April 4, 2026
By Serenity Mendoza
Staff Writer
The outdoor track and field team began its competitive season at home on March 30, with the girls winning 117-23 and the boys 127-13 against North Arlington High School. Both teams lost to Rutherford High School.
Second-year varsity thrower sophomore Madison Goff, who competes in discus, javelin and shot put, said she hopes to help her team win the league this season, an accomplishment the girls last achieved in 2024 and the boys in 2022.
“We need to do it this year… because we have me, [senior thrower] Nikalena [Iacono] and a bunch of other girls [who can] help the team out,” Goff said.
She said she knows she will have to put in a lot of work to reach this goal.
“My biggest challenge is making the same mistake over and over again and trying to fix it and it not working. It gets to your head,” Goff said. “That’s a downside to it being an individual sport. It’s so easy to ruin your mentality.”
Junior Gabriel Campos, who is returning for his second competitive season following an injury that left him unable to run during his sophomore year, will compete in the 1600- and 3200-meter races.
“While I do think there are more difficult events than the ones I compete in, no event requires the amount of endurance that running eight laps around the track or four laps around the track does. You [have to] do this weird balancing act of going as fast as you can, like any other track event, but not so much that you burn out and ruin your race,” Campos said.
“As a runner, I have to stay committed to practice, push myself every day and support my teammates. It’s also important to stay in shape and have a good mindset during races.”
He said he intends to beat his personal record of 4 minutes, 55 seconds in the mile by at least 5 seconds.
“Because I didn’t get to run last season, I’d be happy just to improve from my freshman year. I’d also like to improve my leadership skills on the team,” Campos said. “I’m an upperclassman now, so I feel that I should try to be a guide for younger runners as much as possible.”
Campos said he appreciates the mentorship of volunteer Coach Isaiah Aviles, who coaches the distance team.
“His training plan alone makes him a great coach. He has this crazy Excel sheet that includes a mile tracker for us, a weight room training schedule, tips on nutrition, recommended running shoes and our splits for track workout days,” Campos said. “The best part of his coaching, though, is probably that he loves this sport as much as we do.”
Junior Taylor Paglio, a three-year varsity competitor who runs the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter races, said she enjoys the competitive nature of distance events.
“As a runner, I have to stay committed to practice, push myself every day and support my teammates. It’s also important to stay in shape and have a good mindset during races,” Paglio said.
She said she finds practices, which take place every day after school and sometimes on weekends, helpful.
“[Practices push] me to get better, but sometimes they can be really exhausting,” Paglio said.
She said she hopes the outcome of the season will reflect her hard work.
“I’m most excited about competing in big meets and seeing how much I can improve from past seasons. I am also very excited to help our team win back the league championship title this year,” said Paglio.
