A year in review: Martin County HS track and field following FHSAA run
STUART, Fla. —
March 2020
Last year, all the athletic programs at Martin County High School (MCHS) were shut down due to Coronavirus. In the months leading up to the widespread shutdown, the MCHS Track and Field team was having success on and off the track and was prepared to make it all the way to the state championship meet. Unfortunately, their season was cut short. As the months went by and no one knew exactly what the fall and the new school year would be like, the student-athletes independently kept up their fitness.
The distance runners were anxious to get out on the cross country courses. The season began with continued uncertainty, though the student-athletes felt thankful and relieved to make it through a complete season. The girls finished 10th in the FHSAA 4A Region 4 meet while the boys finished 11th overall. However, there was still an air of unfinished business among the student athletes that had their track season was cut short the year before.
January 2021
January brought with it the official start of the new Track and Field season. The team came back together with student athletes that came from a variety of different sports. The sprinters were led by Sprint Team Captain, Riley Pelletier, who also plays on the defensive line for the MCHS Football team. Under his guidance and enthusiasm, the boys 4×100, which also included Joey Coulter, Denzel Alexander, and Ben Lamothe, broke the school record and advanced to the FHSAA State Championship meet where they finished in 6th place. That wasn’t the only school record that was broken this season.
The event was the first school record that was broken this season was the boys 4×400. The team consisted of Garrett Slone, Adam Ziskinder, Ryan Ziskinder, and Joey Coulter. As the season progressed, they continued to add extra cushion to their time, making it a harder challenge for future teammates to break it.
It wasn’t just the sprinters that were primed for competition. The distance runners were ready to show up and show out. Adam Ziskinder has been the Boys Distance Team Captain for two years and each year, he has created a sense of friendly and humble competition among his teammates. He has inspired them to reach past where they thought their threshold was. Because of this, the boys 4×800 and Distance Medley Relay both broke school records. The boys 4×800 also advanced to the FHSAA State Championship meet. Along with Ziskinder, his twin brother Ryan Ziskinder, Andrew Raffenberg, and Anthony Matthew ran their best 4×800 time at the regional meet. The twins, Anthony Matthew, and Joey Coulter were on the DMR record-breaking team.
July 2021
The summer months have seen the team remaining dedicated and churning along. While they celebrated all their achievements from the track season, they are all now focused on their fall sports. The MCHS cross country team has been conditioning for the past month, preparing for a season without the restrictions they faced in 2020. Both the boys, led by Anthony Matthew, and the girls, led by Gina Fuca, are ready and excited to race competitively with the final goal of making it to the state meet in Tallahassee.
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