Albertus Magnus Track & Field Shows Falcon Spirit

Albertus Magnus Track & Field competed in the league championships on Wednesday hosted by Pearl River High School.

 The Falcons knew they were in for a tough meet against the likes of Pearl River, Nyack, Nanuet, Tappan Zee, and Suffern.  They competed hard all around, yet came in last against the larger schools with their deeper rosters.

 For the boys, Pearl River won the day overall by a margin of 56.5 points.  They were followed by Nyack, Nanuet, Tappan Zee, Suffern, and Albertus Magnus.  On the girls side, Pearl River won as well, this time by a margin of 19.5.  They were followed by Tappan Zee, Nyack, Suffern, Nanuet, and Albertus Magnus again.

In a large match like this, the top six places are scored.  Though they were unable to place in many of the events, Albertus runners displayed that Falcon spirit by coming out and competing hard in each one.  This is a huge improvement for their program, which has been lopsided on solely the track events in years past.

Scoring on the boys side for the Falcons was their star runner Gianluca Pugliese. With blazing speed, he finished second in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:40.30 and third in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:04.60.  Caleb Thomas had himself an impressive day as well, with a sixth place finish in the triple jump of 36' 9.5".

Albertus held its own in the 4x100 meter relay to beat out Nanuet with a time of 49.50.  They ran a hard race in the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relay, to finish with respective times of 3:54 and 9:29.10.  Unfortunately, this solid effort was not enough to outdo the tough competition as they placed last in these final two races.

Highlights on the girls side included an energetic performance by Kaitlyn Cully, who turned on the jets to finish fourth in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:02.40.  Caitlyn Hoffman had a great performance as well, cruising across the finish line to place fourth in the 3000 meter run with a time of 11:06.50.

Albertus ran hard to finish sixth in the 4x100 and fifth in the 4x400 meter relays,with respective times of 1:03.90 and 4:41.90.  The lady Falcons ended the day by finishing fourth place in the 4x800 meter relay with a solid time of 10:34.40.

The Falcons put in a respectable effort in the highly competitive meet, despite finishing last.  The young team is made up of a majority of 9th and 10th graders who continue to work hard and improve.  The Falcons are on an upswing as they continue to improve their versatility and build interest for the program within the school.  According to Coach Embro, this is the key to their future success.  In summing up the season, Coach McCafferty was both optimistic and realistic "We continue to run well, but it's tough to compete against schools twice our size."

The Falcons have an exciting meet coming up on May 20 for the class C championships, where they will get to compete with schools their own size.