Degregori sets pace for East Meadow

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East Meadow cross-country runner Daniel Degregori and his coach Michael Ringhauser had a strategy session this summer. Degregori said his goal was to finish top-five at the end-of-season county championships, and Ringhauser’s suggestion was to work on negative splits – training himself to keep energy reserves and finish with a big kick.

The All-County senior agreed – and took the concept to another level.

Degregori – who finished third at the Nassau County Class I Championships Oct. 29 in a then career-best 16:30.8 – ran the second-fastest time in East Meadow history at the Nassau County State Qualifier last Saturday at Bethpage State Park, posting a new personal-best 16:24.8 to place third and qualify for the New York State Championships at Verona Nov. 12.

“We spoke about hanging in the pack, not making any moves early on, and then going for it in the last mile,” said Ringhauser, whose team finished fifth at county, and third in Class 1 in the regular season at 10-3. “The big thing for Daniel is we increased his mileage in practice, and made a point of dropping his time over the second half of a run. He improved tremendously, and that he runs a minute faster this year to get third just speaks a lot to his work ethic and the time and dedication he put in.”

Senior Danny Lindow earned All-County honors for East Meadow finishing 20th at the Nassau meet in 17:41.77, a career best. Another Jets runner to reach a preseason goal, Lindow will join Degregori in seeing his picture added to East Meadow’s All-County wall of fame, opposite the school gymnasium. “Danny took a minute and 50 seconds off of his best time in a year,” said Ringhauser. “This summer, he really took his training to the next level. Everything was geared up to get him to try to finish top 25 and get his picture up on the wall of fame. And it was great to see him accomplish that.”

A champion in the 600 meters for East Meadow’s track and field team, senior Sameer Grewal – who finished 40th at Nassau in 18:34.7 – made contributions on and off the course, holding Jets co-captain honors alongside Lindow. “Sameer knew that we needed the depth and cross country, so he's taken a lot of the underclassmen under his wing,” Ringhauser said. “Even though the 5000 is a little bit out of his racing comfort zone, being more of a middle-distance runner, he's still someone who gave us 100 percent of what he had every race. And more than that, he encouraged all of his teammates throughout the season to really put in a good amount of work and focus on the team aspect.”

Junior Andrew Ignatiou, sophomores Kyle Bir and Anthony Palmeri, and freshman Brendan Rodriguez were among the top 50 finishers at Nassau for East Meadow in a field of 144. Each took All-Conference honors.

“The season that we had, I think it says a lot about the future of the program,” Ringhauser said. “We have a lot of underclassmen who look ready to step into some big-time roles. And I think they they did really well.”