Last season, the girls winter track and field program accomplished an amazing feat: setting multiple school records and sending several team members to the national meet. The girls have several important members of last year’s team returning; they aim to build off that excellence.
“We already know what we had coming back on paper, so I know we’ll be pretty competitive,” head coach Joe Berardi said. “We have a good group.”
The winter creates certain challenges for any winter track team, Berardi added, but “working hard and showing up everyday is already half the battle.”
Last winter the girls had one of the strongest 4×800 relay teams the school has ever seen, finishing just three seconds off the school record. Of that group, three girls will be returning. Seniors Sonia Olson, Julia Schneider and Bella Hill are in pursuit of breaking the record. The sprint medley was able to cement themselves in the history books too, breaking the school record. Westfield is also returning three members, juniors Sean O’Brien, Gabby Demeter and Darcy Scheiner. Olson also broke a WHS record in the 600-meter.
Of the relays that qualified for the national meet last winter, there was one common theme amongst them: the security of lead runner Emily DiSarno. DiSarno is currently running for the Providence Friars in the Big East Conference. When trying to find a way to replace DiSarno, Schneider said, “We have a very strong team this year.” She added,“Ciara [Dursee] is joining us as well.”
Schneider also talked about the impression DiSarno left, “running with Emily [DiSarno] has taught us what we need to do to be better this year.” The girls will hope to use those lessons to continue last year’s campaign, and make some history.
