WOODBURY — Track: two different seasons, different weather, different achievements. In the case of the Nonnewaug girls 4×400-meter relay team, potentially much bigger achievements looking forward into the spring season.
Nonnewaug track and field this indoor season achieved a number of successes. For the girls, that included several athletes placing among the top 10 in Class M for individual events, and placing second overall in the 4×400 relay race, which qualified them for the State Opens. At the State Open, the Chiefs raced the top teams from each class, and the 4×400 squad placed eighth overall with a time of four minutes, 12 seconds.
Not everyone gets to experience the state meets with the small number of people who qualify, but Sophia Garguilo was able to go run the 600 and the 300, along with Gianna Lodice, Ellie McDonald, Maia Colavito and Veronika Nicholas in their respective events.
“I was excited that I was able to place in states,” said Garguilo. “I was seeded eighth in the 600 meters, so I knew that in order to place, I had to run a lot faster, and I was able to win my heat by a lot, which gave me sixth place.”
Even though this was an exciting race and a good accomplishment for Garguilo, there are always downs when running in track.
“I wasn’t super happy about the 300 meters,” said Garguilo, “and I feel like I could have gone a lot faster, but I was tired from my 600 meters.”
One of the best things about any sport is doing it with your good friends, according to McDonald, and a highlight was being able to experience states and the State Open with her teammates.
“I felt so proud of all the hard work from my teammates,” said McDonald, a junior. “I was so grateful that not only did I make State Open, but so did some of my closest friends.”
Since this is only Garguilo’s second season, and McDonald’s third, they both look forward to their future in track.
Lodice, who also made it to states and the State Open, ran for her last season of NHS indoor track, which gave her the motivation to accomplish things that this Nonnewaug track team hasn’t before.
“In the past three seasons of indoor track, there were not nearly as many people as we had this year,” said Lodice. “With a lot more people on the team, I was even more motivated than I would have been already to accomplish something that we hadn’t done before this season. We were able to place really well at states, which I had previously never been able to do during the indoor season, and that led to a solid performance at Opens as well. Having the team around me motivated my work ethic at practice. The season proved to be the best indoor season I’ve had in all of high school.”
Looking at this indoor track team, and how much they earned with their hard work this winter, the Chiefs have high hopes for what these teams will accomplish during the 2024 outdoor season. These girls are already looking into the future and how they will compete at the Berkshire League championships states.
“I think the ’24 outdoor season will be great, just because our team is so hungry to get back out there and do our very best,” said McDonald. “The team will achieve the best across the board with new people joining and the other team members absolutely dominating in all their events.”
