Eric Keppeler ‘85
Sports Writer
The St. Joe’s indoor track team closed the book on the 2025-26 season by sending nine athletes to the Catholic High School Athletic Association Championships last month at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Facility on Staten Island.
In a talented and packed field, the Marauders put forth a respectable showing that saw four athletes make it all the way to the finals.
“I had made up a standard of qualification for them, based on the year prior – like I think that time will get them in,” coach Emily Lowe said. “So then OK, great, you hit the qualifier and we can bring you down there but are you still getting better and improving each week? They kept working hard.”
Individually, senior Anthony Scarozza was 11th in the 1600 finals, while senior Sam Gwitt was 12th in the 1000 finals, sophomore Weston Peirick was 15th in the 1500 finals and junior Bryce Kiddy (Nichols) was 15th in the long jump finals.
In the earlier heats, junior Jaxson Addeah was 10th in the 300 preliminaries, while senior David Amuka was 13th in the 55 hurdle preliminaries, junior Jayson Wagstaff was 15th in the 300 preliminaries and 45th in the 55 preliminaries, senior Brendan Thompson Jr. finished 19th in the 55 preliminaries, Kiddy was also 23rd in the 300 preliminaries and senior Nick Filice was 29th in the 300 preliminaries.
Lowe said that only two of the sprinters had gone to indoor states previously, although a number of others had gone to the outdoor state meet, so they had an idea of the magnitude and subtleties of the event.
“They understand the expectations of the program,” Lowe said. “Some of these guys hit a great time early, so we spent some time trying to figure out what they did right. How can we replicate all of the things we were doing at practice and doing them at the actual meets?”
Lowe was also pleased to see that on her 24-man roster, 12 of the athletes were doing indoor track for the first time – which she said is imperative to making sure the program continues to grow.
And they put up some strong individual numbers, with 18 performances breaking into the school’s all-time Top 10 lists.
Headlining that group was Amuka, who broke the school record in the 55m Hurdles.
Other additions to the Top 10 lists included: 55m, 2. Thompson, 4. Richard Panos, 5. Wagstaff; 300m, 2. Addeah, 5. Wagstaff, 8. Kiddy (Nichols); 600m, 7. Addeah, 8. Scarozza; 1000m, 3. Gwitt (Nichols), 5. Scarozza; 1600m, 6. Scarozza, 9. Peirick; 3200m, 8. Peirick; Shotput, 6. Payton Keighron; Weight Throw, 4. Keighron; and Long Jump, 7. Kiddy (Nichols) and 8. Addeah.
“A lot of them will be back next year and they’ll be better for the experience,” Lowe said.