For many years now, it has been a tradition of the Great Neck North track teams to attend the prestigious high school invitational meet at Yale University each January during the Winter Track season. Between five and 10 of the best athletes on each the boys and girls team are chosen to attend and run either relays Friday night, or individual events the following morning.

This year the boys most qualified to attend were Captains Matthew Brumberg, Dustin Emrani and Ron Yoon; juniors Chris Chan, Evan Donin, Simon Frid, Giancarlo Giunta and Eric Gong; and sophomores Robert Forkosh and Jon Safran. The boys ran a 4 x 200 m with Safran as the lead off man, followed by Gong, Chan, and anchored by Yoon. They ran a total time of 1:45, with Yoon running the fastest leg at 24 seconds. Next up were the boys 4 x 800 m relay starting with Giunta. He was followed by Brumberg who ran the fastest leg at 2:14, with Frid, and Forkosh, to run a total time of 9:25. The boys did a fantastic job running their hardest against the steepest competition.

For the girls, getting to Yale was not an easy task. Although Captains Raki Lavon, Marisa Roberts, Jenna Monester and Marisa Taney, and juniors Michele Gerstman and Cathy He were able to go in the end, it was only after long nights in the office of the head of the girls athletic department. There was a conflict with a league meet that was scheduled for the same Saturday that the Yale meet took place. The coach of the girls team had already signed up to attend that meet, which took place at North Shore High School, and since this meet would allow a greater majority of the team to run, he decided to take the rest of the team to the league meet and try to work something out with supervision at Yale. With lots of hard work and dedication, an agreement was reached which included providing the team with a substitute coach, and one of the team member's parents as overnight chaperones. Thanks to their dedication and will for the team to succeed, the girls had a great trip which began with the 4 x 400 m relay. Monester ran the first leg followed by Roberts, who had the fastest leg at 69.9 seconds. Then came Taney and anchor Gerstman to give a total time of 4:50, their season's best.

Saturday was full of surprises and successes as well. Girls' Captain Lavon, who had just come down with the flu, was to run the trials of the 55 m high hurdles at 11:30 in the morning. Her goal of the season was to break the school record at which she was currently tied, and although it was a long shot, she ran anyway. In the trials her time was clocked in at 9.51 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the school record. She had done it and advanced to the semifinals! In the semifinal race, she ran a time of 9.8 seconds.

Also to run that day was Boys' Captain Yoon in the 55 m dash. Placed in lucky heat number 13, Yoon crushed his opponents finishing first in the heat in a time of 6.6 seconds. He also made it to the semifinals but scratched his placement and did not run. The final race of the day was the 800 m run by Captain Emrani. Running a swift time of 1:59, he also broke the boys indoor school record, and achieved second place, and the silver medal at Yale.

It was two days of fun, success, and victory at Yale, a true bonding experience, and worth surpassing the obstacles to get there.