Senior Excels In 5 Events, Wins Pentathlon Title

Photo/Darin Reed
Blue Devil senior Rebecca Caballero scooped up her second gold medal in a row at the girls’ track and field pentathlon championship.

By Jano Tantongco
jtantongco@longislandergroup.com

Blazing past her competition, Huntington High School senior Rebecca Caballero is holding onto the gold medal at the girls’ track and field pentathlon championship for the second year in a row.

“Overall, considering we only brought 13 people to the meet, we did very well, placing fourth with 47 points,” stated Shawn Anderson, Huntington’s head coach. “This season has had its up and downs due to sickness or injuries, but we managed to scrap for every point and fight hard.”

Caballero jumped to a new personal best of 17.19 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, as well as bringing home first in both long jump and in the 800-meter run. As for shot put, she threw her way to second place, as well as placing sixth in the high jump.

All this brought her to a total of 2,501, exactly the same as last year’s total.

Fellow Blue Devil, sophomore Erika Varady, came in first for the 1,500-meter race walk with a Huntington record of 7:08.92. Her teammate, sophomore Keily Rivas, was right beside her, finishing second with a time of 7:21.23.

In other Blue Devil achievements, Anna Gulizio finished fourth in the 400-meter dash in a new personal best time of 59.29 seconds.

Jolena Smith placed fifth in the discus event with a new personal best throw of 101-04 feet, also throwing 33.75 feet in shot put to place fifth.

Alexandra McKenzie flew 8-06 feet to place fourth pole vault, while Nicole Abbondandelo placed third in the steeplechase with a time of 7:36.01.

As for the 4x800-meter relay, Abbondandelo, Sophie Dellecave, Marina Ruzic and Hadley Clayton placed fifth in a season best of 10.06.01.