The Harwood track and field team competed at Saint Johnsbury Academy on Tuesday, April 29. The team also competed at the largest high school track and field meet in Vermont on Saturday, May 3. This track meet is referred to as the “Twilight” meet because the final few events take place under the lights at the South Burlington track and field facility. The team competed at Champlain Valley (CVU) on May 6 as well.
Coach Jake Pitman reported that freshman Isabella Pockoski continues to display a level of dominance in shot put and discus that Vermont high school track and field has rarely seen with respect to her age group. She threw the shot put 32 feet 9 inches and the discus 109 feet 6 inches. Both were first-place throws.
“I understood how excellent Izzy is at rotational throwing, but I didn’t realize just how elite she is until she threw further than the entire field in both events on Saturday. For her to be doing this at the age of 15-years-old is unprecedented,” explained Pitman. Pockoski’s parents, Mindy and Mike Pockoski, are in their first years as Harwood’s high school throwing coaches. Both are former elite collegiate throwers on a national scale. “I suppose you could say her talent runs in the family, but I give more credit to Izzy’s work ethic and commitment to her training,” continued Pitman.
Harwood’s distance athletes have also made strides at recent track meets. Senior Christopher Cummiskey “broke through” and ran over one minute faster than his previous record in the 3000-meter run at the Saint Johnsbury Academy meet on April 29. His time was 10:01.5. Three days later at a Champlain Valley Union (CVU) High School meet, Cummiskey snuck under 10-minutes with a time just under 9:57. At the Twilight meet in South Burlington this past Saturday, Cummiskey ran a personal record time of 2:07.83 in the 800-meter run, which is nearly five seconds faster than his previous record time in the event. “Christo continued his impressive emergence at middle-distance racing through these past two track meets. He seized the opportunity in the highly-competitive 800-meter race at the Twilight meet. A five second personal best might not sound like much, but it’s a massive improvement in a race as short as 800 meters,” said Pitman.
Senior Celia Wing, one of Harwood’s best 5000-meter trail runners in school history, had an excellent day on the track last Saturday and this week, Pitman noted. She ran a personal record time in the 1500-meter run, with a time of 5:28. She also ran a personal record time in the 3000-meter run, with a time of 11:31, which is 22 seconds faster than her previous best. At the CVU meet on Tuesday, Wing ran a personal record time of 5:25 in the 1500-meter run for a second-place finish.
“Celia’s signature track race is the 3000-meter run, yet she rarely has the opportunity to compete in close proximity to other athletes in this race. This is often due to the length of the race spreading the field wide. That all changed at the Twilight meet, where she found herself in a battle against two talented runners from CVU High School. These girls took turns leading each other throughout the 7.5 laps, which directly contributed to all three of their impressive performances,” Pitman said.
Harwood’s next track and field meet takes place this Saturday, May 10, at the Burlington Invitational.
