East Meadow sends three to state meet

It has been a promising spring for the East Meadow boys’ track and field team.

The Jets finished the year with a 10-3 record, took second in the division and fifth in Nassau County Class AAA. In addition, three members of the squad qualified for the state championship meet at Caledonia-Mumford High School in Caledonia this Friday and Saturday.

Senior Tom Ford earned the distinction of Nassau County track and field athlete of the year by winning the pentathlon at the state qualifier meet June 2 at Westbury High School with a total of 3,011 points. Ford finished second in the event at the state qualifiers last year. At the state championships, he will compete in the grueling event’s five disciplines over a two-day period.

Joining Ford upstate will be junior Chris Garzia, who won the 110 high hurdles at the qualifier meet with a time of 14.59 seconds, one of the fastest on Long Island this year, according to Jets coach Jim McGlynn. The high hurdles is one of the strongest events for East Meadow. At the county championship two weeks ago, three Jets hurdlers finished in the top six. Garzia won it, Ford finished third and senior Tom Milan placed fifth.

One Jet who has come a long way during his time on the team is senior Mike Ring, the third member of the team to qualify for the state meet. Ring set a school record at the state qualifiers with a 6-3 high jump. 

“From when he started out, he was a 5-6 high jumper and he ended up at almost nine inches more,” McGlynn said of Ring. “So that was quite an accomplishment.”

After qualifying for and performing well in the mile during the winter indoor state championship, junior Sean Grady failed to qualify for the states this weekend due to a nagging injury. Despite his ailment, Grady ran a solid race at the state qualifier, finishing eighth with a time of 4:34.6.

The team has improved by leaps and bound under “Coach Mac,” as McGlynn is known. He started out as an assistant five years ago, and during his first season the Jets were 1-12. This year East Meadow could have gone undefeated: Its average margin of defeat in three losses was fewer than 10 points. 

McGlynn attributed the team’s success to hard work and dedication. He credited his athletes for being willing to train year-round, and he also praised his assistant coach, Mike Ringhauser. “He’s performed some miracles,” McGlynn said. “I can’t say enough about my assistant coach.”

According to McGlynn, the Jets have a bright future. He singled out freshman shot putter CJ Ewulu as an athlete to watch going forward, as well as eighth-grader Mike Grady, who was brought up to run for the freshman cross-country team and set a school record for freshman in the mile and two-mile.