Uniondale's boys and girls track teams thrive during return of Knight Time Invitational
Kendra Gordon of Uniondale runs a leg in the 4 X 100-meter relay during the 17th annual Knight Time Invitational on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Uniondale High School. Credit: Derrick Dingle
To the Uniondale track and field program, life is starting to look more recognizable.
Uniondale used to host one of the region’s premier annual spring events — the Knight Time Invitational. The early-April meet often featured some of the first major races of the season for elite athletes from Long Island, New York City, New Jersey and Westchester. However, the meet was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and had not been run since.
Uniondale boys track coach Dennis Kornfield and girls track coach Leigh Pollet began to think their once popular invite had been lost to time. That is no longer the case. Almost seven years to the day, the Knight Time Invitational returned to Uniondale on Saturday.
“It’s like we never left,” Kornfield said. “Just to get this thing set up, like shopping for the food to serve and so forth, I was thinking, we didn’t do this for seven years. It felt just like yesterday. I’m amazed.”
Thirty-four teams registered athletes to compete, and Uniondale’s athletes shined. They won eight varsity events — six on the boys’ side and two on the girls’ side.
Sophomore Cerone Samuel won the boys 400-meter hurdles in 59 seconds flat. Senior James Sylvain cleared 5 feet, 4 inches to win the boys high jump, while junior Keishara Tulloch won the girls high jump at 4-6. Senior Molenson Jnmary flew 46-7 to win the boys triple jump.
The Knights’ boys 800-meter sprint medley relay team won in 1 minute, 42.41 seconds, while their girls won the same event in 1:51.23. Their boys also won the 4 x 800 (9:19.46) and the 4 x 400 (3:30.81).
The Uniondale boys scored 80 points and won the team competition, while the girls placed second with 75, two points behind New Rochelle.
“To see so many kids from Westchester, the city, New Jersey, coming out here, this is what Uniondale used to be all about,” Pollet said. “People knew Uniondale, so that, in and of itself, makes this really cool, just to see that we’re coming back up. Just the fact that there’s a huge amount of teams here is great.”
Junior Kendra Gordon also returned to competition at Uniondale Saturday. She last ran for the Knights as a seventh-grader in 2022 before moving to Springfield Gardens, Queens for three years. She transferred to Westbury for the winter season before returning to Uniondale in March.
In her first meet back, she led off for Uniondale’s sprint medley relay with a 23.9-second 200-meter leg. Later, she ran a personal-record 12.04 in the 100, placing second to Roosevelt senior Esmia Thomas (11.78).
“It was so much fun, I’m glad to be back,” Gordon said. “It feels like home again. It’s a fresh start, but I’ve picked up where I left off. This was like my coming home celebration.”
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.
