West Hempstead's Victoria Guerrier takes on pizza challenge and wins

Victoria Guerrier doesn’t understand the Domino's hate. It’s her favorite pizza and she doesn’t care who knows it.

“Nobody likes Domino's,” Guerrier said. “But, I really like Domino's.”

The West Hempstead junior’s love of pizza and ability to run really fast merged in delicious fashion Saturday, as Guerrier won the 800-meter ‘sub-2:20 pizza challenge’ at the Paul Limmer Invitational at Mepham High School. The pizza rules decreed that any runner who finished under two minutes, 20 seconds would be awarded a free pie from Vincenzo’s in North Bellmore. Guerrier, who wasn’t about to let a measly race stand in the way of pizza, won in a commanding 2:16.58, the only girl to eclipse the pizza threshold.

“I was very motivated,” Guerrier said. “I knew I had to drop my [previous best] time by five seconds, so I knew I had to go out fast. The pizza kept me going.”

Here’s another Guerrier pizza opinion — chicken in the best topping. Yup, chicken.

“It’s peculiar,” Guerrier said. “People don’t really like that topping, but it’s definitely my favorite.”

Guerrier said that she felt a little bit of pizza pressure during the race. Knowing that she wouldn’t be eating the entire pie by herself, the responsibility of providing a tasty lunch for her coaches and teammates was enough to carry her through the line.

“I went out faster than I usually go out,” Guerrier said. “I made sure to hammer down the third 200 [meter stretch] because I know when I get tired my stride starts to get a little less. I really made sure to emphasize the third 200, and the last 200 just took care of itself.” 

Guerrier had thought the 800 was at the edge of her range, identifying as more of a 200/400 runner. But, after Saturday, those thoughts may have changed. 

“I guess I might be switching to the 800,” Guerrier said. “I feel like I’ve been getting progressively better every time I do it. So, I might just stick to the 800.”

Especially if there’s pizza involved.

“I had a really big breakfast, but I was really hoping for pizza,” Guerrier said.

Guerrier’s twin sister, Gloria, won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:07.63. Gloria Guerrier said she thinks her start needs to be sharper going forward, giving her something specific to work on as the second month of the outdoor season dawns. But, Saturday was a positive step in that direction. The weather, which was as mild as its been on a weekend this season, absolutely helped as well.

“It was definitely faster,” Gloria Guerrier said. “I felt it was better than I had ever done . . . The weather was nice. The weather really helps. When it’s nice like this, I feel like I can run my fastest. When it’s cold, it’s not good.”

As for her sister’s pizza race, Gloria Guerrier was rooting hard for the pie, and happily indulged as well.

“I ate two slices,” Gloria Guerrier said. “It was really good.”

Valley Stream North’s Kevin Beltran fell just short of the boy’s pizza threshold of 2:00, but was happy with a four-second personal best of 2:02.26 and a nail-biting victory over Mepham’s Dominic Saraceni, who finished in 2:03.66. Beltran also won the 1,600 in 4:29.07.

“I was sort of thinking about it, in the back on my mind, because I heard the other guys saying that they were also going to go for it,” Beltran said of the pizza. “But, hey, we got 2:02 today, a four-second personal best. I couldn’t be more happy about it.”