Island Trees Boys Track Moves to 7-1

The Island Trees boys track team moved to 7-1 Monday with victories over Clarke and Mineola.

A crucial component to the Bulldogs' victory was the strength of their relay teams. "Average Joe's Gym" 4x800 relay team of Chris Mule, Joe Badolato, Lucas Panebianco and Zach Milack won their event, as did the “Four Horseman” team of Adam Kirschner, Brendan Beiersdorfer, Lucas Pugliese and Nick Alavanja in the 4x400 relay.

Alavanja also earned the gold in both hurdle events, while Pugliese won the 400-meter run.

The Bulldog throwers were dominant as they swept all of the medals in both the shot-put and the discus. Stephen Schmidt won both events, while Joseph Stanco was a close second.

Andrew Zabala came in first in the triple jump, while Tyler Blauvelt took first in both the long jump and the 200-meter sprint.

The Bulldogs currently have four athletes ranked in the top 5 of five separate events in the county. Blauvelt is ranked third in the 200-meter sprint and fifth in the long jump; Pugliese is ranked fourth in the 100-meter sprint (and sixth in the 400-meter run); Alavanja is ranked fifth in the 110-meter hurdles (and seventh in the 400-meter hurdles); and Zabala is ranked fifth in the triple jump. (For a full list of county rankings, click here.)