The Manhasset Girls Track Team finished the season with a record of 18-9. They were the conference dual-meet champions after battling with old rivals, Clarke, Roosevelt and Plainedge. The team also emerged victorious at the Division Championship Meet where they narrowly edged Plainedge by 14 points to repeat as division champs. Manhasset has been either division or conference champs for the past seven seasons.

Sophomores Tiffany Dean and Sabrina Hanan led the sprinters as they placed first and fifth, respectively, in the 100-meters. Shauna Byfield scored in the 200-meters (third), long jump (second), and high jump (second). In the middle distance races, Jane Gerner took third and Maggie Ward sixth in the 400-meters, while Liz Morrissey (fourth) and Brooke Gordon (fifth) covered the 800-meter race for Manhasset. The grueling 3,000-meters was handled by cross country runners Sophia Pappas (fourth) and Cara Cronin (fifth) against some very tough competition. Melissa Cheung, after taking a terrible fall in the 400-meter hurdles, came back to place fifth in the 100-meter hurdle event.

In the field events, Kristin Houdlett threw the discus for a third-place finish and Maggie Ward leaped to fifth place in the triple jump. Angela Martino was sixth in the long jump with Alana Chang (third) and Adria Defalco (fifth) in the high jump.

The scoring was rounded out by the second-place finish in both the 4x400- and 4x800-meter relays. The 4x400 relay consisted of Jane Gerner, Christine Delgaudio, Maggie Ward and Brooke Gordon. Katie McKenna, Jojo Hershey, Sophia Pappas and Liz Morrissey teamed to form the 4x800 relay.

At the Nassau County Championships on May 20 and 21, the same 4x800-meter relay placed fourth overall. Kristin Houdlett continued her winning ways with a fourth place effort in the discus. Meanwhile, Shauna Byfield was making her mark in the long jump (second) and the high jump (second). Freshman Adria Defalco was eighth in the county in high jump and expects to improve upon that next year.

Shauna Byfield continued onto the State Qualifier Meet where she won both the long jump (17'4") and the high jump (5'6"). She then traveled to Kingston, NY where she represented Nassau County at the State Championships. On Friday night Shauna jumped to a fifth place finish in the long jump. Saturday, she improved upon that performance by clearing 5'6" and winning first place in the state high jump contest. This is the first individual state champ for the Manhasset girls team.

This past weekend Shauna competed at the National Scholastic Outdoor Track Championships at the University of North Carolina in Raleigh. Jumping against 42 of the nation's best, she was able to grab 10th place with a jump of 5'5". Places fifth through 10th all cleared the same height, but the jumpers were placed according to number of misses. We will be looking forward to next season and improving on a fantastic year.

Coaches Marks, Dawson and Sproul would also like to wish our graduating seniors the best of luck at their respective colleges. May (thanks for the workout) Vlachos; Kristin (yes, you have to throw the shot today) Houdlett; Brooke Walley Gordon and Liz Gump Morrissey are off to bigger and better things. We will miss you!