The Winter Track Team had quite a season.  With it just wrapping  in February for most members, many records were broken and many people improved.  The head boys’ coach is Coach Gilhuley, and the head girls’ coach is Coach Mooney.

Boys’ Team

The captains, seniors Joe Brady ‘16, Brett Albee ‘16, and Andrew Daly ‘16, led the team in a long season.  Three school records were broken by the boys’ team this year:  Daly broke the school record in the 3000 meter run with a new time of 9 minutes and 23 seconds.  The 1600 meter relay record was broken (twice!) by Ryan Orr ’17, Sam Cho ’16, Amil Khattar ’18, and Will Phinney ’17 with a new time of 3 minutes and 28 seconds.

At Nationals, the 3200 meter relay record was broken by Orr, Daly, Matt Mychalowych ’17, and Phinney with a new time of 8 minutes and 3 seconds.

In Sectionals in early February, the boys’ team did very well.  Tim Youtkus ’17, in his first year on track, cleared 5’ 8” and qualified for Groups.  As Orr states, “The fact that Tim made it to Groups is a massive achievement, this being his first year.  He had an incredible first season as a high jumper.”

Eight boys qualified for Groups, which is the next meet after Sectionals.  To qualify for Groups, members must finish in the top 6 of their events at Sectionals.  Youtkus, Daly, Orr, Phinney, Cho, Khattar, Brad O’Keefe ’16, and Alex Trujillo ’16 all qualified for groups.

The next meet was the Meet of Champions (MOCs), and to qualify for that, members must be in the Top 6 in their groups, or make the wildcard spot.  The Ridge 1600 meter relay team qualified for MOCs, with the last wildcard spot available.  That day, many Ridge track team members came out to support the four boys representing Ridge.  Orr ran his 400 meters at 52.5 seconds, Cho at 52.9, Khattar at 54.2, and Phinney at 51.9.  The boys finished 4th in their heat, and 15th out of 26 teams.  Considering this was their first time competing at MOCs, they shattered expectations.

At Easterns Relays the following week, the boys’ 1600 meter relay broke their own school record, with Orr running a whopping 51.0 and Khattar finishing at an astounding 53.3 seconds.  The 3200 meter relay team ran an 8:05, and qualified for Nationals.  Daly, Orr, Mychalowych, and Phinney trained for the following two weeks; this whole season built up this meet.  They set a new school record, at 8:03, and exceeded expectations.  Orr and Daly ran 2 minutes flat, Mychalowych ran a 2:04, and Phinney ran a 1:58.

Girls’ Team

Led by senior captains Alex Kyros ‘16 and Sophie Spring ‘16, the girls’ team has a long list of accomplishments from this past season as well.  The girls’ team won Counties and Conferences, as well as the Sectionals meet.  Two school records were broken this year: the 400 meter dash by Brooke Fazio ’17 who ran it in 57.42 seconds, and the 1600 meter relay by Emily Hirsch ’17, Fazio, Jessica Creedon ’17, and Kaitlyn Van Baalen ’18 with a new time of 4:03.

At Sectionals, the girls dominated and won the meet with strong performances in the 1600 meter relay and by Sophie Spring in the 3200 meter run.  Eight girls qualified for Groups: Van Baalen, Creedon, Spring, Fazio, Hirsch, Shayna Bains ’17, Claire Jones ’17, and Catherine Giuseffi ’17. Seven of them qualified for MOCs: Van Baalen, Creedon, Spring, Fazio, Hirsch, Bains, and Giuseffi.  Fazio broke her own record in the 400 meter dash and finished 6th in the meet!

At Easterns, the girls competed in the 3200 meter relay (Van Baalen, Giuseffi, Hirsch, and Fazio), the 3200 meter run (Spring and Bains), the 1600 meter run (Jones), and the high jump (Creedon).

At Nationals, Van Baalen, Emily Hirsch, Brooke Fazio, Catherine Giuseffi, and Jessica Creedon all competed.  Van Baalen, the only sophomore from Ridge, explains what it was like at the meet, commenting, “Going to Nationals was an awesome experience. I’ve never been, and neither had Brooke or Catherine, so it gave us an opportunity to get a feel for a meet we’ll hopefully be returning to for the next few seasons. Personally, I felt so lucky to compete alongside girls I respect and admire so much, because I can really learn a lot from them. I knew I couldn’t let them down, and that drive was what allowed me to PR when it mattered most.”

Ridge finished 12th out of 29 teams, and Fazio is 6th in the state for the 400 meter dash!  Hirsch ran an astounding 2:24, Giuseffi ran an impressive 2:19, Van Baalen ran an amazing time of 2:20, and Fazio finished with a jaw-dropping 2:14!  Creedon finished 9th place out of 13 in the pentathlon with a time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds.  A pentathlon consists of 60 meter hurdle dash, high jump, shot put, long jump, and an 800 meter run.

Overall the boys’ and girls’ teams each had their fair share of success.  Many track members improved, stepped up, and contributed to the success of the Winter team.  This charisma, talent, and work ethic will definitely translate over to the spring season.