William Floyd's Zariel Macchia has been turning heads her entire career but this week was one of her most impressive to date.
Zariel won her fourth consecutive Class A crown with a time of 18:49.7 in the 5K at the Suffolk Cross Country Championships and State Qualifiers.
With this performance, she has qualified for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Cross Country Championships. This is the same race that she took home second place in just last year. She then will compete at the NY Federation Championships in Wappinger Falls on November 23. Zariel won first place in this event last season.
In addition to both of those qualifiers she also was named for the 35th USATF (United States Association of Track and Field) Athlete of the Week award winner for 2024 by winning her third straight USATF National Youth 5K championship in the kick off to NYC Marathon weekend. She won the girls’ title by an impressive eight seconds with a 17:27 time. She matched last years time, which also was a victory for the race.
Zariel has had one of the most accomplished careers on Long Island and coach John Ryan, head coach of the girls’ cross-country team, spoke about her as a person and competitor. He said, “What an amazing kid – truly one of a kind. I cannot thank her enough for all the incredibly positive recognition that she has brought to the William Floyd School District. She has single-handedly placed William Floyd in the national limelight. There are an estimated 47 million avid track and field fans in the United States and Zariel and William Floyd are household names to all of them. Her accomplishments thus far, including being a two-time Gatorade New York State Runner of the Year, are virtually endless. I wish her the best of luck the rest of this year as her storied high school career comes to an end. She will be heading off to BYU next fall as the best XC/TF (cross country/track and field) athlete Long Island has ever seen…and she is William Floyd through and through.”