The Livingston High School track and field team ended its winter season at the National Scholastic Athletics Federation Indoor Nationals track meet. Only athletes that met the qualifying standards were able to compete in the events.The three-day meet was held at the Ocean Breeze Athletics Complex in Staten Island and featured athletes from states as far away as Texas and Georgia as well as the Northeast. Livingston High School met the standards in several relays at both the Championship Elite and Emerging Elite levels.The girls’ shuttle hurdle squad of Summer Yung, Maggie Siao, Kylie Prendergast, and Darcy Bialick started off for the Livingston athletes in a Championship Division. The race involves four runners completing a 55-meter race over hurdles, back and forth. Each athlete must wait until the one before her crosses the line before starting her “leg” of the race.“It’s a high-pressure event, timing is everything, and athletes must remain still in the start position or the team will be disqualified,” said head coach Nancy Petryna. Four of the nine teams in this event made an error, including Livingston.Also running on Championship Day was the mixed 4x400 meter squad of Luke Petryna, Jadyn Kestenbaum, Prendergast and Krish Malhotra. This was the first time a team from LHS ran in the mixed gender race, and they were set to compete against ten other teams from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and Michigan.Petryna took the race out hard coming across the first exchange in second place in their heat. The race went back and forth as the genders mixed.“Both Kestenbaum and Prendergast put in amazing runs before handing off to Malhotra,” said Petryna. “The powerful senior made up some ground, as is his trademark as the anchor,” and placed the squad in an impressive third place overall in the event, earning a bronze baton and championship medals while establishing a school record.Livingston returned to the venue two days later for the Emerging Elite Division, qualifying in three relays: the boys’ and girl’s 4x200 meter relays, and the girls’ 4x400 relay.The girls’ 4x200 meter relay of Kestenbaum, Monica Sharma, Siao, and Yung were first on the track for Livingston. They ran well and finished in the middle of the Emerging Elite Division that featured 40 teams.Next, the boys’ 4x200 meter squad of Petryna, Brandon Dong, Ethan Wang, and Malhotra were focused on clean handoffs to improve their time. Petryna led the team out ...
