The Oceanside winter track and field teams used the same formula to maintain their success at the Nassau Class A County Championships.
Senior Matthew Laudicina broke the school record in winning the 1,000-meter final and was third in the 1,600-meter event as the boys collected 48 of their 59 points in the running finals to finish second for the second straight year, and junior Alexa Kosakowski won the 55-meter hurdle race and was third in the high jump as the girls finished four spots better than last year’s event to third with 60 points at St. Anthony’s High School in Melville Feb. 4.
Laudicina’s time of 2 minutes, 35.35 seconds in the 1,000 eclipsed the previous mark as he edged Riley Funk of Schreiber High School by .56 seconds.
“He got out into second or third place and he kept his patience for about 3-3½ laps and then he just made a move and stuck with it,” Sailors boys’ coach Mike Kelly said. “It was really a back and forth between him and Funk and he outkicked him the last 50 meters or so.”
Senior Tyler DeCiantis finished just ahead of Laudicina in the 1,600 and both boys were members of the 4x800 relay team that finished third along with seniors Tristan Cuevas and Cole Rinn. Senior Brandon Fustanio just missed winning the 300-meter dash by .63 seconds to go with his fifth place showing in the 55-meter dash.
“Going into the meet, I always know a little breakdown of how I think the meet is going to end up,” Kelly said. “We exceeded the expectations where I thought we would finish, so I’m pretty happy with the performance all the kids gave.”
Rinn finished third in the 600-meter finale with a personal record time of 1:25.51, which is also the second quickest in school history. Harris Brodsky had a runner-up finish in the pole vault and fellow senior Liam Murray contributed points in the shot put (fifth) and weight throw (sixth).
Kosakowski posted a time of 9.19 seconds in the hurdles and cleared five feet in the high jump to help the Sailor females record 40 points in the field events.
“We’re so proud of her reaching her potential and putting in all the hard work to get there, and also balancing between that the high jump also,” girls coach Mike Howley said. “She was determined and focused to do well.”
Senior Riley Moylan finished second in the triple jump for the second straight and was third in the triple jump. The Sailors had three girls finish in the top five in the shot put, with senior Brianna Cinamon (33-03.25) and junior Erin Murray (32-10.75) placing 2-3 ahead of fifth-place senior Makayla Alexander (32.06.25).
Samantha Friedman placed third in the 55-meter dash and her time of 7.59 seconds was just .04 shy of second. Fellow senior Juliana Targowski was fifth in the long and triple jumps, and she teamed up with Friedman, Moylan, and sophomore Kaitlin Healy to finish fourth in the 4X200 relay.
Competitors who finish in the top three in their respective events earn All-County status.
