The North Shore High School girls’ track team took first place in the county Class C Winter Track & Field Champions after a successful season. The team won by 32 points at the championships, according to the district.
“The goal is for kids to strive to reach their potential in whatever they do,” said Coach Neil Levy.
Levy, a health education teacher at the high school, joined the district in 2002. He said he coached the junior varsity soccer team before he began coaching girls’ track and cross country.
Levy said the girls’ track team competes in Conference V, which organizes schools by enrollment numbers. The county’s Class C competition consists of 19 schools from Conferences V and VI, he said.
Because Levy coaches in the winter and the spring, he said his schedule allows him to see many of the student-athletes year-round. Levy said the track program has many “similar faces” in the different seasons.
However, he said each season, new athletes join the team, either new to the athletic department or transferring in from other sports. And some other students, he said, join to socialize with their peers during after-school hours.
His goal, he said is to motivate students “regardless of ability” or prior experience.
“It’s because they want to try something new, something different,” he said.
He said many new team members—who join after playing sports like soccer and basketball, or join brand-new—are successful on the team become part of the team “family.”
Levy said the team has a tight-knit relationship, with a buddy program that helps foster bonds between the student-athletes. He said the team comprises about 30 kids in the eighth- through twelfth grades, all operating as “one big unit.”
Because there is no separation based on age, Levy said the team created an unofficial mentorship program for the more experienced athletes to help the newcomers.
“It’s very important to me that new kids who come out to the team, regardless of age or ability, feel like they’re supported,” he said.
Levy said students are encouraged to ask one another for advice.
“It’s a good way of helping one another,” he said.
He said all 30 students attend practice everyday. In the spring season, he said the team has about 50 athletes. Because the students see each other everyday, Levy said the relationship between teammates is strengthened.
As he continues to coach the team, Levy said it’s important to adapt to external change. For example, Levy said since the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been able to “deal with greater obstacles than before.”
“As the world changes—as people change, as kids change—you have to adapt and change and well,” he said.
In addition to their success at the championships, 13 students received All-County status: Sloane Bonvicino, Kashvi Bhogadi, Chloe Brady, Hannah Checo, Chloe Connolly, Danielle Demillio, Joanna Kenney, Louisa Ludmar, Madison O’Donnell, Dylan Reisberg, Hannah Sadowski, Isabella Whalan and Harper Wilson.
After the team’s victory at the Class C competition this season, the athletes competed at an individual-level at the state qualifier on Feb. 10.
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