Nanuet's Gabby Vizcarrondo is Rockland's top indoor track athlete

She was bored.

Plain and simple.

It was after the height of COVID-19 and all those shutdowns.

So, in eighth grade, Gabby Vizcarrondo went out for the Nanuet High track team for the 2021-22 winter season.

"I did track to get out of my house," she explained.

It wasn't instantaneous love.

"It took me a while to like it," Vizcarrondo, who's now a junior, said.

In fact, while she did track because she was bored, she found the primary events she was put in, shot put and the weight throw, boring.

"I thought jumping was cool but I didn't really push for (doing that)," she said.

So, she threw without any real attachment to doing so.

Until last year, when Vizcarrondo took note of how a friendly opponent Ursuline's Prizila Negrete, approached the sport and how she was improving.

"Watching her ... was really inspiring and she was really supportive ... She's the one person who inspired me in track," Vizcarrondo said.

And there's little wonder why.

Negrete, who now throws for Bucknell, was second in the weight and shot put at the 2023 state indoor championships and second in the weight at last year's Millrose Games. She was also sixth in the event at Nike Indoor Nationals and was second in the shot put at outdoor states last spring and first in the event at the Loucks Games.

So, yeah, it made sense Vizcarrondo could be inspired.

Her friend, in fact, inspired her become good enough to top her winter achievements, at least in the weight throw.

Vizcarrondo, the Rockland County Girls Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year, captured the gold medal in the girls weight throw at this winter's state championships.

Vizcarrondo, whose first recorded weight throw in a meet as an eighth-grader was 22 feet, 11 inches, heaved the weight a personal-best 52-7.75 to win that state tiitle.

That topped Negrete's best high school throw by about three-and-a-half feet.

Vizcarrondo's throw came ujnder pressure.

She was down to her last of three qualifying throws for the final at states and hadn't thrown well. In fact, it looked unlikely Vizcarrondo, who was ranked No. 1 in the state in the event, might not make the final.

That is until she unleashed her mammoth and, as it turned out, gold-medal-winning toss.

That is, to date, the highlight of what is now a decidedly unboring high school track career.

Vizcarrondo, who has her throwing quirks (she sports black crew socks, which she wears nowhere else, and friend and teammate Elizabeth Siguenza-Cambi does her hair), finished the winter season second among high school girls nationally in the weight.

She was only six inches off the top throw.

While Vizcarrondo still says, "I don't think I'm really that good at it," she knows her throwing might be able to help open some doors to college, where she's thinking of studying either education or finance.

Division I isn't a priority, she said. Going to a good school for a good education is.

That is better than a year off, of course. But wherever she ends up going, she plans to carry with her the mindset that has helped her in track and can probably apply to most anything.

"From what I've seen almost every single time (I've competed), is that you get out what you put in," she said.

Coach of the year

AnneMarie Carella, Tappan Zee: Carella's squad captured the 17-team Section 1 Class B indoor girls track and field team championship. It also finished less than two points behind much-larger powerhouse North Rockland for the Rockland County girls team title.

The rest of the All-County Team

55

First team — Desirae Hernandez, Jr., North Rockland

Second team — Chrystelle Fignole, Jr., Pearl River

Honorable mention — Belleky Durosier, Jr., Ramapo

55 hurdles

First team — Nya Thomas, Jr., North Rockland

Second team— Marissa Gordon, Sr., Clarkstown North

Honorable mention — Pilar Fernandez, Jr., Tappan Zee

300

First team —-Jayda Johnson, Fr., Nyack

Second team — Karen Augustin, Jr., Suffern

Honorable mention — Taitu Forrest, So., Nyack

600

First team — Claire O'Sullivan, Sr., Pearl River

Second team— Karen Augustin, Jr., Suffern

Honorable mention — Bridget Dunn, So., Tappan Zee

1,000

First team — Sofia Fenton, Sr., Tappan Zee

Second team— Kaelyn Prince, Sr., North Rockland

Honorable mention — Mia Dellolio, So., Tappan Zee; Cassidy Donovan, Jr., Tappan Zee

1,500

First team — Bridget Dunn, So., Tappan Zee

Second team— Claire O'Sullivan, Sr., Pearl River

Honorable mention — Sophonie Michel, Sr, North Rockland

1,500 racewalk

First team — Samantha Bender, Jr., North Rockland

Second team — Emily Dwyer, Sr., Pearl River

Honorable mention — Sophia Poehlsen, Jr., Suffern

3,000

First team — Bridget Dunn, So., Tappan Zee

Second team— Claire O'Sullivan, Sr., Pearl River

Honorable mention — Katie Schmid, So. , Nanuet

High jump

First team — Kyra Skoglund, Sr., Suffern

Second team— Desirae Hernandez, Jr., North Rockland

Honorable mention — Nya Thomas, Jr., North Rockland

Long jump

First team — Nya Thomas, Jr., North Rockland

Second team— Karen Augustin, Jr., Suffern

Honorable mention — Marissa Gordon, Sr., Clarkstown North

Triple jump

First team — Karen Augustin, Jr., Suffern

Second team— Pilar Fernandez, Jr., Tappan Zee

Honorable mention — Chrystelle Fignole, Jr., Pearl River

Pole vault

First team — Kate Dowling, Jr., Pearl River

Second team— Anna Riskin, Jr., Suffern

Honorable mention — Cyan Theodore, Sr. North Rockland

Shot put

First team —Maggie Hansen, Jr., Clarkstown South

Second team — Madeline Stiefel, Jr., Tappan Zee

Honorable mention — Ayanie Thomas , Sr., Spring Valley

Weight throw

Second team— Elizabeth Siguenza-Cambi, Sr., Nanuet

Honorable mention — Ja'Nya Beepot, Sr., Suffern; Woodmia Laguerre, Sr., North Rockland; Faithful Ukaegbu, Jr., North Rockland; Favour Ukaegbu, Jr., North Rockland; Julia Vitiello, Sr., Pearl River

At Large

First team — Sam Dow, Sr., Nanuet

First team — Grace Camerlingo, Jr., Clarkstown South

4x200 relay

First team — North Rockland (Gabriella Cabrera, Jr., Cyan Theodore, Sr., Nya Thomas, Jr., Desirae Hernandez, Jr., Taylor Lewis, Jr. )

Second team — Nyack (Junibel Fernandez, Sr., Imani Green, Sr., Hailie Vasquez, So., Taitu Forrest, So., Jayda Johnson, Fr.),; Suffern (Karen Augustin, Jr., Sydney Fleming, Fr., Madison Hogarth, F., Kayla Darius, Jr.; Zoey Orlando, 8th grade)

Honorable mention — Ramapo (Stania Joachim, Jr.; Herricka Loreus, Jr.; Emmanuellah Personna, Jr.; Belleky Durosier, Jr.)

4x400 relay

First team — Nyack (Junibel Fernandez, Sr., Imani Green, Sr., Hailie Vasquez, So.< Taitu Forrest, So., Jayda Johnson, Fr.)

Second team— Suffern (Karen Augustin, Jr, Joy Yin, So., Elise Falcon, Sr., Sydney Fleming, Fr., Madison Davis, So.)

Honorable mention — North Rockland (laila Dor, Jr., Hope Italiano, So., Claudia Chery, Jr., Angeliese Burdier, Jr.),; Nanuet (Sam Dow, Sr., Alanna Wilson, Jr.,Leila Mendez, Fr., Aliyah Wilson, 8th grade)

4x800 relay

First team — Tappan Zee (Mia Dellolio, So., Cassidy Donovan, Jr., Bridget Dunn, So., Sofia Fenton, Sr.)

Second team — North Rockland (Kaelyn Prince, Sr., Sophonie Michel, Sr., Elaina DeGrote, Jr., Riley Sheehan, Jr.)

Honorable mention — Suffern (Joy Yin, So., Kennedy Leone, So., Alexis Robinson, Jr., Izzy Fortunato, Sr.)

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Nanuet's Vizcarrondo is Rockland Girls Indoor Track Athlete of Year