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Sports

Tappan Zee Track & Field Looking To Build Off Winter Success

The boys team won the section title

While it’s still early in the year, Tappan Zee High School track and field Head Coach Bob Favre sees his team improving daily.

“We have essentially the same team we had for the winter season,” he said. “The boys team won the section during the winter, and we’ve got pretty much the same team, so that’s nice. The girls are pretty young, but they’re all really committed. It’s nice to have athletes committed to the sport.”

Favre said two members of his team he thinks can have bring spring seasons are Luke Gavigan on the boys side and Erin Jaskot for the girls team.

Jaskot finished second in the indoor state championships last month in the 600 meters. Also during the winter indoor season, Jaskot won the 1,500 meter and 1,000 meter at the Class A Championships. She won the Rockland County Championships in the 600 and 300 meters as well.

In the winter, Gavigan took first place in the Rockland County Championships at both the 1,000 meter and 1,600 meter. He also placed first in both events in the Class A Championships as well.

“Those two just really set a nice tone for the whole team,” Favre said. “Erin just came off finishing second at the states and Luke’s ranked in the state as well. We’re counting on them, especially later in the season during the May meets. Right now, we have to tell them to just prepare for the later meets. They’re young and are ready to go all the time.”

Favre said he has a large team this spring with 137 kids, including 22 throwers, 18 of whom are underclassmen.

“It’s good,” he said. “We’re growing every year.”

Favre said a few up and coming runners on the team are Deidre Rizzo, who placed second in the indoor Class A Championships in the 600 meter, and Caitlin Hartnett, who placed fourth in the 300 meter at the Class A Championships in the winter.

Tappan Zee’s boys won their first dual meet of the year against Nanuet while the girls lost.

At the Nanuet Relays last weekend, the best Tappan Zee finish came from the boys team, as the 4xMile team finished second. The team was made up of Gavigan, Steve Long, Pat Flanagan and Liam Burke. Peter LeWarn finished eighth in the triple jump and Joe Dalisera finished ninth. Gregory Kalfayan finished ninth in the shot put.

On the girls side, the best finish for Tappan Zee came from a second-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay. The 1,600 meter sprint relay team finished third. Madison Jackson finished ninth in the triple jump.

The boys finished ninth in the overall standings out of 23 teams and the girls finished 10th out of 24 teams.

Tappan Zee also had two participants in the Nanuet Relays’ alumni mile race. Conor Kohlbrenner, a recent graduate finished fourth of the four competitors, right behind Pat Driscoll, who finished third. Driscoll is the team’s current distance coach.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “I’m not used to running just a mile. I usually run a bit more than that, but it was fun. I had all the kids on the team cheering me on. They were all yelling the things I yell at them while they run.”

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