Six Friends Academy track-and-field athletes are headed to the New York State championships this week at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Facility on Staten Island.
Entering the meet, the girls’ 4x400m relay team is ranked No. 1 among small schools and No. 4 among all schools in New York.
The team is composed of freshman Ariana Madeira, sophomore Lana Alvarez, senior Cynthia Eustache, and junior Maia Madeira (with freshman London Johnson as an alternate). They will run in the early evening on Friday, March 6.
FRIDAY TICKETS: Watch the girls' 4x400m relay team compete on March 6
They earned a trip to states by placing first at the Section VIII State Qualifier meet on Feb. 12 with a time of 4:12.92. In early February, the team ran a season-best 3:57.37 — and set a school record — at the prestigious Millrose Games, where they finished as the best team from Long Island.
“These girls are really talented — and it’s pretty unique to have a relay team with a student from each grade in it," says Friends Academy track-and-field coach Franklin Thompson. “They always work hard and they’re very tight-knit. They all have similar speed and strength, so their training is really high quality.”
While their time might have slipped in recent weeks from their season-best showing in early February, that was largely due to the weather disrupting school and practice schedules.
“The snow has been hard to deal with, and it hasn’t let us train as we would want to, but to their credit, the girls are primed for a big race at states,” says Dave Frazer, an assistant track coach at Friends Academy. “The girls have been working and racing so hard, and I love that their motivation is each other. They trust each other, hold each other accountable, and want to run fast for the success of each other. We talk about not trying to do something new on race day — just do your job, and aim to race as you always do, with pride and passion, and all will come out as it should.”
SATURDAY TICKETS: Watch FA athletes compete in individual events on March 7
On Saturday, March 7, senior Cooper Mott will compete in the boys’ high jump. He secured his spot in the state meet by clearing 6’4”— a school record — at the Section VIII State Qualifier in mid-February.
Ariana Madeira will also compete in an individual event on Saturday. Entering the meet, she is ranked No. 8 in the 600m. She advanced to states by winning the event in 1:34.35 at the Section VIII qualifier.
Follow the championship meet in near-realtime with updates from MileSplitNY.
Matt Gagne
