Cofield leads Glen Cove track

The Glen Cove Lady Big Red track team finishes its 2019 spring season as one of its most successful in the past decade.

The talented bunch sent six representatives to the Nassau County Class AA Championships held at Roosevelt High School on May 23. E’’Shone Cofield even took home two golds for finishing in first place for two events. South Shore’s Carly Woelfel was the only other competitor at the meet to accomplish such a feat, leaving the pair in a very exclusive group.

“We haven’t had this kind of success in almost a decade,” Glen Cove coach Christian Dottin said. “We had six girls make the county meets individually. That is the most we have had in a while.”

Those six girls included the senior Cofield, juniors Ayjah Clarke, Christie Annunziato, Caitriona Greene and Rosa Zavala, and freshman Ariyana Souter.

Clarke competed in the qualifying race for the 100-meter dash. She placed in the top six to qualify for the finals. “She wasn’t expected to make the finals, but she did,” Dottin said. Clarke finished sixth in the finals of the 100-meter dash, which was won by her teammate Cofield.

Annunziato and Greene both ran in the 100-meter hurdles. “Caitriona and Christie were both ranked outside of the top 10 for the 100-meter hurdles,” Dottin said. “However, they finished 8th and 10th, respectively.” Annunziato and Greene added to the Lady Big Red’s strong showing at the county meet.

Souter, the only Glen Cove freshman to individually qualify for the county meet, became the only freshman to run on the Lady Big Red’s 4x100-meter relay team. Junior Mary Thompson ran as a part of the relay team as well, along with Annunziato, Cofield and Clarke.

“Rosa Zavala had an outside shot to make the meet, and she ended up making it,” Dottin said. Zavala finished 11th in the 3000-meter run.

Glen Cove’s brightest star on the day was Cofield, though. Cofield’s name has been synonymous with gold all year long, in where she has dominated the 100-meter event through many of Glen Cove’s track meets. In familiar fashion, Cofield took home 100-meter gold once again at the county meet. She also finished in first place in the 200-meter dash as well. An interesting nugget of information, though, is that Cofield barely ran the 200-meter dash throughout the year.

“We had her run more 400-meter dashes to get her strength up,” Dottin said. Despite her constant success in the 100-meter, Dottin believes the 200-meter dash is better suited for his star runner. “She is one of the taller girls, and has a long stride. She’s even better when she’s got more room to get going,” Dottin said.

Cofield’s next focus is the state meets occurring this Friday and Saturday. “She has a great opportunity for states,” Dottin said. “She thrives in the biggest meets.”

In Dottin’s four years as the head coach for the program, the Lady Big Red has improved year-to-year. He gives that credit to how the girls respond to his coaching and newfound involvement with the middle-school program.

“We run as far as our legs will take us,” Dottin said. “I came in four years ago and wanted to build a winning culture. We’ve had success so far. Now, I am even more excited for the next four years.”