Rye’s indoor track and field teams weren’t able to defend their league titles this season, but both finished in the top three of the team standings. The girls took second, 12 points behind Clarkston South, and the boys third, behind Clarkstown South and North.
“The addition of two very large schools to our league this year (Clarkstown North and South) definitely made it harder on us to pick up points,” said Rye coach Bryan Johnson, “but as coaches, we’re quite proud of how the athletes competed.”
Individual league champions included Jill DeSanto in the 55-meter and 300-meter runs, Claire Curran (600), Iciar Garate (long jump), Tino MacKinnon (1,600), and the boys 4×800 relay (MacKinnon, Ben Truman, Clayton Stark, and Killian MacKinnon).
“I think (fellow Rye coach) Blair Moynahan put it best,” Johnson said. “In the week leading up to leagues, the vibes during practice were fantastic. All of the kids were buying into our team mindset and were stepping up to compete in events that they might not be accustomed to doing in order to get us fourth-, fifth, and sixth-place points.”
In the Westchester County meet, Truman was champion of the 600-meter run after finishing fourth in the event as a junior last year. His time of 1:25.38 makes him a strong contender to return to the state championships, after running the 800 at the outdoor state meet last June.
Other Garnets to record top 10 finishes at the indoor county championships include DeSanto (fourth in 300), Curran (eighth in 600), Fiona Marino (10th in 1,000), Riho Fukudome (fourth in 55 hurdles), Lucy Carey (sixth in high jump), Garate (ninth in long jump and sixth in triple jump), Katie Schatz (fifth in triple jump), Tino MacKinnon (seventh in 1,000), and Calvin Holler (fifth in shot put).
“We have a much smaller team this year than we have had in the past,” Johnson said, “and we really saw a lot of our veteran upperclassmen taking the lead on pushing the younger athletes to really work hard and look for spots in which we can score points.”
Rye Neck sophomore Evan Hammer also had a top 10 finish, taking ninth in the 55 hurdles.
