This past winter several Weber Middle School students competed in Long Island USA Track and Field Meets, including the Championship in January. Their motivator for these events was none other than Coach Bruce MacDonald, the longtime Cross Country coach at Weber Middle School. It is the love of the sport and the desire to pass his knowledge on, which drives Mr. MacDonald, also a former assistant coach on several Olympic Track and Field teams, to go above and beyond his coaching job to volunteer his time to work with interested students. The mild winter allowed the students to train outdoors on the school track. When the temperatures dipped, the Port Washington Tennis Academy graciously allowed the team to use the indoor track at its wonderful facility.

The training paid off for the Port students. At the Championships, Ryan Schwartz took first place in his division in the 3000-meter run and set a new Long Island USA Track and Field record. Also at the Championships, Marco Bertolotti took first place in the 800-meter youth boys division, as well as a second place finish in the 55-meter dash. At earlier preliminary meets, Julia Zakorski had a first-place finish in the 55 -meter hurdles and both Emily Browning and Subah Nanda had respectful finishes in both the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Thanks go out to Coach MacDonald and the Port Washington Tennis Academy for making this possible for the students.