Brewster’s Bottalico Advances To States

BREWSTER—While the rest of the Brewster High track team saw its season come to an end at Friday and Saturday's state qualifiers, freshman Ariana Bottalico earned a trip to the state finals, after winning the 3,000 meter run.

Left: Brewster freshman Ariana Bottalico won a sectional championship in the 300-meter in school-record time. Photo submitted. “It was kind of unexpected,” coach Joe Scelia said. “The number two girl in the race scratched, and I started thinking she could pull this off. She had a bunch of girls right on her tail the whole race, but she held them off.”

Her time of 10:28 is a new personal best and put her two seconds ahead of second place. Bottalico is also the youngest sectional champion that Brewster has ever had.

“To make the states is very difficult, you have to win to get in,” Scelia said. “There's almost 50 teams, so to be the best out of all those teams speaks volumes about where she is right now.”

Andrew Sniffen came up just short in his two attempts to join Bottalico at states. He finished second in the shot put with a distance just over 46 feet, and finished third in the discus with a throw of 146 feet, breaking the school record.

“He had a really good end of the year, especially the state qualifiers,” Scelia said.

Another school record fell when Steve Greene turned in a distance of 138 feet and two inches in the hammer throw, placing him fourth overall.

While Bottalico provides the girls side with a bright future, the boys had a pair of underclassmen who each had strong performances but came up just short. Sophomore Charlie Carr took fourth in the mile with a time of 4:24.86, and fifth in the two mile in 9:37.9.

“He was one of the few guys that did the mile-two mile double,” said Scelia. “He showed that he is one of the top sophomores around.”

Junior Greg Hodge finished fifth in the 400 with a time of 51.69.

“He was someone that came on at the end of the year,” Scelia said. “He really worked hard, and had a great race. He was the top underclassman so that looks good for next year.”

James Courte capped off a strong senior year by finishing fourth in the long jump, clearing a distance over 20 feet 10 inches.

Bottalico win run in the 3,000 on Friday June 11, at Vestal, NY.