Jump and Long Jump)
These events started right at 9am and went on at the same time as the running events. The Striders were the only ones in the high jump event but had awesome results nonetheless.
High Jump
Colin McKinney 3’6″
Gin0 Arcuri 3’10” (personal best)
Nora McCabe 4′ 0″
Sofia Arcuri 3’10” (personal best)
Luisa Arcuri 3′ 8″ (personal best)
Long Jump
Courtney Cook 8’10”
Ella Abraham 6′ 4″
Colin McKinney (1st) – 14’10” (personal best)
Frankie Burke – 9’4″
Blake Quinley – 9’4″
Ellen Gundlach (1st) – 13’9″ (personal best)
Will Glunz (1st) – 13’3″ (personal best)
Mathew Leistensnider (2nd) – 13’1″
The first running event of the day was the 4x 800m relay. The girls team of Monika (2:35), Abigail (2:31), Luisa (2:42) and Sofia (2:35) had a crushing first place victory in a time of 10:23.1. With that time they ran faster than the first place boys team from the Rabbits by over 23 seconds!!
The second race was the 100m dash. The Striders had 10 total with seven of them running their first 100m race ever!
Girls 5th/6th grade division Evelyn and Courtney had impressive “first race ever” times of 17.61 and 17.96.
Boys 5th/6th grade division. There were five Strider boys who competed in their first 100m race. Max Stearney-17.30, Blake Quinley-17.67, Frankie Burke-17.78 and Noah Cerrado-18.27 and Lucas Walsh with a 5th place finish in 16.59.
Girls 7th/8th grade division Our sole runner was Lucia Fuentes who finished in 16:13 starting with a great first ever 100m race time.
Boys 7th/8th grade division Mathew Leistensnider ran a new PR of 15.57 (prior best 18.58). James Degand also set a new personal best with a 15.82 beating his prior PR of 16.13.
The next race was the 800m. The Striders had 8 total athletes in this mid distance race
Boys 5th/6th grade division. The race started out with Santino Conte and Gus Berlinghof leading the pack right from beginning and increased that lead by almost 20 seconds!! It was a close finish between the two with Gus (2:37.30, 1st, New PR) edging out Santino (2:37:54, 2nd, NEW PR). Will Serafin in his debut 800m race clocked a sub 3 minute time of 2:57.32 and a fourth place! Blake Quinley came in next with a 3:18.82 in 6th. Striders placed 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th. WOW!
Girls 7th/8th grade division From the beginning this started out with a battle between Nora McCabe and the Rabbits club runner Molly Zann. Nora kept on her heels the first 600m and finally made her move. It was a quick move that catapulted her to a first place finish in 2:34.82 (personal best=2:29.80). Ellen Gundlach crossed the line in 3rd at 2:48.53 (personal best=2:39.98). Maeve Rafferty ran under the 3 minute barrier to break the tape in 2:51.05 and in 6th place.
Boys 7th/8th grade division Will Glunz was the only Striders in this division running in a 2:57.86 blazing in under 3 minutes and to a new personal best (prior best=3:01.46)
The quick and exciting 4x100m relay races The Striders only had boys teams today.
Boys 5th/6th grade division. Three of the four boys on the team (Frankie Burke, Noah Cerrado and Max Stearney) ran their first ever relay race and performed flawlessly! Anchored by a relay Striders veteran, Santino Conte, the team raced to s second place finish in 1:10.18.
Boys 7th/8th grade division What an awesome race to watch! The Striders took a slight lead from the start with Colin McKinney. Will Glunz and James Degand ran second and third keeping neck and neck with the Rabbits team. Gino Arcuri blasted the anchor leg just sneaking past the Rabbits runner by 0.16 seconds to take the Striders to a 1st place finish.
The fast and furious 400m race This was a popular event for the Striders with twelve athletes entering this race.
Girls 5th/6th grade division Emily Stecky shot out of the start line with the leaders and stuck with them but faded a little but had a great 2nd place finish in a new personal best of 1:14.56 (prior best of 1:22.62). Ella Abraham had a 1:30.08 which was 15 seconds faster than her time trial at practice! Way to go!
Boys 5th/6th grade division. This race had a LOT of Striders! Seven in all. Both Colin McKinney and Will Serafin went out in front of their respective heats very early and never relinquished the lead. Colin pushed to an impressive win in 1:07.62 (personal best=1:06.98). Will placed second overall in an amazing 1:22.67. Max Stearney was next in 4th overall in 1:27.44, Blake Quinley in 5th in 1:27.59 (personal best=1:25.09), Frankie Burke in 6th at 1:29.09, Noah Cerrado in 7th at 1:31.06 and Belen Demitropoulos in 8th at 1:33.38.
Girls 7th/8th grade division Nora McCabe had a solid performance from beginning to end with a 1:07.25 (personal best=1:04.77). Lucia Fuentes was not too far behind finishing in 3rd place with a 1:10.64 just 0.4 seconds from second place!
Boys 7th/8th grade division One Strider competed, Mathew Leistensnider in 1:23.17
The long distance race of the day: 1600m
Boys 5th/6th grade division There were two Striders in the race, Colin McKinney and Santino Conte, both went out to the front and stayed there all the way to the finish line! They had near personal best performances with Colin taking 1st place in 5:18.72 (personal best=5:18.77) and Santino breaking the tape in second place with a 5:47.33 (personal best=5:45.16).
Girls 7th/8th grade division Six Strider runners and the result was dominating! Sofia Arcuri and Abigail Jordan bolted out to the front immediately and never gave it up the whole race with Sofia finishing in 1st (5:25.73)(personal best=5:14.43) and Abigail in 2nd (5:27.97)(personal best=5:26.96). The strategy apparently for Monika Urbaniak and Luisa Arcuri was to sit back a little and then surge. It seemed to serve them well as they were around 6th place for the first half of the race and then kicked it in to move up and finish 4th, Monika in 5:40.67 (personal best=5:34.47) and 5th for Luisa in 5:42.59 (personal best=5:32.45). Ellen Gundlach crossed the line at 6:13.52. Maeve Rafferty raced well laying down a new personal best at 6:23.56, crushing her prior best of 6:34.50!! WOW, Striders take 1st, 2nd, 4th AND 5th!!
Boys 7th/8th grade division Gino Arcuri was the only Striders and had a powerful showing with a second place finish in 5:22.08 (personal best=5:16.61).
The always fun race was next : 200m
Girls 5th/6th grade division Emily Stecky had a very good day setting a new personal best with a 34.99, besting her prior time of 36.37. Evelyn Voukides was not too far behind with a 36.88 and her first 200m race!. Ella Abraham had a strong race establishing a new personal best as well, crossing the line in 43.72 (prior best=45.17).
Boys 5th/6th grade division We had four Striders in this race. Lucas Walsh pushed hard to the line in 34.48 placing 3rd in his first 200m race, impressive! The next Strider was Will Serafin who established a new personal best of 36.54, blazing past his prior best of 37.91. In a close battle in his heat, Max Stearney edged out his competitor by 0.35 seconds to finish in 37.22 in his first 200m race ever!. Noah Cerrado also was a newbie 200m racer breaking the finish line tape in 40.22 (so close to breaking 40!)
Girls 7th/8th grade division Lucia Fuentes was the sole Strider in this race. Although not a personal best, she had a good race in 32.25 (personal best=30.77)
Boys 7th/8th grade division James Degand crossed in 33.98, setting a new personal best. (prior best=35.72)
LAST EVENT of the DAY: 4x400m relay
There were just three teams and two of them were the Striders teams. It was a battle between the Striders boys and the Striders girls. The girls took the lead right from the start and never relinquished it! The team on Monika, Abigail, Luisa and Sofia ran a very impressive mile relay in 4:48 bating the boys team of Mathew, Will G , James and Gino by 21 seconds (5:09). Can you say rematch?
CONGRATS to all the Striders!! It was a great track meet to start off the Spring season. Next meet is May 2nd.
Coach Murphy
