East Meadow's Villafuerte makes history

There are now two county champion-runners in the Villafuerte family.

Senior Leslie Villafuerte-Castro became the first female East Meadow runner to win the Nassau County cross-country championship in 16 years and did so with the fifth-fastest time in school history at a muddy Bethpage State Park on Oct. 30.

Villafuerte-Castro took the 5K event with a personal-best time of 19 minutes, 34.07 seconds -- about 14 seconds faster than Syosset’s Samantha Mayer -- to claim the Jets’ first individual title in that race since Emily Weber in 2005. She finished third in the Class 1 Championship race last April and this fall emerged as the top-ranked 5K competitor in the county and conference.

“That race was where her confidence really showed through,” coach Michael Ringhauser said. “We knew going in that she was the best runner in the county, so [the strategy was to] just go out and from the start take the lead and just never look back.”

The win was especially sweet for Villafuerte-Castro after her brother, Bryan, won the same race three years earlier. She even mimicked his victory celebration by spreading her arms out like a jet plane

“Her brother has had this picture on his wall for the last three years and has bragged about it,” Ringhauser said. “So, when she was coming through the line, she kind of did the same thing. She wanted to follow in her brother’s footsteps.”

Last Saturday, Villafuerte-Castro continued her memorable season by placing third in the New York State qualifier at Bethpage, punching her ticket to the public school state championships at Chenango Valley State Park this weekend.

The girls’ team finished third overall in Nassau County. Dakota Eira was sidelined at the beginning of the season but came back to rank first in the conference and third in the county in the 1.5-mile event to earn All-County honors, as did fellow junior Kaitlyn Podmore.

Senior Silvia Ronemus, junior Rebecca Silverman and freshman Anaya Hall were named All-Conference.

Despite losing five of their top seven senior runners from the spring, the boys’ team also placed third at 11-2, with All-County seniors Nick Chimienti and Samir Khan leading the way. Chimienti finished among the top 10 in all of his 5K races this season, including a ninth place showing at the county event, while Khan had five top-five finishes in most of his 5K starts.

“The boys had a fantastic season,” Ringhauser said. “Coming into the season, my expectations were so high. It was a very young team and the seniors that we had really stepped up.”

Four East Meadow runners earned All-Conference status, including senior Leo Masaoka-Guevara, juniors Daniel DeGregori and Sameer Grewal and freshman Samuel Noyla.