Massapequa Athlete Earns Once-In-A-Generation Award

MASSAPEQUA, NY — Massapequa High School senior Nick Bianco’s accomplishments in track and field were so extraordinary that he was recently presented with the Special Achievement Award from the Nassau Track & Field and Cross Country Officials Association — an award that hasn't been given out in 30 years.

The award recognized Bianco for his accomplishments both on the track and in the field, as well as for the qualities of scholarship, leadership and sportsmanship. He was unaware he was even nominated for the award until the plaque was delivered to his home.

Bianco first joined track when he was a student at Berner Middle School, primarily participating in hurdle races. Joining the varsity squad in ninth grade was the beginning of a dominating high school track and field career that including two All-State, eight All-Long Island, seven All-County and seven All-Conference selections. He will graduate holding eight Massapequa school records and the Nassau County pole vault record at 15 feet, 1 inch.

In his sophomore year, Bianco added pole vaulting to his repertoire and spent the summer prior to junior year traveling to New Jersey to train with specialized coaches. He dedicated himself to mastering the sport and also saw it as a way to build arm and core strength. He continued to participate in other track and field events including javelin, high hurdles, decathlon and pentathlon.

It was in the decathlon, a mix of 10 events, that he placed 10th in the country last year at the national competition in North Carolina. He entered the most recent winter track season ranked seventh in the nation in the pentathlon, which is five track and field events, but the national competition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other accolades include ranking fifth all-time in New York State in the decathlon with 6,100 points and receiving the Nassau Track and Field Officials 2020 athlete of the year and USATF Long Island Junior Field Event 2019 athlete of the year awards.

He was a multisport athlete at Massapequa High School, including being a member of the 2019 Nassau County champion boys volleyball team. During his sophomore year, Nick played on the junior varsity basketball team.

Bianco will go from the Chiefs to the Buffaloes as he will join the track and field team this fall at the University of Colorado Boulder. He said one of the reasons he chose the school is because six of the seven coaches are former Olympians in their respective events.

“I want to learn from the best of the best, and get to be the best that I can be,” he said. “Getting an offer from a college was rewarding knowing that my hard work paid off.”

Bianco plans to major in integrative physiology, which studies whole-body functions and its applications to human health. He is particularly interested in the scientific aspects of health and fitness, and wants to enter the education field, in addition to coaching.

He credits his success to his parents, Coach Rich Degnan and his teammates, who all proved to be a constant source of motivation. With the spring track and field season halted, Bianco and his dad built a gym in his backyard to stay active, and he also did distance running and sprints.

The last athlete to win the Special Achievement Award was Jay Fiedler in 1990, who would go on to become an NFL quarterback. Nick’s goal for the spring, before the season was canceled, was to break Fiedler’s outdoor pentathlon record.

“To watch Nick compete is amazing,” Coach Degnan said. “He is the first to be at practice and the last to leave. His sportsmanship is legendary amongst the officials and his competitors. His ability to accept and then excel in every challenge I have presented him both with training and competing is a trait which separates him from his peers.”