Tatnall Winter Track and Field January 27, 2022

This year only the top 16 performers in the state will move on to compete in the state meet in each event. With only a few weeks remaining to get in qualifying times and performances, the Hornets were up and running (and jumping and throwing) at The New Balance Games in Manhattan, NY, this past weekend. The two-day meet featured five different categories of competition. The Novice, Freshman, and Sophomore Divisions competed on Friday evening, and the Varsity and Invitational divisions wrapped up the competition all day Saturday. The Invitational section offered the highest level of competition.

Nicolas Pizarro ’22 had a stellar performance in the Invitational division of the 2 Mile Run placing 7th overall with an impressive time of 9:27.76.  Pizarro also ran as the anchor leg along with his teammates, Andre Latina ’22, Manvir Syan ’22, and Micah Earnest ’23, who all put out solid performances and finished 7th overall in the Invitational Distance Medley Relay with a time of 10:47.74.

Syan competed in the Varsity 300 meter dash, placing 8th overall in a time of 37.54. Benjamin Pizarro ’25 placed 3rd in the Freshman 1000 with a run of 2:53.44. Teddy Davey ’25 sprinted his way to a 6th place finish in the Freshman 200 meter dash coming in at a time of 25.40. Davey also snagged an 8th place finish in the Freshman 1000 at 3:00.07.

On the girls side, Carlita Kaliher ’24 had a strong run taking 3rd place in the Varsity 2 Mile Run in a time of 11:52.45. Eighth-grader Arianna Montgomery ’26 led the pack and captured the gold in the Freshman 200 Meter Dash with a blazing fast time of 26.79. Montgomery placed 2nd in the long jump with a leap of 16-10.75. He brought it home as the winning Freshman/Sophomore 4x200 meter relay anchor with Alexis Tarlue ’24, Kiara Davis ’26, and Ariana Hernandez ’25.

In the Freshman 200, Hernandez placed 3rd, crossing the line with a time of 27.69, followed closely by teammate Davis 27.83 in 4th and Camille Johnson ’25 finishing in 7th with a time of 28.22. In the Sophomore 200 meter dash, Tarlue placed 2nd with a time of 27.43, with classmate Hadley Hinmon ’24 placing 8th in a time of 29.47.

Yasmina Gall ’24 hop-skipped and jumped into 7th place in the Triple Jump's Varsity division and ran a time of 9.61 in the Varsity Division of the 55-meter hurdles, moving her into the top 8 in the state in both events. The Tatnall girls ran away with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd spots in the freshman division of the long jump. Kiara Davis placed 1st with a personal best of 17’4”. Davis is currently ranked 2nd in the state. Ariana Hernandez took the bronze with a jump of 16-4.75. In the Sophomore division of the girl’s long jump, Alexis Tarlue won with a hop of 16-9.25

Many other athletes hit personal best performances at the meet. The next stop for the Hornets is Staten Island, NY, to continue to improve on their performances this weekend at another two-day meet at the Ocean Breeze Complex.

Additionally, earlier this season, the Tatnall Track & Field Team boarded the bus to New York City’s Ocean Breeze Facility on a chilly January 8 morning. They would spend the day competing against schools from all over the East Coast in the 2022 Freedom Games. 

The girl’s team was well represented in every category of events, with a slew of season bests and state ranking performances. Ariana Hernandez had an impressive meet, winning the white division of high jump in a new personal best mark of 4-10.00 and placing third in the long jump. Her teammates Ariana Montgomery, Kiara Davis, and Lexi Tarlue joined her in the long jump ranks by placing 2nd, 5th, and 7th, respectively, ranking them all in the top 10 for Delaware this season. Camille Johnson ’25 set a new personal best in the triple jump on her way to a 5th place finish, with teammate Yasmina Gall just off her mark for 6th place. Sophomore distance duo Katrina Endres and Carlita Kaliher ran personal best times in the 1600m run. Their times of 5:31.15 and 5:32.04 rank them 2nd and 3rd in the state this season. 

The boy’s team was also well represented across the board. Nic Pizarro ’22 placed 6th in the 1600m in a time of 4:28.84, which ranks him first in the state this season. Josh Boothe ’24 won the white division shot put with a mark of 38-10.25, and teammate Justin Smith ’24 placed 4th. Both marks were personal bests. Manvir Syan, Micah Earnest, and Wyatt Leary ’23 all broke the 40-second barrier in the 300m, led by Manvir’s time of 38.64.

Following this event, on January 13, the Tatnall distance team traveled up the road to the Friends School to take advantage of the warmer weather and compete with some local talent. The boys 4x800 team composed of Andre Latina, Sebastian Pizarro, Micah Earnest, and Nicolas Pizarro recorded a state-leading time of 8:30.0. Nic, Andre, and Seb doubled back to the open 800 shortly after and swept the top three finishes. Ben Pizarro was the runner-up in the 1600m; his time of 4:57 makes him the fastest freshman at the event in Delaware this season. In the girls 1600m, Katrina Endres, Carlita Kaliher, and Delaney Campanelli ’22 all ran personal best times, ranking them in the top-10 in the state this season. Endres’ time of 5:26 was a 5-second improvement from her previous best time.