Ursuline senior leads Westchester/Putnam girls indoor track all-stars
Some people fall into things. Good things. Unexpected things.
Elena Olson jumped in. Or, more accurately, over.
The Ursuline senior was a freshman on the school's outdoor track team. She ran the basics − the 100, 200, 400.
She wasn't bad. But she also wasn't turning heads. That is not until, for no particular reason ("I was just messing around," she recalls), she hopped over a hurdle one day at practice.
Assistant coach Darin Gillwater saw this and asked her to do it again.
Days later, after he and head coach Jan Mitchell huddled, Olsen found herself at the starting line of a 400-meter hurdles race, "confused" and just "going out with the mindset to finish."
She not only did that but, as she recalls, finished in the top three.
Now, she's as The Journal News/lohud Westchester/Putnam Girls Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
The three-time Section 1 Class A indoor 55-hurdle champion medaled in fifth place in the girls 55-hurdles at the indoor state championships last month.
But even well before that race, multiple colleges began recruting Olson for track.
She'll run next year for Division I Northeastern, whose track program and business administation program both appeal to her.
Olson, who has had quite a year, winning the Con Ed Award for academics and athletics and being named the top female winter track athlete by local track officials, can trace at least her initial success in hurdling to years of dance. Specifically, better than a decade of Irish step-dance training.
"it actually kind of made me a natural (at hurdles)," she said.
Running is also in her genes. While she only pursued the sport for a year in college, her mom, Tanya, a sprinter, walked on her freshman year to the Division I UConn women's track team. Her uncle, Bert Hurns, hurdled and jumped for St. John's University, and her late uncle, Baldwin Hurns, hurdled for Catholic University.
While it might not feed directly into her track success, her dad, Edward, is also an athlete, who boxed at Pennsylvania's West Chester University.
Olson, who was the Westchester County girls 55-hurdles champ this season and was a member of Ursuline's 4x200 girls relay team, which had the third best time in Section 1, is now focusing on one last season of high school spring track. Last year, she was the girls Westchester County champion in the 100- and 400-meter outdoor hurdles and finished eighth in the 100 at the state championships.
The Hartsdale resident is hoping to improve on those finishes.
She'll obviously try to do so through training, but also by using other means.
One is to put Tiger Balm on her legs before races, and another to put on her lucky socks. She's worn them for her races for two years and has no plans to stop.
They're pink with lemons on them and, yes, they'll head north next year to Northeastern.
Coach of the Year
Andy Capellan, New Rochelle: The HJuguenots'longtime coach, whose success has gained him entry into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's Hall of Fame, as well as The Armory Coaches Hall of Fame, led his very young team to the Westchester County girls team title and to a second-place finish among 11 teams that scored at the Section 1 Class AA championship.
55
First team — Elisa Crisp, 8th grade, New Rochelle
Second team— Haylie Donovan, Jr., Somers
Honorable mention — Jocelyn Rice, Fr., Rye Country Day; Gabriela Sangil Cantalapiedra, So., Horace Greeley; Sarai Sealy, Sr., Ursuline
55 hurdles
Second team— Ivana Richards, Jr., Ursuline
Honorable mention — Alivia Smith, Fr., New Rochelle
300
First team — Haylie Donovan, Jr., Somers
Second team— Jayla Johnson, Jr., Montfort Academy
Honorable mention — Kara Kochansky, So., Bronxville; Arielle Nickerson, So., Mamaroneck; Valentina Wallin, Jr., New Rochelle
600
First team — Jayla Johnson, Jr., Montfort Academy
Second team— Leia Patel, So., Scarsdale
Honorable mention — Shannon Kelly, Sr., Scarsdale; Kara Kochansky, So., Bronxville
1,000
First team — Ava Pennachio, Jr., Eastchester
Second team— Sloan Wasserman, So., John Jay-Cross River
Honorable mention — Zoe Dichter, So., Scarsdale; Leia Patel, So., Scarsdale; Maddy Williams, Jr., Bronxville
1,500
First team — Caitlin Thomas, Jr., Hastings; Maddy Williams, Jr., Bronxville
Second team— Maddy Williams, Jr., Bronxville
Honorable mention — Ava Pennachio, Jr. Eastchester; Ainara Schube Barriola , Jr., Rye Neck; Sloan Wasserman, So., John Jay-Cross River
1,500 racewalk
First team — Jennifer Oliveros-Valeria, Sr., New Rochelle
Second team— Chloe Howard, So., Hen Hud
Honorable mention — Julia Beckman, Sr., White Plains
3,000
First team — Caitlin Thomas, Jr., Hastings
Second team—Sloan Wasserman, So., John Jay-Cross River
Honorable mention — Eva Muzichenko, So., Eastchester
High jump
First team — Gabrielle An, Jr., Ardsley
Second team— Eva Gibney, Jr., Scarsdale
Honorable mention —-Erin Ball, Jr., Rye; Layla Collazo, Jr., Lakeland/Panas; Mary Gilmore, Sr., Harrison; Ryann Joseph, Fr., New Rochelle; Sophia Ochoa, So., New Rochelle; Gabrielle Rowe, Sr., Yonkers; Taylor-Rae Smith, Sr., Yonkers
Long jump
First team — Sarai Sealy, Sr., Ursuline
Second team— Ryann Joseph, Fr., New Rochelle; Miorko Martin, So., Ardsley
Honorable mention — Jocelyn Rice, Jr., Rye Country Day; Alexis Smith, Jr., New Rochelle
Triple jump
First team — Sarai Sealy, Sr., Ursuline
Second team— Sophia Ochoa, So., New Rochelle
Honorable mention — Niamh O'Donovan, Jr., Ardsley; Jessica Redmond, Sr., Hen Hud; Ivana Richards, Jr., Ursuline
Pole vault
First team — Gabrielle An, Jr., Ardsley
Second team— Sophia Kumar, So., Edgemont
Honorable mention — Pia DeLuca, Sr., Carmel; Patricia Wiltse, Sr., Fox Lane
Shot put
First team —Jane Hanson, Jr., Yorktown; Danae Morgan, So., Hastings
Second team— Lauren Castillo, So., Somers; Ryan Singer, Jr., Byram Hills
Honorable mention — Sophia Carpenito, Sr., Ardsley
Weight throw
First team — Hannah Arbid, Jr., Lakeland/Panas
Second team— Danae Morgan, So., Hastings
Honorable mention —Lincey Brazile, So., New Rochelle; Sienna DeMarinis, So., Somers; Ziah Gaines, Sr., Mount Vernon
4x200 relay
First team — New Rochelle (Elena Crisp, 8th grade, Alexis Smith, FR., Alivia Smith, Fr., Ryann Joseph, Fr)
Second team— Ursuline (Elena Olson, Sr., Ivana Richards, Jr., Jessica Tejera, Jr., Sofia Henao, So.)
Honorable mention — Mount Vernon (Honest Ellis, So., Amanda Fevrie, Jr., Dameish Mitchell, Fr., Emmanuella Mathieu, So.); Rye Country Day (Jpcelyn Rice, Fr., Kayla Rosen, 8th grade, Payton Richardson, 8th grade, Ailey Denson, 8th grade)
4x400 relay
First team — Bronxville (Juliet Winiecki, Jr., Ella McCalla, Fr., Eva Mihova, Fr., Kara Kochansky, So.)
Second team— Scarsdale (Ari Sobel, Sr., Zoe Dichter, Jr., Shannon Kelly, Sr., Leia Patel, So.)
Honorable mention — New Rochelle (Olivia Solomon, 8th grade, Sophia Ochoa, So., Valentina Wallin, Jr., Mia Torres, Sr.); Somers (Haylie Donovan, Jr., Keira Cleary, Jr., Mia Sandolo, Jr., Chelsea Lewit, Sr.)
4x800 relay
First team — Scarsdale (Eva Gibney, Jr., Shannon Kelly, Sr., Zoe Dichter, Jr., Leia Patel, So.)
Second team— Bronxville (Maddy Williams, Jr., Caitlin Paisley, 8th grade, Finlay Rowan, Fr., Carina Winiecki, 8th grade); Byram Hills (Abi Rondeau, Jr., Bella Lamberti, Jr., Maura Lunde, So., Angelina Nie, So.)
Honorable mention —Somers (Jessica Masterson, Sr., Brooke Fazio, Jr., Mia Sandolo, Jr., Julia Aquilino, Jr.)
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: Elena Olson leads Westchester/Putnam girls indoor track all-stars