Friends Academy's Aislinn Frazer more than good enough, earns two victories at Nassau Class AA championships
Aislinn Frazer of Friends Academy, right, races to victory in the girls 3,000-meter run during the Nassau Class AA track and field championships at Hewlett on Monday. Credit: James Escher
Friends Academy senior Aislinn Frazer was nowhere near her best at the Nassau Class AA track and field championships Monday at Hewlett, but that was all by design.
Frazer became the first multi-event winner of the day on the girls side, as she began by taking the county title in the 1,500 meters before winning the 3,000.
With the two victories, Frazer ended her high school career with 21 county championships.
She conserved her energy during her two individual races to give her legs some extra juice for Friends’ 4 x 400 relay later in the meet. Her 4 minute, 58.69 second mark in the 1,500 is nearly 23 seconds shy of her personal record. Her 10:58.28 in the 3,000 was more than a minute slower than her personal-best 9:56.79.
“Being lucky enough to finish and feel good, while knowing that I still have races to run, it’s just a really cool feeling knowing what I have in the tank,” Frazer said. “I’m very fortunate that I get to choose how I run certain races and not have to use everything I have in the tank.”
Frazer’s gold medal count is officially more than she can count with her fingers and toes. Still, the West Virginia commit said the feeling of becoming a county champion never gets old.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Frazer said. “The biggest part of it is just satisfaction and seeing all the hard work come together into a championship title, no matter how many times it happens.”
Immediately after Frazer’s win in the 3,000, Roosevelt junior Esmia Thomas sprinted 25.92 in the 200 to become the only other double individual champion on the girls’ side. Earlier, Thomas won the 100 in 12.39 seconds. After doubling up in solo events, she helped Roosevelt’s 4 x 100 relay team win in 50.98, following freshman Amirh Glasgow and junior Tajha Coggins before passing the baton to senior Mariah Ward.
Frazer’s conservation efforts almost paid off in the 4 x 400, but Garden City’s team of sophomore Taylor Maguire, freshman Delaney McNaboe, senior Riley McNaboe and junior Kyra Lekanides beat Friends Academy by nine hundredths with a 4:06.87. Lekanides was a double champion, also winning the 400 in 58.26.
Lekanides was able to win her individual title by 23 hundredths, over Elmont senior Makayla Noel, by falling across the finish line. She scraped her right shoulder and needed some medical attention afterward, but the pain was worth it.
“I didn’t realize [Noel] was that close to me,” Lekanides said. “The last 50 meters, I was like, ‘I cannot let her beat me.’ At the end, I tried to lean forward, and I wound up taking a dive across the finish line.
“I was very relieved and very glad that the fall paid off. I was going to be so mad if I got scraped for no reason.”
The host team — Hewlett — scored 73 points to win the team championship, with sophomores Janee Llanos and Valeria Paez alongside junior Maree Drayling each winning one event apiece. Llanos flew 36 feet flat to win the triple jump, Paez ran 2:24.24 to capture the 800 and Drayling cleared 9-2 in the pole vault.
The win meant a lot to Paez, who finished second to Manhasset sophomore Anna Paloubis in the 2,000 steeplechase to start the meet.
“I was kind of sad before the 800, because I thought I couldn’t do it, that I wasn’t going to win,” Paez said. “I just ran in a really hard race. But then I got there, got my mind cold and went for it. On the last curve, I saw the others getting farther away, and I got so scared.
“Being scared is the best emotion you could have because that’s the emotion that drives you the most to succeed. Now, I feel great. Tired, but great.”
Rounding out the relay champions was Manhasset’s 4 x 800 squad, led by senior Emma Motroni, junior Gianna Sforza, freshman Katherine Garvin and Paloubis. Paloubis, who ran 7:24.88 in her victorious steeplechase run, helped Manhasset’s relay post a 10:12.85.
South Side swept the hurdles, with senior Victoria Daniel winning the 100-meter version in 15.22 and classmate Amelie McLaughlin taking the 400s in 1:11.93.
In the field, Manhasset junior Kate Voelker cleared 5 feet, 6 inches to win the high jump. Sewanhaka junior Zoe Amadike flew 16-3 1⁄2 to claim the long jump title. Roslyn senior Diana Santos threw the shot put 34-7 1⁄2 and Calhoun senior Dana Wauchope threw the discus 112-9.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
