SECTION 4 TRACK AND FIELD: HORSEHEADS HITS THE TRACK TO PREPARE FOR SEASON (13 PHOTOS) (November 19, 2025)

BY BRIAN FEES
Southern Tier Sports Report
HORSEHEADS — Cross Country seasons still going on for two Horseheads runners, but now it’s right into track and field as the Blue Raiders hit the track this week to begin practices for the season.

“It feels really good,” said one of the coaches Samantha Bancroft. “We just finished cross country, but I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to get all these kids back, to have a big gorup again.

“It’s been no break for them (the cross country runners). They (Nicholas Kowal and Mackenzie Baker) are actually still training for federations next week, so we have about eight different plans going on.”

Both runners competed at states, with Kowal becoming the first state medalist for the Horseheads boys’ cross country team in more than a decade.

Now, the runners hope that success can carry over into track and field season.

“We hope it carries right over,” Bancroft said. “We have a bunch of distance kids that are very motivated right now. They saw what the hard work and dedication got Nick and Mackenzie and we’ve got sprinters who are like, oh distance can’t out shine us.

“We have kids who are looking for school records. We have kids who are looking for school times to go D1 or D2, so I hope we hit a lot of those goals this season.”

Along with the cross country kids, the track and field team has kids from a number of other sports as well.

“We have the soccer kids and the football kids and we are kind of just a melting pot right now,” Bancroft said.
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

PHOTO GALLERY FROM PRACTICE:

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