Ursuline senior leads Westchester/Putnam girls indoor track all-stars

Some people fall into things. Good things. Unexpected things.

Elena Olson jumped in. Or, more accurately, over.

The Ursuline senior was a freshman on the school's outdoor track team. She ran the basics − the 100, 200, 400.

She wasn't bad. But she also wasn't turning heads. That is not until, for no particular reason ("I was just messing around," she recalls), she hopped over a hurdle one day at practice.

Assistant coach Darin Gillwater saw this and asked her to do it again.

Days later, after he and head coach Jan Mitchell huddled, Olsen found herself at the starting line of a 400-meter hurdles race, "confused" and just "going out with the mindset to finish."

She not only did that but, as she recalls, finished in the top three.

Now, she's as The Journal News/lohud Westchester/Putnam Girls Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

The three-time Section 1 Class A indoor 55-hurdle champion medaled in fifth place in the girls 55-hurdles at the indoor state championships last month.

But even well before that race, multiple colleges began recruting Olson for track.

She'll run next year for Division I Northeastern, whose track program and business administation program both appeal to her.

Olson, who has had quite a year, winning the Con Ed Award for academics and athletics and being named the top female winter track athlete by local track officials, can trace at least her initial success in hurdling to years of dance. Specifically, better than a decade of Irish step-dance training.

"it actually kind of made me a natural (at hurdles)," she said.

Running is also in her genes. While she only pursued the sport for a year in college, her mom, Tanya, a sprinter, walked on her freshman year to the Division I UConn women's track team. Her uncle, Bert Hurns, hurdled and jumped for St. John's University, and her late uncle, Baldwin Hurns, hurdled for Catholic University.

While it might not feed directly into her track success, her dad, Edward, is also an athlete, who boxed at Pennsylvania's West Chester University.

Olson, who was the Westchester County girls 55-hurdles champ this season and was a member of Ursuline's 4x200 girls relay team, which had the third best time in Section 1, is now focusing on one last season of high school spring track. Last year, she was the girls Westchester County champion in the 100- and 400-meter outdoor hurdles and finished eighth in the 100 at the state championships.

The Hartsdale resident is hoping to improve on those finishes.

She'll obviously try to do so through training, but also by using other means.

One is to put Tiger Balm on her legs before races, and another to put on her lucky socks. She's worn them for her races for two years and has no plans to stop.

They're pink with lemons on them and, yes, they'll head north next year to Northeastern.

Coach of the Year

Andy Capellan, New Rochelle: The HJuguenots'longtime coach, whose success has gained him entry into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's Hall of Fame, as well as The Armory Coaches Hall of Fame, led his very young team to the Westchester County girls team title and to a second-place finish among 11 teams that scored at the Section 1 Class AA championship.

55

First team — Elisa Crisp, 8th grade, New Rochelle

Second team— Haylie Donovan, Jr., Somers

Honorable mention — Jocelyn Rice, Fr., Rye Country Day; Gabriela Sangil Cantalapiedra, So., Horace Greeley; Sarai Sealy, Sr., Ursuline

55 hurdles

Second team— Ivana Richards, Jr., Ursuline

Honorable mention — Alivia Smith, Fr., New Rochelle

300

First team — Haylie Donovan, Jr., Somers

Second team— Jayla Johnson, Jr., Montfort Academy

Honorable mention — Kara Kochansky, So., Bronxville; Arielle Nickerson, So., Mamaroneck; Valentina Wallin, Jr., New Rochelle

600

First team — Jayla Johnson, Jr., Montfort Academy

Second team— Leia Patel, So., Scarsdale

Honorable mention — Shannon Kelly, Sr., Scarsdale; Kara Kochansky, So., Bronxville

1,000

First team — Ava Pennachio, Jr., Eastchester

Second team— Sloan Wasserman, So., John Jay-Cross River

Honorable mention — Zoe Dichter, So., Scarsdale; Leia Patel, So., Scarsdale; Maddy Williams, Jr., Bronxville

1,500

First team — Caitlin Thomas, Jr., Hastings; Maddy Williams, Jr., Bronxville

Second team— Maddy Williams, Jr., Bronxville

Honorable mention — Ava Pennachio, Jr. Eastchester; Ainara Schube Barriola , Jr., Rye Neck; Sloan Wasserman, So., John Jay-Cross River

1,500 racewalk

First team — Jennifer Oliveros-Valeria, Sr., New Rochelle

Second team— Chloe Howard, So., Hen Hud

Honorable mention — Julia Beckman, Sr., White Plains

3,000

First team — Caitlin Thomas, Jr., Hastings

Second team—Sloan Wasserman, So., John Jay-Cross River

Honorable mention — Eva Muzichenko, So., Eastchester

High jump

First team — Gabrielle An, Jr., Ardsley

Second team— Eva Gibney, Jr., Scarsdale

Honorable mention —-Erin Ball, Jr., Rye; Layla Collazo, Jr., Lakeland/Panas; Mary Gilmore, Sr., Harrison; Ryann Joseph, Fr., New Rochelle; Sophia Ochoa, So., New Rochelle; Gabrielle Rowe, Sr., Yonkers; Taylor-Rae Smith, Sr., Yonkers

Long jump

First team — Sarai Sealy, Sr., Ursuline

Second team— Ryann Joseph, Fr., New Rochelle; Miorko Martin, So., Ardsley

Honorable mention — Jocelyn Rice, Jr., Rye Country Day; Alexis Smith, Jr., New Rochelle

Triple jump

First team — Sarai Sealy, Sr., Ursuline

Second team— Sophia Ochoa, So., New Rochelle

Honorable mention — Niamh O'Donovan, Jr., Ardsley; Jessica Redmond, Sr., Hen Hud; Ivana Richards, Jr., Ursuline

Pole vault

First team — Gabrielle An, Jr., Ardsley

Second team— Sophia Kumar, So., Edgemont

Honorable mention — Pia DeLuca, Sr., Carmel; Patricia Wiltse, Sr., Fox Lane

Shot put

First team —Jane Hanson, Jr., Yorktown; Danae Morgan, So., Hastings

Second team— Lauren Castillo, So., Somers; Ryan Singer, Jr., Byram Hills

Honorable mention — Sophia Carpenito, Sr., Ardsley

Weight throw

First team — Hannah Arbid, Jr., Lakeland/Panas

Second team— Danae Morgan, So., Hastings

Honorable mention —Lincey Brazile, So., New Rochelle; Sienna DeMarinis, So., Somers; Ziah Gaines, Sr., Mount Vernon

4x200 relay

First team — New Rochelle (Elena Crisp, 8th grade, Alexis Smith, FR., Alivia Smith, Fr., Ryann Joseph, Fr)

Second team— Ursuline (Elena Olson, Sr., Ivana Richards, Jr., Jessica Tejera, Jr., Sofia Henao, So.)

Honorable mention — Mount Vernon (Honest Ellis, So., Amanda Fevrie, Jr., Dameish Mitchell, Fr., Emmanuella Mathieu, So.); Rye Country Day (Jpcelyn Rice, Fr., Kayla Rosen, 8th grade, Payton Richardson, 8th grade, Ailey Denson, 8th grade)

4x400 relay

First team — Bronxville (Juliet Winiecki, Jr., Ella McCalla, Fr., Eva Mihova, Fr., Kara Kochansky, So.)

Second team— Scarsdale (Ari Sobel, Sr., Zoe Dichter, Jr., Shannon Kelly, Sr., Leia Patel, So.)

Honorable mention — New Rochelle (Olivia Solomon, 8th grade, Sophia Ochoa, So., Valentina Wallin, Jr., Mia Torres, Sr.); Somers (Haylie Donovan, Jr., Keira Cleary, Jr., Mia Sandolo, Jr., Chelsea Lewit, Sr.)

4x800 relay

First team — Scarsdale (Eva Gibney, Jr., Shannon Kelly, Sr., Zoe Dichter, Jr., Leia Patel, So.)

Second team— Bronxville (Maddy Williams, Jr., Caitlin Paisley, 8th grade, Finlay Rowan, Fr., Carina Winiecki, 8th grade); Byram Hills (Abi Rondeau, Jr., Bella Lamberti, Jr., Maura Lunde, So., Angelina Nie, So.)

Honorable mention —Somers (Jessica Masterson, Sr., Brooke Fazio, Jr., Mia Sandolo, Jr., Julia Aquilino, Jr.)

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Elena Olson leads Westchester/Putnam girls indoor track all-stars