Saturday, March 22, 2025
Valley Stream North’s boys' track and field won the Nassau County Class C Championship in convincing fashion Feb. 3, finishing as the only school to score points in every event. It is the Spartans' 11th indoor boys' county title since 2011.
Competing in Class B for the past few years, North returned to Class C in 2024 due to a small dip in enrollment. 30 boys on the Spartans qualified for county competition and scored 150.5 points at the meet held at St. Anthony’s High School. No other school brought more than 20 boys and only two scored more than 40 points.
"We were runners-up the last two years (in Class B), so we were happy to get the win this year," coach Mike Frazer said. "We definitely came back with a bang."
The Spartans set the tone early in the shot put, when senior Antonio Casoria and junior A.J. Strojan turned a 12-person event into an exhibition. Late in the contest, Strojan seemed poised to flip the script on his older teammate, only for Casoria to immediately retake the lead when his final throw traveled an astounding 42-05. Their friendly competition netted North 18 points.
"As the coach, it's the dream for guys to be competing against each other. It raises the bar," Frazer said. "Any time you have an event where you have multiple kids at the top of their game, it really pushes them."
North earned similar sweeps in several field events. In the long jump, Aaron Sibblies and Imran Paul took the top two spots, with Sibblies taking first by nearly two feet. It was one of three events in which Paul earned points.
In the triple jump, Samuel Onuoha and Jayden Gonzalez both missed out on first place by inches, settling for second and third. Gonzalez made up for it by winning the high jump, clearing at 5-10.
In the pole vault, heavily favored junior Michael Muoio set a commanding clearance of 12-06 to take first and set a new North record. He was one of three Spartans to set school records at the meet, along with Matteo Somma and Derrick Thrasybule. Despite finishing second in his event, Somma completed the 3200-meter run in a new-best 9:38.90. Thrasybule led all 55-meter dash runners in the preliminaries with a time of 6.60 seconds before finishing third in the final.
VSN girls fifth in county
North also performed well in the girls' county championship, finishing fifth in Class C out of 15 teams. Senior Jazmyn Dorsey led the way for the Spartans, winning the long jump on her first attempt and overcoming two early fouls to win the triple jump.
"There were pretty good fields in both the long jump and triple jump," Frazer said. "Jazmyn wasn't ranked No. 1 in either going in, but she won both. She loves the pressure. The bigger the meet, the better she performs."
Offering a glimpse of the Spartans' future, sophomore Paige Fessler finished second in the high jump and 55-meter hurdles, losing the latter event to Seaford's Jessica Reiter by .02 seconds.
