Salute To Seniors is a medium for "senior farewells". We invited this year's seniors to tell their stories from the past four years. We hope we can offer a chance to reflect on all the great moments these seniors were able to experience.
The series will run through July, please note that there is usually a large queue of submissions so there may be a wait until final posting.
What was your most memorable race/throw/jump/vault/moment? Why is that?
- Allison: Cross Country, The Colt Invite in 2020. I've always wanted to break 20 minutes at Holmdel Park as that is a special time to break. I didn't have a great junior year season, so coming back senior year during the Covid pandemic and having the opportunity to race there at least one more time and actually break 20 minutes meant a lot to me.
- Lindsay: The 800 meter race at the 2020 Group 2 South Indoor Sectional championships where I broke 2:20 indoors for the first time. I was chasing a sub 2:20 for a long time and I was so happy when I finally did it.
Who would you consider your biggest competition over your four years and why?
- Allison: Emma McGill from Voorhees. We met as freshmen at the Group 2 Indoor Championships in 2018 and had the same seed time for the 1600 meter race. She's such a great runner and a very nice person and always pushed me to run fast.
- Lindsay: Amanda Mircovich from River Dell. We've raced each other since freshman year and she was always competitive and tough to beat. It was always great to talk to her before and after the race and that made it fun.
What was your personal greatest accomplishment?
- Allison: Breaking 5 minutes in the 1600 meter race for the first time. I trained hard to accomplish that goal and I finally did it my senior year at our county championship meet.
- Lindsay: Placing 2nd in the 800 meters at the 2020 Indoor Meet of Champions. That was my highest finish ever at MOCs and where I set my current indoor personal record.
What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?
- Allison: I had some injuries early on during my junior cross country season. I worked hard to get better so that I could help my team do well in the post season.
- Lindsay: I had some shin splint issues and other tightness problems a few times during my high school career. I did try my best to fight through them as best as I could since my team was depending on me for points in post season meets.
What will you miss the most?
- Allison: I'll miss all of the practices and meets with my teammates. Some of the things our team did together were so much fun and I will miss that.
- Lindsay: My team. We had a lot of great accomplishments as a team in both cross country and track and field and I will definitely miss those moments.
What advice would you give to younger upcoming athletes?
- Allison: Don't give up and have fun because your 4 years goes by fast.
- Lindsay: It sometimes takes time to get your fastest and best performances, so keep working hard at it and it will come.
What influence has your coach had with respect to your performance and overall life goals?
- Allison: Coach Russo always wants to see every girl on the team get better. He would tell me how confident he was in me that I would be able to hit a specific time for a particular race that I really wanted to do well in.
- Lindsay: Even though I was mainly a 400 and 800 meter runner, I also ran Cross Country. Coach Russo would always push me to do my best in cross country as well. That helped me be in the top 7 all 4 years in high school and I helped my team as best as I could when they needed it.
Name the top New Jersey XCTF moment(s) you have witnessed. Can be by level of greatness or just something that really stood out to you.
- Allison: The 2020 East Coast Cross Country Championships at Holmdel Park. Our team competed in that race. There were also some really fast girls that came from other states like Sydney Masciarelli and Kate Wiser from Connecticut which we don't normally see come to Holmdel. I think I was able to stay with them for the first 100 meters and then they took off and raced really well in rainy and muddy conditions.
- Lindsay: Victoria Vanriele from Governor Livingston winning her 4th indoor 800 meter MOC title in a row. She is such a great runner and I got to meet her and talk to her when we raced each other.
What are your post-high school or college plans?
Who would you like to say 'thank you' to?
- Allison: I want to thank my parents for supporting me and helping me get through the rough times. I also want to thank my personal trainer Nanci for helping me get stronger. Finally I want to thank my sister Lindsay for being there with me and supporting me.
- Lindsay: I want to thank my parents. They were always there for me during the good times and tough times. I want to thank my sister Allison for always being by my side. I also want to thank my personal trainer Nanci who would say to me "always focus on the positive and not the negative"
Salute To Seniors is a medium for "senior farewells". We invited this year's seniors to tell their stories from the past four years. We hope we can offer a chance to reflect on all the great moments these seniors were able to experience.
The series will run through July, please note that there is usually a large queue of submissions so there may be a wait until final posting.
