Track Team Hitting Its Stride for Stretch Run

Records are meant to be broken, but if Harrison hopes to outpace the success set during the boys and girls teams have their work cut out for them.

That's not to say they aren't up for the challenge.

Harrison's winter track team is off to another great start, as the boys and girls teams both finished first in the league championships Sunday in New York City. The event—considered a preview of the county, league and state championship meets later this season—showed that the Huskies once again have a roster full of enough talent to replicate last year's .

"We're looking to repeat," said Ben Konigsberg, a senior captain who was a big contributor on last year's team.

Konigsberg helped lead the way for Harrison Sunday, setting personal bests in the 55-meter and 300-meter dashes while winning the 4x400 relay along with teammates Chris D'Antona, Jacob Seidman and Ryo Inkyo. In total, the boys took first place seven events, defeating Rye by 28 points for the championship.

Meanwhile, the girls team finished first in eight events including the long jump, where Harrison athletes placed in four of the top five spots. The girls defeated second-place Rye by 23 points.

It was an impressive effort to kick-off the competitive winter track season.

"Everybody got the times they wanted," said Ashley Dellipaoli, a senior captain who finished first in the 600-meter and 4x400 relay Sunday. "We got a lot of points for our team."

After months of training as a group, the track and field team will now divide into varsity qualifiers and non-qualifiers, allowing coaches to spend more time with athletes who hope to qualify for county, section, state and even national meets as individuals.

It's a critical point in the season, as athletes will now push for their top times of the year for the stretch run.

"It becomes a shorter but much more intense workout," said senior Jacob Seidman. "If we do the workouts a certain way we know we are going to peek at the right time."

"You're starting to get into the competitive mindset," added Sara Purinton, a junior captain. "Before it was more for getting in shape, but now you're getting more into the competitive mode."

As the events become more challenging moving forward, the Huskies hope to see their work over the last year payoff—and hopefully produce results similar to a year ago when several athletes qualified for the New York state championships.

"There's a lot of expectations," said Konigsberg. "It's good motivation because we know marks we would like to hit, so it's a good point to strive to achieve."