Meet Long Island girls indoor track and field's state champions for the 2024-25 winter season

Sariah Doresca, Baldwin, 55 Meters

The senior won her third consecutive state championship in the event when she ran a state-best 6.86 seconds at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island. Upon crossing the finish line, her father, Gregory Doresca, was hyped up.

“That’s what I’m talking about! Three-peat!,” he screamed out. He coaches the V-Tesse Track Club, which Doresca and her Baldwin teammates have traditionally run on during the outdoor season.

“He’s always very excited when I run,” Doresca said. “We put in a lot of work and a lot of late hours, so it’s good to see it pay off.”

Breanne Barnett, Baldwin, 300

Before the indoor state meet, Baldwin’s top runners set a collective goal: sweep the sprints.

Doresca was already the two-time defending state champion in the 55, and the Bruins’ 4 x 200 team was coming off consecutive state titles, but Barnett — a junior — had never won an individual championship. However, she was the state’s top-ranked 300 runner.

Once Doresca and the 4 x 200 team successfully defended their titles, all that was left was Barnett. Though there was pressure, Barnett was not feeling it.

“I definitely like my chances,” Barnett said after running in the 300 trials and qualifying for the finals.

She was right to be optimistic. Barnett ran a personal-record 37.74 to win, and complete the sweep.

Sophia McInnes, Bayport-Blue Point, 1,000

McInnes’ senior indoor season was dominant from wire to wire. She spent at least a month as the state’s top-ranked runner in the 600, 800, 1,000, 1,500, 1,600, mile and 3,000, with most of those top rankings coming simultaneously.

McInnes was ultimately passed in most of those events, but she maintained her spot in the 1,600.

McInnes lost her top ranking in the 1,000 to Floyd’s Zariel Macchia in Feburary, but reclaimed it at the state championships when she ran a Long Island-record 2 minute, 44.18 second mark to become an indoor state champion for the first time.

“I just let out a deep breath,” McInnes said. “I knew that all of the stress and all the hard work was worth it in the end. I got to prove everyone wrong, and make everyone proud.”

Zariel Macchia, Floyd, 3,000

Macchia is no stranger to winning state championships. However, the one that came this year had the bumpiest road of them all.

After being declared ineligible by state’s top high school athletics body for violating a rule when she ran against athletes representing their colleges at a meet in Feburary, Macchia sued to have her eligibility restored, costing her family over $8,000 in legal fees.

New York State Supreme Court judge Christopher Modelewski granted Macchia’s petition, allowing her to run at the state championships.

Macchia made the ruling count, running a national-best 9:21.73 to come from behind and win the title.

“After going to court and dealing with the whole situation, I definitely wanted to come here today and get a state title, especially since it’s my senior year,” Macchia said. “It meant a lot.”

Gianna Mauri, Sachem East,1,500 Walk & Mile Walk

Mauri collected quite a few medals during the indoor season. The senior competed in the 1,500 race walk at 12 meets and won every time, with her best mark coming at the Suffolk large school championship meet on Feb. 1 when she logged a national-best 6:45.52.

Five weeks later, Mauri dominated at the state championships, beating her closest opponent by 3.61 seconds to capture her first state title.

However, the season was yet to hit its apex.

She registered a 6:46.79 at Nike Indoor Nationals to win by nearly nine seconds.

At New Balance Indoor Nationals three days later, she competed won the 1-mile race walk in 7:29.05 to become a double national champion.

“It was that feeling where I knew everything I had done to that point was very much worth it,” Mauri said. “At Nike, I was having doubts and nerves, which ended up helping me and giving me more ambition and strength to push through the challenge.”

Jillian Scully, Miller Place, Shot Put

Even on an off day, Scully is, undisputedly, the state’s best thrower.

Her throw of 44 feet, 5 inches at the state championships was only her seventh-best mark of the season. It was almost four feet shy of her personal record.

The down performance cost the senior nothing, as she still won her sixth state championship.

“Whenever I’m having a bad throwing day, I always like to remind myself that I’ve done everything I can up to this point to prepare myself for these more competitive meets,” Scully said. “I strictly believe in a positive mindset and that remaining calm will allow me to do well.”

Baldwin 4 x 200 Relay (Sariah Doresca, Kelys Walker, Jahzara Emeli, Breanne Barnett)

At the end of each of the last two seasons, Baldwin’s 4 x 200 team captured the Division I state championship and later won the Federation title in a separate race.

The 2024 team had the exact same lineup as the 2025 squad and the result was the same. They ran 1:39.53 to win their third consecutive Division I state title.

Later in the meet, they became undisputed state champions when they broke their own meet record from hours earlier and ran 1:39.33 in the Federation race to win it all — once again, for the third consecutive year.

“Being a part of this relay has been an amazing experience,” Walker said. “It’s a great feeling knowing that the work we constantly put in at practice doesn’t fail to pay off every time we step foot on the track.”

She continued: “Having these girls as teammates is truly a blessing. They all have more experience than me, but they all motivate me to become a better athlete and I’ve created an amazing bond with them.

“Being able to contribute to the win by being on a relay with them truly means a lot to me.”

Mount Sinai 4 x 400 relay (Cameron Campo, Adetola Gold, Kelly Hughes, Cali Gabrielson)

The group combined to run 4:03.41 in the third heat of the Division II 4 x 400 state championship. That time led the pack at that point, but the Mustangs still had to wait to see if their time would hold against the fastest projected teams.

Brooklyn’s Bishop Loughlin ran a 4:03.22 to claim the Federation title, but Mt. Sinai earned top honors among Division II public schools.

“Once we finished, and we had to watch the top heat go, we were just waiting to see what their times were,” Campo said. “We knew we either got first or second, and we were trying to figure out the milliseconds to see if we won or not.

“Then, they dragged us over to the podium, tapped the first-place spot and said, ‘Mt. Sinai won.’”

A month later, Hughes is still in disbelief.

“Honestly, it’s still shocking, even now, weeks after,” Hughes said. “I feel like it was a dream.”

Suffolk’s 3,400 meter Distance Medley Relay (Jillian McConville, Shavanna Richards, Haley Naslonski, Zariel Macchia)

The intersectional relay is a unique event. Teams consist of four runners from different races (and usually, schools) who were the top respective non-qualifying athletes at a section’s state qualifier meet in the 300, 600, 1,000 and 1,500.

For Suffolk, those races produced North Babylon’s Richards, Bay Shore’s Naslonski, Kings Park’s McConville and Floyd’s Macchia

The athletes ran differently-distanced relay legs that added up to 3,400 meters.

McConville ran the 1,000-meter leadoff leg, Richards sprinted the 200-meter second leg, Naslonski took the 600-meter third leg and Macchia anchored with the 1,600-meter leg.

The team was ninth out of 13 places until Naslonski bumped them up two spots. Once she passed the baton to Macchia, the whole tide changed. The state’s best distance athlete passed six runners to complete the comeback and win it in 10:02.06.