Glen Cove track seeks growth

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Led by a strong young core, the Glen Cove Big Red track team made strides towards becoming a more well-rounded program during the winter indoor season. The Big Red had two representatives invited to the State Qualifying meet after very successful seasons: junior Jalhiek Dyer and senior E’shone Cofield.
Both Dyer and Cofield were All-County runners in the spring of 2018 and have become leaders for their teams moving forward.
“By far the two standout athletes are Cofield and Dyer,” coach Matt Carbone said. “We knew coming in that they would do really well since they were our returning All-County runners from last spring.”
Cofield finished 2nd in the 300m and 3rd in the 55m, while Dyer was narrowly edged out by Malverne’s Rashad Teachey in the 300m at the Nassau Class B Championships. Both athletes competed at the state qualifying meet due to their performance at the Class B Championships. Cofield finished fourth in Class B and Dyer finished seventh.
Cofield’s 2018-19 personal best for the 55m was 7.46 seconds, while her personal best for the 300m was 42.01 seconds. Dyer’s personal best for the 300m was 36.82 seconds, while his best time in the 100m was 11.84 seconds.

Juniors Mary Thompson and Ayjah Clarke, as well as sophomore Madeline Starke and freshman Aryana Souter are highly touted prospects that Glen Cove is looking to help grow in their development in the coming years. “These athletes are the ones we look forward to building our program around in the future,” Carbone said.
Clarke’s best time for the 55m (8.07 seconds) slightly edges out Souter’s (8.10 seconds) for the fastest in that bunch. Souter’s 300 time (46.03 seconds) is the best time in her promising group by a few meaningful ticks.
“We ask all of our athletes to beat their personal best each and every time they race,” Carbone said. “That’s what we aim for.”
Although this young group proves promising for the future, Carbone acknowledges that there must be some trying times now getting the young runners to catch up with opposing upperclassmen.
“This year for the coaches was tough because we had many underclassmen on the roster,” Carbone said. “Getting them to buy into the track program here and give 100 percent of themselves every time is challenging for us.”
Conversely, Carbone and his assistant coaches believe the large number of underclassmen will play not only in to their success in the future, but their camaraderie.
“This group is so well rounded and just has so much personality that it made every single day with them fun,” Carbone said. “I am going to miss this group being together, although thankfully there are not many seniors.”
Cofield, the uber-athletic senior, will have one more go-around in outdoor Spring track before she hangs the spikes up.
Carbone lauds the the group of athletes not just for their athletic prowess, but their quality as individuals. “As a coach, you not only try to mold your kids into good athletes, but good people,” Carbone said. “This whole group, well, they’re just that. Good people.”