By Andrew Coen
, All Conference and All-Division honors past few years and qualifieing for the New York State Championships twice during two consecutive winter seasons in the 300-meter dash. The accomplishments don't end on the track as Kornbalu's solid grades earned her an early acceptance to the Ivy League's University of Pennsylvania and her seven senior teamates are joining her in attending elite colleges this fall attributing the sucess to the discipline the sport of track and field entails.
"There are a lot of coorelations between track and field and dedication in the classroom," said Hewlett track and field head coach Stephen Hoenerkamp. "There is something about track and field, the discipline and the inner desire to push yourself."
Joining Kornblau in attending elite colleges next year are senior teammates Rebecca Goldberg (Vandervilt), Chelsey Zuckerman (Syracuse), Miranda Blanco (Cornell), Jessica Stumacher (University of Miami) and Yiaming Chang (University of Illinois) and Samantha Kaufman (Duke). Samantha Epstein will also find herself at a top notch university next fall and at press time was deciding between Ivy League schools Dartmouth and Cornell.
In Hoenerkamp's nine years of coaching the Lady Bulldogs they have produced a number of scholar athletes and have amongst the highest grade point averages in the state. During the 2006/07 school year the Hewlett indoor and outdoor track and field team has had 25 students with a gpa of 90 or better.
Knownbalau, who was the long jump county champion and was All-County in both the 100-meter Dash and the 200-meter Dash, said the time management she has formed from balacing track and field and academics has helped her perform better both with running and in the classroom. She is considering whether to continue the balance athletics and academics at Penn where she has been offered a chance to compete on the Ivy League school's track and field team. "I believe that being a part of the team helps me balance my time well," said Kornblau who plans to major in communcations or economics at Penn. "Exercising, although sometimes tiring after hard workouts, usually puts me into a good mood, and definitely into the right mindset to complete my papers and study for exams."
Goldberg plans to play club soccer at Vanderbilt University and aspires to become a doctor someday. She said competing in track and field has played a tremendous role in her ality to get accepted to a school that is considered one of the elite private colleges in the country. "Values I've learned at practice, such as working hard every day to get better, have definitely reflected my grades in that dedication and effort will always lead to success," said Goldberg. "The drive to achieve higher on both a physical and mental level comes from how badly you want to improve."
"With track and field I feel like I can balance everything," said Zuckerman. "I had to push myself to do better and strive to succeed."
Kaufman said finding proper time to do school work and work hard with track and field was challenging her freshman year but over time learned how to excel in both. "My time management has definertly improved over the years," aid Kaufman. "You get used to it."
The eight seniors gave a lot of credit to their successes to Hoenerkamp saying he has been a great coach and mentor during their track and field careers. When asked if she would continue her track career in college Stumacher responded, "It wouldn't be track without Hoenerkamp" summing up how much the head coach has meant to her and the other seniors high school careers.
As the eight seniors's academic careers wind down at Hewlett they have paced ahead of their opponents on the track so far this spring bringing a positive end to their high school athletic careers. The senior class is 49-1 in quad meets so far and has high hopes to once again be amongst the top teams in the county this year. "They are a very impressive bunch," said Coach Hoenerkamp of his eight seniors. "I have a lot of respect for these girls."
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