A growing depression in the Island Trees High School track has forced the Bulldogs to run all of their meets on the road in the Spring 2011 season.
"The cause of the depression is unknown, but it could possibly be the result of a collapsing drywell," said Superintendent of Schools Charles Murphy.
Severals areas of the track have been gated off, but the teams have powered forward despite being "homeless".
"We are the eternal road team," said head coach Joe Manna. "We are nomads. Unfortunately, we can't have any home track meets so that is a bummer in a lot of ways. The team can get all of our work done at home, but we just can't compete there."
Instead of focusing on the negatives, the squad takes a "glass half-full" approach.
"It is not as bad as it sounds," said Manna. "Out of the five lanes on the track, only the last three are closed down. We can still do our sprints, field events and jumping, so we try to work around it."
On March 22, the Bulldogs traveled to Seaford and came away victorious despite the lack of a home field advantage.
Brandon Beiersdorfer led the way with a victory in the 400 meter run, while Lucas Pugliese won the 800 meter race.
In the field events, Peter Tucci won the Triple Jump and Tyler Blauvelt finished second in the Long Jump, while Andres Quinterro stepped up with a strong second place finish in the Discus Throw.
The nomads pulled it off again on Tuesday, beating Malverne and Carle Place. Pugliese, Beiersdorfer, Ryan Paolino and John Duffy set the pace in the 4 by 4 relay and Pugliese dominated the 400 meter run. Duffy smoked the competition in both the 1600 meter race and the 4 by 800 relay race with teammates Jesus Alvarado, Adam Kirschner and Kevin Carmen. Carmen was also the 800 meter champion.
Tucci won the high jump, and Blauvelt dominated the triple jump. The Bulldogs will compete next in Saturday's Invitational at MacArthur High School.
