Students To Run For Heart Health In Honor Of Late Mahwah High Schooler

MAHWAH, NJ — A new athletic and character training program for intermediate students will go to support heart-health screenings in memory of a Mahwah high schooler who died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2019.

The program, designed for fourth and fifth graders who are registered for the Miles4Marcus run — named in honor of Marcus Kayal, who suffered the cardiac event —, was created by Mahwah High School teacher Sarah Guzinski and the Mahwah Youth Sports Boosters.

Students, through the program, will train by setting daily running goals, and also participate in activities in which they will try to emulate Kayal's positive character traits, said Guzinski, who taught the late Kayal in pre-calculus honors.

"Marcus was very special to me," Guzinski said. "He was kind, hard-working, athletic and a good friend to all. He was a role model for students."

The Miles4Marcus event, scheduled for May 20 at Continental Soldiers Park in Mahwah, will raise funds for Hearts4Marcus, a new program that offers preventative cardiac screenings to Mahwah freshmen.

Guzinski said she ran the running training program, which she will help coach this year, on a smaller scale last year, and that it was such a success, she asked the Sports Boosters to support her in running it again this year.

Some of the activities from last year were to walk warm-up laps with friends, while asking each other questions about how to be a good leader, or how to stay determined and not give up. Each program day focused on specific themes like leadership or determination.

"Marcus was always my little sidekick," Marcus Kayal's older brother Joe Kayal, a participant last year, said as part of a "Remembering Marcus" program exercise.

"It's impossible to pick just one memory or story to share about Marcus," his oldest brother Jordan Kayal, also a program participant, said. "I cherished watching him grow into the young man he was and excel at basically everything he put his mind to."

Program days this year are April 15, 22 and 29; and May 6 and 13, all from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Continental Soldiers Field Track. Interested parties are asked to register at tmysb.org.