Valley Stream athlete on the right track

A big smile showing off her pearly whites, that’s how Joanne Imbert, a Valley Stream Central High School senior, looked while signing a letter of intent on March 23 to run track and field at the University of Kentucky in the fall.

“I am really excited,” Imbert said. “It was a recent decision to go to Kentucky, but it was really the people there that made me want to go.”

Imbert, a 17-year-old track and field champion athlete, has made many incredible leaps and bounds throughout her high school career. This winter track season, she has scored well in the high jump category — a 5-foot, 9-inch showing at the Friendship Games at Farmingdale High School back in January. And she just won the state high jump title at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, as well as the New York State Federation’s winter track and field championships at Cornell University earlier this month with a 5-foot, 8-inch jump.

“She is a phenomenal athlete,” said Mike Caputo, the school’s athletic director. “She is greatness with ease…She has never had a jump coach and training, but she is going out and doing amazing things.”

Her parents, Brunette and Jean, and grandmother, Immacula Jean-Jacques, were on hand for the signing. “We are very proud of her,” said her dad, Jean. “She is very organized and responsible, going to school and doing a lot of activities.”

Dr. Joseph Pompilio, Central’s principal, said Imbert doing the high jump is an art form. He added that she will really excel once she gets to Kentucky. As a student at Central, Imbert “works very hard” and is “remarkable” in her participation, Pompilio said.

And to demonstrate her commitment to Central High, Pompilio noted that Imbert was disappointed about not being able to read the school’s morning announcements — a regular activity for her — to sign the letter.