Members of Deer Park High School’s girls track team competed at the prestigious New Balance Nationals Indoor track and field championships in Boston on March 7 and 8.

Thursday kicked off with Chelsea Cornelia running 5:05.03 in the freshman mile race and placing fourth overall while breaking the school’s girls indoor mile record. The All-American freshman followed up that record-breaking performance the next morning with a third-place finish in the freshman 800-meter race.

Eighth grader Sloane Larson competed in the middle school 1-mile race, running her best time and finishing in the top 50 with a speedy 5:45.

On Friday, Ama Asare, Cornelia, Alex Geosits and Dru Tulloch ran in the sprint medley relay championship. This race of 200-200-400-800 meters featured the top 60 teams in the nation. Asare and Tulloch led off the 200s before handing off to Geosits for the 400-meter portion, then to Cornelia for the 800-meter anchor (her third race in less than a day) where the girls ran an impressive 4:13.0 to place in the top 30.

“New Balance Nationals boasts the best competition in the nation and these girls did an amazing job,” coach James Petti said. “We knew coming in that Chelsea would be tired and in her third race in less than a day, but she still ran 2:16.8 on her anchor which brought her team all the way back. Alex ran her last indoor race as a Falcon and leaves behind an amazing legacy and resume. Ama is only a freshman and Dru is our veteran sprinter. The girls were excited coming into this race after their teammate Chelsea placed fourth and third in her mile and 800-meter events. They knew they had to pick her up for this race. As for Sloane, she’s only in eighth grade and has shown amazing growth and maturity as a runner.  I look forward to what the future holds for this team.”

Date Added: 3/20/2024