by Sr. Friar Danielle D’Alonzo

The girls on the St. Anthony’s track and field team have a legacy to defend.

Last year, the Friars enjoyed almost unlimited success during their winter season. The team placed first in the CHSAA City Championships, qualified for the New York State Championships, and sent several athletes to New Balance Indoor Nationals. The Friars were consistently ranked among Newsday’s Top 10 winter sports teams, and were viewed as the toughest competition for other track teams in the CHSAA. Now, as the St. Anthony’s runners return to the track for the 2017-2018 season, fans and opponents alike are wondering if they will match last year’s performance.

The Friars’ path to victory will have to unfold differently this season, because the team itself is different now. The graduation of the class of 2017 robbed the team of some of its most stellar athletes. No loss was greater than that of Halle Hazzard, one of the best runners ever to wear the Friars’ black and gold. Hazzard’s lightning-fast times broke St. Anthony’s school records in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and sprint medley relay. She capped her phenomenal high school career with first-place finishes in the 55 meters and 300 meters in the New York State Championships, and a second-place finish in the 60 meters at New Balance Nationals. Currently, the St. Anthony’s alumna is running for the University of Virginia and for the Olympic team of the nation of Grenada.

Several other fast runners graduated alongside Hazzard. Another notable loss for the Friars was Alyssa Yeboah-Kodie, who was a star in the 100-meter hurdles during her four years at St. Anthony’s and now runs at Penn State University. The St. Anthony’s team will also have to do without Camille Angus, Chinelo Nnakwe, and Christiane Weber, who were all crucial elements of the 4×100 meter and 4×200 meter relays. On the field side, the Friars no longer have Samantha Stetz and Alyssa Farrell to score points in the triple jump and javelin, respectively.

However, the departure of these athletes has not left the team desperate, because a new generation of Friars is ready to step up and fill their shoes. One standout runner on the long-distance team is junior Jennifer Furman, who reached a milestone last year when she ran the 1500 meters in under 5 minutes. Meanwhile, the sprinting team has a reliable runner in junior Amy Tang, a versatile athlete who excels in any dash from 55 meters to 300 meters. Another sprinter, Aly Turnbull, is only a sophomore but showed promise last year in her freshman season. In the field events, senior Mikyla Rodgers is expected to dominate the shot put and discus.

Head coach Olivier St. Aude has expressed high hopes for improvement in one event in particular: the 4×800 meter relay.

“This season’s going to be a little tricky because we have so many new athletes, but I’m actually looking to push the 4×800,” said St. Aude. “I think we have the talent to push that envelope and have the kind of success we used to have in that event.”

Many athletes find it difficult to strategize for running the 4×800, because 800 meters falls somewhere between sprinting and long distance, and cannot definitively be categorized as either. Therefore, runners in the 4×800 must pace themselves carefully,running fast like a sprinter but also saving energy like a distance runner. Coach Olivier is currently training a group of “mid-distance” athletes to succeed in this event. The group includes seniors Victoria Natale and Julia Schneider, junior Vanessa Franco, and sophomore Larisa Dorrian.

The 2017-2018 season will bring changes not only in the roster of athletes and their training, but also in the coaching staff. Joining the girls’ long-distance team this year is Coach Tim Dearie, who has only coached boys in recent years. Dearie began his coaching career at St. Anthony’s in 1987, and has since led five teams to state championship titles and ten to Catholic state championship titles. The girls’ coaching staff is hopeful that Dearie’s training will help remedy the injuries that have plagued the distance runners for most of the cross country season.

For the girls’ track and field team, this winter season will be different from last year’s. The team will have new athletes, new coaches, and new methods of training. However, there is one thing that the runners hope will not change: their level of success. The team enters the 2017-2018 season with the memory of their past victories motivating them to once again dominate the track.