Floyd junior Zariel Macchia is one of the best runners in New York, but she has yet to add a state title in track to her resume.
After a dominant performance at Wednesday’s Suffolk indoor track and field state qualifier meet at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, Macchia will have an opportunity to change that next month.
Macchia, the reigning Newsday Runner of the Year following an incredible fall in cross country, won the girls 3,000-meter run in 9 minutes, 51.61 seconds and the 1,000 run in 2:53.92.
“To win two races in Section XI at state quals is pretty good,” Macchia said. “So I’m happy about that because for a while there I didn’t think I was going to do [it]. But Section XI girls mid-distance and distance are some of the best in the whole state right now, so great competition.”
The state meet is March 2 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island.
Despite three other girls meeting the state standard of 10:21.14 in the 3,000, Macchia won by nearly 15 seconds. Mount Sinai’s Cali Gabrielson came in second in 10:06.53.
“I wanted to go for the win today and get in a good workout,” Macchia said. “So once I was in the lead, I figured [I] might as well push it a little bit extra, have plenty of time to recover before the 1,000.”
The 1,000 was much closer for Macchia, who was in fourth place heading into the final lap. She ultimately won by .19, with Bellport’s Ella Masem coming in second in 2:54.11.
“I was definitely struggling a little bit to kick it up to that final gear going into that last lap,” Macchia said. “… If I want to run the 1,000 at state, I got to dig in now. Digging in all the way is great preparation for state and national and worlds.”
Because of Tuesday’s snow and the resulting postponement of the state qualifier meet to Wednesday, Macchia had to postpone an official recruiting visit to Stanford. She will also participate in the World U20 Cross Country Championship in Belgrade, Serbia, next month.
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