Floyd's Zariel Macchia runs outstanding times in two events at state qualifier
Floyd’s Zariel Macchia wins the 1,000-meter run during the Suffolk indoor track and field Individual championships and state qualifier on Wednesday at Suffolk CCC-Brentwood. Credit: Bob Sorensen
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.
Port Jefferson sophomore Alexa Jacobs was also a two-event winner Wednesday night. Jacobs won the girls 55 dash in 7.10 seconds and the 300 dash in 41.26 seconds.
Jacobs’ performance in the 55 dash set a new Suffolk state qualifier meet record, according to MileSplit, breaking the previous record of 7.13 seconds held by both Brentwood’s Brianna Davis and Middle Country’s Adaliz Hunt from 2020.
Even after completing the 300 dash finals — which were held about two-and-a-half hours after the 55 dash finals — Jacobs was unaware that she broke a new meet record.
Said Jacobs: “That’s crazy. I’m really proud.”
Jacobs will be attending the indoor track state championships for the first time.
“I’m very proud,” Jacobs said. “I knew I wanted to do a lot better here than I did last year because last year I missed states for both of them. So I knew I needed to come and prove myself.”
Floyd will have more than just Macchia representing the school in Staten Island. Junior Joshua Jordan won the boys 55 dash in 6.44 seconds, winning by .01 seconds over Northport’s Vito LaRosa.
Jordan will head to the state championship for the first time.
“This whole season, this is my goal to make it to states,” Jordan said. “And coming in first, that’s an even bigger accomplishment. So it’s like, I love it, man. I worked for this.”
Sachem East senior Abby Callinan was the only reigning individual state champion at Wednesday’s meet. After claiming last year’s girls 1,500 race walk state title, Callinan will have a chance to do it again next month.
Callinan won Wednesday’s 1,500 race walk in 7:11.93, beating out her teammate Gianna Mauri, who placed second in 7:20.18.
“There was a little bit of pressure, but I felt pretty confident in how I was going to do,” Callinan said.
Multiple two-event winners prevailed in field. West Islip senior Rocco Carpinello won the boys long jump in 22 feet, 8.25 inches and the triple jump in 46-7.50. Longwood senior Zoe Geddes won the girls long jump in 18-5.50 and the triple jump in 36-10.25.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
