East Meadow turns on the Jets

Though East Meadow just missed catching Calhoun for the Conference II boys’ Indoor Track and Field title, the Jets, who fell by two points (86-84) in a battle that came down to the final event, will still be well-represented at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championship Meet next month. The second-place finish was the second in a row for the team in the conference championship.

Led by senior Chris Garzia, who will compete in both the 55-meter hurdles and the long jump at Cornell University on Mar. 3, at the state meet, East Meadow also sends senior Sean Grady in the 1600-meter run.

Garzia is among the best in Nassau County in a number of events and has plenty of numbers to prove it. On top of winning a county championship in the 55-meter hurdles at St. Anthony’s on Feb. 8, he also won the triple jump with a launch of 44-feet, 2.5 inches and took fourth in the long jump (20’ 9.25”). The following week, Garzia set a school-record at the state qualifiers in the hurdles (7.70), took third in the long jump and also advanced to the finals of the triple jump but did not finish that event.

“We pulled him in the triple jump finals because we didn’t want to hurt [his performance] in the hurdles,” Jets coach Jim McGlynn said of Garzia, who will be competing in the hurdles at the New Balance Indoor National Championships at the Armory on Mar. 9-11.

Grady won the mile at the state qualifier meet Feb. 15 and has also been a top performer in 1,000-meter run, posting a season’s best of 2:37.95 at the County Championships. That time was good enough for second place, a breath behind Syosset’s Simon Nwana (2:37.23). McGlynn credits the gameplan of assistant coach Mike Ringhouser and execution of it by Grady as the biggest factors in the victory.

Mike Grady caps his campaign in the freshman mile at the same national championship meet as Garzia. His best time as a freshman in the mile is 4:47.3, just under the 4:48 needed to qualify, and both he and McGlynn are hoping he can shave a little more than seven seconds off that number and break the 4:40 mark.

Junior Brad Kaufmann just missed the state qualifying time of 2:42 in the 1000m, posting a best of 2:47.5 earlier in the season. The overall team success during the indoor track and field season was also boosted by senior Brian Cruz, juniors Kyle Bettex, an All-Conference hurdler who took third in both the 55m hurdles (8.00s) and triple jump (39’4”) at the county championships, Cristian Flores and Dave Carey and sophomores David Lin and Rui Canha.