Nationals bound!

  • Posted March 10, 2025
Samir Gardner on podium at the NYS Indoor Track and Field Championship

On Saturday, five student-athletes from Albany High competed in the New York State Indoor Track and Field Championship held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island.

Our Falcons had an exceptional performance and we are thrilled to share that we have two student-athletes who made the podium, Samir Gardner and Noah Bizer!

Proud on the podium

  • Samir Gardner was the state runner-up for long jump and received second place for both NYS public schools and Federation. He improved his personal record by almost nine inches with a jump of 23 ft. 8 in.! With this incredible jump, Gardner also shattered the Albany High school record in which he was tied with Kareen Morris, class of 2010.
    Gardner’s jump was also the third best in Section 2 history, and with his current jump, he is now ranked top 20 in the country this season!
    Two student-athletes from each Section in New York State are selected by their Section to receive the NYSPHSAA Sportsmanship Award, and we are thrilled to share that Gardner was chosen for Section 2.
    Gardner is also currently nominated for the Times Union Athlete of the Week. Voting is open until the evening of Wednesday, March 3. !
     

  • Noah Bizer also made the podium as part of the intersectional relay, running the 1000m leg.  The relay had representation from Ballston Spa, Shaker and Colonie High School.  The relay team earned third place in NYS Public Schools and fourth place in Federation.  Noah blew us away with a personal best run in his 1000m leg with a time of 2:35.49.  Their relay also broke a Section 2 record set from 2006, with a time of 8:52.10!

We also want to commend our 55m runner Rohan Edward-Grant for a great effort, despite a challenging hamstring injury that impacted his performance. Our 4x200 relay runners Samir Gardner, Nasief Smith, Daaron Harrell and Rohan Edwards-Grant also put forth their very best and we are so proud of how they represented Albany Athletics at the state championship.

Nationals here we come!

The boys’ indoor track and field team will wrap up their record-breaking season next week at Nationals.  On Friday, March 14 they will compete in the New Balance Nationals in Boston and on Sunday, March 16 they will compete in the Nike Nationals in New York City.  

Let's go Falcons!