Kings Park Sends Four Track Athletes to State Championships

Kings Park is sending four winter track athletes to the New York State Championships at Cornell University this Saturday. The Kingsmen have not had a track state champion in  over four years.

Shot putter Brandon Reynolds is a perfect 10-0 in Long Island meets this season and seems to be a good candidate to end that drought. This week Reynolds was one of five recipients of the county’s Most Outstanding Winter Track Athlete award, and hopes to add another trophy.

“I put in a lot of hard work,” Reynolds said, “It would make it all worth it.”

Reynolds qualified with a throw that was over 53 feet, almost three feet longer than the next closest competitor and the third longest in the state this season. If he can slightly improve on that number, he may place in the event for the first time in his career.

Christine Hagan is the veteran of the athletes, heading to a state championship meet for the seventh time in her career. The senior Air Force Academy hopeful is competing in the 1000 m.

Hagan is an all-around athlete on the track.  In the spring she competes in the 1500 m and also runs on the cross-country team.

“I think her strength is her toughness,” says her coach, Robert Muller. “She’s got good speed, good aerobic conditioning. She’s just a tough, tough kid who knows how to get everything out of her body.”

Tara Greco has been excelling in the jumping events for her entire career. At the state championships her stage will be the triple jump. At the county championships Greco finished second in the event with a distance of 34 feet 4 inches. Greco is also accomplished in the long jump and high jump.

Muller has high praise for Greco, saying, “she’s one of the premier jumpers in Suffolk County.”

Kathleen Naeher is the young upstart of the Kings Park track scene. After nearly qualifying last year as a freshman, the sophomore gets her chance to compete in the 600 m. She also competes in the 800 m

Muller is confident in Naeher’s abilities. “She’s very talented,” he says, “she has a lot of speed. I’m hoping she can get a good experience being so young. As she grows she can use it to challenge herself to be very successful.”